Monument record MDO6616 - Bowl barrow, one of the Ridge Hill Group, Weymouth

A bowl barrow 28m in diameter is visible on aerial photographs. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

Round barrows on Ridgeway Hill: 'C' Bowl (65748660) 75 yds. E. of B'. Now only an irregular mound 9 ft. high immediately W. of reservoir, in 1885 it was 114 ft. in diam. And 13 ft. high. A primary inhumation in a Portland Stone cist in a pit was covered with a cairn 13 ft. in diam. And 7 ft. high. In and around the cairn were a bone dagger pommel, a bone needle, animal bones, and many flint implements including a flint mace-head, a polished flint axe and part of another, a flint saw and scrapers. An inhumation with a three-riveted bronze dagger, and a nearby cremation, were in the upper part of the cairn under two layers of stone slabs. In the top of the mound was a secondary cremation with three grooved and riveted daggers-one of copper and two of bronze-gold mountings for a dagger pommel, traces of wooden sheaths and a small flanged copper axe with a small piece of fine cloth adhering to it. This is Wessex interment no. 20, one of the richest grave groups in Dorset. Surviving finds in Dorchester County Museum. <3> <4>

'C' SY 65748661 Bowl barrow, not ploughed, diameter 42.0m, height 4.0m. Flat top used as site for a mast. No visible ditch. Slight mutilation on west side otherwise in good condition. Re- surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <5>

A bowl barrow 28m in diameter is visible on aerial photographs <11>. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 141 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred at SY 65748662) Tumuli (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 468 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(R.7) RIDGE HILL GROUP (SY 68 NW, NE). Thirty-eight barrows including one bell, four probable bells, one very large bell-disc barrow and one pond barrow, many of them having survived intact in an area extensively covered with 'Celtic' fields (see Ancient Field Group (6), and Fig. p. 626). Ridge Hill continues the Ridgeway to the E. for the next 1¾ miles to the great Ridgeway bell-disc barrow (67). The Ridgeway here is domed on top, and the barrows lie in an irregular line, mostly on the highest ground. The group includes Portesham (41–2), Weymouth (396–406) and Bincombe (13–21). Weymouth (396–404) have all been heavily ploughed and six of them were opened by E. Cunnington between 1884 and 1888, including (403), his 'Ridgeway 7'. … (403) Bowl (65748662) 75 yds. E. of (402). Now only an irregular mound 9 ft. high immediately W. of reservoir, in 1885 it was 114 ft. in diam. and 13 ft. high. A primary inhumation in a Portland Stone cist in a pit was covered with a cairn 13 ft. in diam. and 7 ft. high. In and around the cairn were a bone dagger pommel, a bone needle, animal bones, and many flint implements including a flint mace-head, a polished flint axe and part of another, a flint saw, and scrapers. An inhumation with a three-riveted bronze dagger, and a nearby cremation, were in the upper part of the cairn under two layers of stone slabs. In the top of the mound was a secondary cremation with three grooved and riveted daggers —one of copper and two of bronze—gold mountings for a dagger pommel, traces of wooden sheaths and a small flanged copper axe with a small piece of fine cloth adhering to it. This is Wessex interment no. 20, one of the richest grave groups in Dorset. Surviving finds in D.C.M. (Dorset Procs. LVIII (1936), 20–5; P.P.S. XVI (1950), 133, pl. XIV, 2; ApSimon 54 and 56, nos. 2, 9, 10; Archaeometry, 4 (1961), 47, nos. 37 and 47.) '

<3.1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1937, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1936, 20-25 (Serial). SDO39.

<3.2> Cunnington, E, 1915, Cunnington MSS (Unpublished document). SDO10110.

<4> Taylor, John, 1970, The Recent Discovery of Gold Pins in The Ridgeway Gold Pommel (Article in serial). SDO16390.

<5> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 16-MAY-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<6> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<7> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 391 (Index). SDO12304.

Diameter 42.0m, ht. 4.0m. A fence surrounding the wireless mast and a wireless station has been built into the NE side of the mound. A piece of cremated bone was found in a mole hill on the E side. 1/3/C

<8> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<9> Clarke, C P, 2011, Summary Report on Archaeological Monitoring and Recording. Gould's Hill Barrow, Upwey, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO14640.

<10> 26-MAR-1968, NMR SY6586/2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11838.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452028 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 7 2024 7:10AM