Monument record MDO6350 - Disc Barrow, Oakley Down Group, Wimborne St Giles

Disc Barrow, part of the Oakley Down Group. In 1975 the RCHM(E) reported the monument had a mound 36 feet across and surviving 3 feet high; the berm was noted as 30 feet across and the very shallow ditch and low outer bank both 10 feet across. The monument is damaged by ploughing on its north western side. The mound was excavated in the early 19th century where a cremation burial was descovered and consisted of a large inverted Early or Middle Bronze Age collared urn covered with now decayed fabric.

A disc barrow, part of the Oakley Down barrow group (SU 01 NW 19). It was described by RCHME as a mound 36 feet across and 3 feet high, surrounded by a berm 30 feet wide and a very shallow ditch and outer bank each 10 feet wide. The barrow has suffered considerably from plough damage. The mound was excavated in the early 19th century by Cunnington and Hoare (their barrow 17). Hoare's account is as follows: "Immediately under the turf, we discovered an interment of burned bones, and proceeding further, saw a prodigious quantity of ashes and charred wood, and were afterwards gratified with the sight of a very large sepulchral urn inverted within a cist cut in the native chalk. On taking it out, we observed several pieces of decayed linen, of a reddish brown colour, lying like cobwebs on the calcined bones. The urn is rather of an oval form, and is the [second] largest we have ever found...". The vessel, a collared urn, is in Devizes Museum.

A primary cremation from the barrow was found wrapped in (linen?) cloth beneath very large inverted Early or Middle Bronze Age collared urn in a chalk cist, surrounded by a large quantity of ashes. The urn has eleven holes beneath the rim, evidently for tying on a cloth cover. <1> <4>

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 170 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Annable, F K and Simpson, D D A, 1964, A guide catalogue of the Neolithic and Bronze Age collections in Devizes museum, 63, 118, No. 502 (Unpublished document). SDO18620.

<3> Colt Hoare, Sir Richard, 1975, The ancient history of Wiltshire, 241-2 (Monograph). SDO18077.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 103 (Monograph). SDO129.

‘(101) DISC (01681711), (Hoare No. 17), damaged by ploughing on the N.W. side, yielded a primary cremation wrapped in cloth beneath an inverted collared urn (Devizes Mus. Cat., 1964, No. 502). The mound is 36 ft. across and 3 ft. high; the berm 30 ft. across; the very shallow ditch and the low outer bank are both 16 ft. across.’

<5> Bowen, H C, 1990, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke (Monograph). SWX800.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1312375 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 7 2024 7:13PM