Monument record MDO7125 - Bowl barrow, one of the Roke Down Group, Bere Regis

A bowl barrow, one of several barrows on Roke Down. In 1970 this monument was described as being around 91 feet in diameter with a mound about 2 feet high, and in arable cultivation. This barrow is thought to have been the object of antiquarian investigation. The site is visible as a cropmark double ring ditch on aerial photographs and was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle AIM Project. Traces of an internal mound are visible as low earthworks on lidar imagery.

'(D) ROKE DOWN GROUP (SY 89 NW), six barrows in two clusters of three, the westernmost including two probable bells. In arable on S. slopes of Down near 200 ft. contour; all except (96) among 'Celtic' fields with (93-5) probably at field angles (see Ancient Field Group (30)). All have probably been opened. Accounts exist of six excavations hereabouts but only one can be related with certainty to a specific barrow (97), though the account in Hutchins of even this is confused (Hutchins I, 143-4; Warne, C.T.D., cpf, no. 2 and 17 n; Payne, Durden Catalogue (1892), 12-18; Abercromby II, 39 and fig. 375; Ant. J. XIII (1933), 443).

A barrow 'on the upper part of Roke Down' (LVG 46a; Warne, C.T.D., cpf, no.2) contained a cremation, probably primary, in an inverted urn in a grave 3 ft. deep. In the mound near the centre were four cremations in bucket urns, of which three were inverted. Immediately above three extended inhumations lay E.-W. and a similar inhumation, with a plain urn, came from the S. side of the mound. A sixth cremation, in a very small urn, lay just below the turf on the S.E.

A barrow (LVG 46b) a few yards to the E. contained two primary contracted inhumations. One lay in a grave 6 ft. long, 2 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep, accompanied by a cremation in a small 'drinking cup'. The other was in a grave about 5 ft. away with animal bones. In a layer of soil and charcoal 2 ft. thick at the base of the mound were four more inhumations and two 'drinking cups'. At least seven urns, three of them complete, accompanied or contained cremations higher in the mound. One complete biconical urn with applied horse-shoe handles and perforated lugs contained a bead of rolled sheet bronze; another a small bone pin.

In a third barrow (LVG 46c), a cremation, probably primary, with broken urn lay in a cist, near which were three further cremations and another urn. Four urns lay on the S. side of the mound and on the N.E. was an inhumation in a stone-lined grave. The fourth barrow (LVG 46d) contained three bucket urns, one with perforamtions on either side of a crack as if to bind it together. Some of the urns from these barrows are in the B.M. Warne also records the opening of a large barrow containing 'great stones … placed over the urns, similar to those in the Deverel Barrow.' . . .

A probable bowl barrow, 33.0m average diameter and 0.8m high taken to the north. The classification in Authy 1 as long barrow is probably due to its appearance caused by soil spread leaving the highest point more to the north-north-east. There is no trace of ditch or excavation. (3)

SY 82639669 Bowl (?) barrow, 9ft diameter and 2ft high. Listed under "Long Barrows" by Grinsell, but when he investigated the site in 1953 he thought that it looked like a round barrow (Not listed by Ashbee in "Earthen Long Barrows of Britain" 1970). (4-6)

SY 82639669. Barrow probably of bowl type, diameter approximately 32.0 metres, height 0.7 metres in arable and ploughed down. Resurveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. (8)

The site of this barrow is visible as a cropmark double oval ring ditch on aerial photographs (10) and was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle AIM Project. It is 33m wide and cut on its south east side by an extant post medieval field boundary. Traces of an internal mound are visible as low earthworks on lidar imagery.

<1> Ordnance Survey, OS 1:25 000 Prov Ed (Map). SDO19663.

(SY 82639668) Long Barrow (NR)

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1902 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 82639668) Tumulus (NR)

<3> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 12-NOV-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<4> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 77 (Monograph). SDO132.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 437 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(96) Bowl (?) (82639669) 365 yds. E.S.E. of (95). Diam. 91 ft., ht. 2 ft.'

<6> Ashbee, P, 1970, The Earthen Long Barrow in Britain (Monograph). SDO16712.

<7> List of ancient monuments in England: Volume 1, Northern England; Volume 2, Southern England; Volume 3, East Anglia and the Midlands Vol 3 Page(s) 82, 60 (Monograph). SWX1955.

<8> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 15-MAY-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455919 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 20 2025 3:14PM