Monument record MDO6443 - Great Barrow, Knowlton, Woodlands

A large round barrow or mound, part of a major monument complex at Knowlton and of probable Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age date is visible as a cropmark on 1990s aerial photographs. Described in the RCHME Dorset Inventory as comprising a mound 135 feet in diameter and 21 feet high, surrounded by two concentric ditches, both largely levelled by ploughing. The inner ditch is separated from the base of the mound by a berm circa 15 feet across. The outer ditch is around 400 feet in diameter and about 35 feet wide. The air photo published by RCHME appears to show a distinct entrance causeway through the outer ditch on the northeast, although the transcription shows it as a continuous feature. A pipe trench cut in July 1958 ran in a southwest-northeast direction, passing southeast of the mound but cutting across the outer ditch in two places. The pipe trench was fairly shallow in relation to the ditch, so a trial trench was excavated beside the pipe trench at the point where the latter crossed the south-southwest part of the barrow ditch. Constraints of time and space appear to have prevented a complete section being excavated. However, the ditch was shown to be 5.5 feet deep below the modern ground surface, and to be flat-bottomed. A sequence of fills was described briefly by the excavator. No artefacts were recovered. The barrow has been mapped from aerial photographs by English Heritage's Knowlton Circles Project and digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

SU 02541028 Great Barrow (NR) <1>

Great Barrow (SU 02541028) a large mound 135ft in diameter and 21ft high encircled by twin ditches. The inner ditch is separated from the mound by a berm c15ft across. The outer ditch is 35ft wide, 5 1/2ft deep <3.1> and is 400ft in diameter. <3>

This is the largest round barrow in Dorset. Comparison to other such sites within Wessex gives it a possible Late Neolithic date. <4>

The 'Great Barrow'. The barrow mound is 40 metres in diameter and about 3 metres high. It is surrounded by two concentric ditches, visible on aerial photographs. Scheduling amended. <9>

The barrow has been mapped from aerial photographs by EH's Knowlton Circles Project. <2, 5-6>

Great Barrow at Knowlton is visible as a cropmark on 1990s aerial photographs. <7-8>

The barrow comprises two substantial concentric ditches, around 9.6m wide and 19.2m apart. There is a central mound around 40m in diameter. The whole extent of the features measures around 121m across.

The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey map 1:10,560, 1963 (Map). SDO18658.

<2> National Monuments Record, 26-JUN-1970, NMR SU 0210/6 (NMR 290/107) (Aerial Photograph). SDO19601.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 116 (Monograph). SDO129.

'Barrows (39-49) lie N. of the South Circle and around the Centre Circle; some appear on Plate 80 (cf. plan p. 114). … (46) Great Barrow (02541028), a large mound 135 ft. across and 21 ft. high, is encircled by twin ditches, both of them largely obscured by cultivation (Plate 80). The inner ditch is separated from the base of the mound by a berm about 15 ft. across; the outer ditch, about 35 ft. wide and 5½ ft. deep (measured during the excavation of a pipe-trench), is 400 ft. in overall diameter (Dorset Procs., 84 (1962), 118–24).'

<3.1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1963, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1962, 117-124 (Serial). SDO62.

Field, NH. Discoveries at the Knowlton Circles, Woodlands, Dorset.

<4> Barrett, J, Bradley, R and Green, M, 1991, Landscape, Monuments and Society: the prehistory of Cranborne Chase, 108 (Monograph). SDO16633.

<5> National Monuments Record, 13-JUL-1995, NMR15314/009 (SU0210/072) (Aerial Photograph). SDO15702.

<6> National Monuments Record, 13-JUL-1995, NMR SU 0210/65-7 (NMR 15326/05-7) (Aerial Photograph). SDO19586.

<7> National Monuments Record, 13-JUL-1995, NMR15326/006 (SU0210/066) (Aerial Photograph). SDO15701.

<8> National Monuments Record, 13-JUL-1995, NMR15314/009 (SU0210/072) (Aerial Photograph). SDO15702.

<9> DCMS, 2002, Scheduled Monument Notification EH Scheduling amendment, 05-JUL-2002 (Scheduling record). SDO18700.

<10> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AF1339047 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: EH: Knowlton Circles, Dorset

<11> Historic England, Historic England Archive, PF/KNO (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: Knowlton Church and Earthworks, Woodlands, Dorset. Scope and Content: Sixteen sheets dating from between 1958 and 1988. There is a drawing from 1958 showing proposed fencing and gates, a series of later copies of deed plans from 1959 (including one revised to 1979) and eleven sheets from a topographic survey made in 1988.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 621861 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 12 2024 10:47AM