Monument record MDO7138 - Bowl barrow, Bere Regis

A bowl barrow on the lower slopes of a valley. In 1970 this monument was reported as being around 60 feet in diameter with a mound 1½ feet high, and much spread by ploughing. The barrow is visible as a cropmark ring ditch with internal levelled mound on aerial photographs taken in 1982. It was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM.

A bowl barrow. 17 paces in diameter, 1ft high. On arable land. <3>

A bowl barrow. 20.0 metres diameter, 0.7 metres high. No sign of ditch or excavation. On arable land. <4>

SY 84189734. Bere Regis 5. Bowl barrow listed, details as Authy 2. <5>

SY 84199734. Bowl (?) barrow, 60ft diameter and 1 1/2ft high, much spread, situated on lower slopes of a valley. <6>

SY 84199734. Bowl barrow, diameter 20.0 metres approximately, height 0.5 metres. Resurveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <8>

SY 845971. Round Barrows on Bere Down. (Includes this barrow - see illustration). <7>

A bowl barrow located circa 460 metres north east of Bere Down Farm. Listed by RCHME as Bere Regis 109 and by Grinsell as Bere Regis 5, it was described by RCHME as a much spread mound 60 feet in diameter and 1.5 feet high. In 1981, the Ordnance Survey recorded it as 20 metres in diameter and 0.5 metres high. It is scheduled. RCHME tentatively identified it with a barrow excavated circa 1850, one of four described by Warne and originally said to be on "Kingston Down", though it is now accepted that all four were on Bere Down. This barrow, assuming the RCHME are correct in their identification, was Warne's tumulus 11, and listed separately by Grinsell as Bere Regis 8c. Grinsell made no attempt to identify these four excavated barrows with any of the known extant barrows in the area. Warne described the barrow as being up to 3 feet high and 20 feet in diameter. Two urned cremations were found. It is not clear from Warne's account if either (or indeed both) could be regarded as primary interments. One roughly central, and was covered by a thin slab of green sandstone. The other was towards the south, and he described it as being in a "cist" (pit). The pottery has been described as Deverel-Rimbury. Warne's tumulus 11 was formerly recorded separately as part of SY 89 NW 31. That record should be consulted for additional sources and further information. <10>

The barrow is visible as a cropmark ring ditch with internal levelled mound on aerial photographs taken in 1982. It was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM. <11>

<1> Warne, C, 1866, The Celtic Tumuli of Dorset (1866), 10 (Monograph). SWX8166.

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

(SY 84189734) Tumulus (NR)

<3> Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document). SWX1556.

<4> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 16-NOV-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<5> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 88 (Monograph). SDO132.

<6> 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.

'(109) Bowl (?) (SY 89 NW; 84199734) 240 yds. E.N.E. of (107) on lower slopes of valley between 200 ft. and 300 ft. Diam. 60 ft., ht. 1½ ft. Much spread.'

<7> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 59 (Monograph). SWX1687.

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

<9> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455985 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<11> National Monuments Record, 30-MAR-1982, NMR 2110/1245 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19880.

Record last edited

Oct 11 2024 11:28AM