Monument record MDO7126 - Bowl barrow, one of the Roke Down Group, Bere Regis

A bowl barrow on a low rise, one of several on Roke Down. This monument is thought to have been excavated in 1840 by Wake Smart and later by Solly. Reports of the excavation describe the barrow as 4 to 5 feet high with large sarsen blocks on top. Excavations revealed a cremation under an inverted urn in a cist with three daggers, and this is thought to be the primary burial. Earlier reports refer to finds of urns and glass beads from the eastern part of the mound. The site is visible as a cropmark 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.

Two round barrows on Roke Down. 'A' (97) SY 82659683. Bowl barrow visible as a low rise 66ft diameter is almost certainly the barrow excavated on the north side of Roke Farm in 1840 by Wake Smart and later by Solly who described the then dimensions as 4-5ft high. Six or seven sarsen blocks then lay on the top but these were removed about 1914 and now stand at the edge of the field. A primary burial, probably cremation (see Warne) under an inverted urn was discovered; this, however, is described in Hutchins as a skeleton doubled up and pressed into a large urn which was inverted and placed in a slight hollow in the chalk. An atypical ogival dagger and two knife daggers (all destroyed were also found with the burial. Three urns and "several glass beads" were found on the east side of the barrow before Solly's excavation, according to Hutchins. Grins rchme

"SY 825974-825967 Three round barrows NW of Millum Head. Scheduled". (It seems likely that the tumulus at 'B' SY 82709683 (see above) is one of the three scheduled barrows and the tumuli at SY 82639668 - see SY 89 NW 30 and SY 82569727 - see SY 89 NW 34 are the others). (4) doe

'A'. SY 82649683. Bowl barrow in arable. Close inspection not possible because of crops. 'A' revised at 1:2500 on M.S.D. from R.C.H.M. measurements. jgb

A large sarsen block, measuring 1.2 by 1.0 by 0.7 metres, lies by the hedge 43.0 metres north-west of 'B'. jgb

The dirk found in barrow 'A' has Treboul affinities and is classified as Group Roke Down of Armorico-British C daggers. (6)

A rapid examination of air photography … Also visible are barrows 'A' and 'B', as double (concentric) ring ditches. (7)

Scheduling revised 09/03/01. A group of three bowl barrows forming part of a wider group of 11, which together form a round barrow cemetery on Roke Down. One of the group was excavated in 1840 and later, and these investigations revealed sarsen stones on top of the mound and a cist within it. Scheduled with SY 89 NW 30. (8)

The site is visible as a cropmark ring ditch 17m across on aerial photographs (9); it 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 (10).

Miller, Andrew, 1993, RCHME: AP Primary Recording Project, 16-FEB-1993 (Unpublished document). SWX1708.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1902 (Map). SWX1540.

('A' - SY 82659683; 'B' - SY 82709683) Tumuli (NR)

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 89-90 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> 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.

'(97) Bowl (92659683) 160 yds. N. of (96). A low rise 66 ft. in diam.; almost certainly the barrow excavated in 1840, by Wake Smart and later by Solly, and described as 4 ft. to 5 ft. high. Large sarsen blocks then lay on top; the sarsens now at the field edge were removed from the top of this barrow in about 1914. Primary burial (Wessex interment no. 4): probably cremation under inverted urn with an atypical ogival dagger (ApSimon, Appx. c, 40) and two knife daggers (all destroyed) at bottom of cist over 3 ft. deep. Three urns and 'several glass beads' previously found on E. (Hutchins I, 144; Warne, C.T.D., cpf. no. 21; Ant. J. XIII (1933), 443; ApSimon, 44 and 60.)'

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 15-MAY-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Burgess, Colin B, and Gerloff, Sabine, 1981, The dirks and rapiers of Great Britain and Ireland. Prähistorische Bronzefunde Absteilung iv, Band 7 (Monograph). SDO20324.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455916 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<9> NMR 4527: 22-27 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20322.

<10> Environment Agency, 15-DEC-2023, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO20691.

Record last edited

Jan 20 2025 3:05PM