Monument record MDO7211 - Bowl barrow, one of the Bloxworth Down Group, Bloxworth

A bowl barrow investigated by Shipp around 1854. He found a cremation burial in an urn. This monument is around 75 feet in diameter and is reputed to have had a mound about 8 feet high before excavation; it is now much reduced. The site of this round barrow is visible as a low earthworks on lidar imagery and cropmarks on aerial photographs. It was digitally recorded during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM.

All bowl barrows; 'C' is 21 paces by 2 feet. 'C' was probably opened circa 1854, and contained a primary ? cremation and bucket urn with horseshoe handles beneath a cairn. Three MBA urns and one ?MBA/LBA hybrid urn from barrows on Bloxworth Down are in the British Museum and are doubtless these, most or all from the Durden Collection. The bone pin is also there. Warnes No 15. <2>

Three bowl barrows with no evidence of ditches. On a southern slope under stubble and grass. 'A' and 'C' have the approximate dimensions given by Grinsell. All are somewhat spread and
mutilated. <3>

'C' - (40) - SY 87679638. Bowl barrow, formerly 75ft. Diameter and 8ft. High but now only 1 1/2ft. High, was excavated by Shipp in 1854. An apparently primary cremation in a bucket urn with horse-shoe handles, (now lost) was discovered under a cairn within the barrow. <5>

The barrows are presently under crop and inaccessible. None are visible on (b). 'C'. Visible under crop and on © but not visible on (a).

The published diameter of 'A' corresponds with the measured diameter, therefore the present depictions of 'A', 'B' and 'C' are accepted. <6>

The site of this round barrow is visible as a low earthworks on lidar imagery and cropmarks on aerial photographs. It was digitally recorded during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM. <8-9>

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

('A': SY 87539649; 'B': SY 87759646; 'C': SY 87669637) Tumuli (OE)

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document). SWX1556.

<2.1> Shipp, W, and Hodson, J W (eds), 1861, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edition. Volume 1, 184 (Monograph). SWX4496.

<2.2> Payne, G (ed), 1892, Catalogue of the Museum of Local Antiquities collected by Mr Henry Durden of Blandford, Dorsetshire (Monograph). SDO17125.

<3> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 04/11/1954 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

('A' - SY 87529649: 'C' - SY 87669637) Tumuli (NR)

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 440 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘Bloxworth Down Group (SY 89 NE). Fifteen barrows, including one disc or bell-disc, and comprising all the barrows in the parish, lie on a N. slope at the W. end of a chalk ridge between 170 ft. and 236 ft. above O.D.; … (40–3) are outliers to the N. Grinsell shows in addition two possible barrows in the group (3a and 7a on fig. 4 in Dorset Barrows). Two have been destroyed and all but (29) and (30) are badly damaged by ploughing, as are adjacent 'Celtic' fields (Group 33). (39–40) have been excavated. … (40) Bowl (87679638) 110 yds. N.N.W. of (39). In 1854 diam. was 75 ft., ht. 8 ft. but now 1½ ft. Shipp found under a cairn an apparently primary cremation in a bucket urn with horse-shoe handles, now lost (Hutchins I, 184; Ant. J. XIII (1933), 444).’

<6> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, 02/06/1981 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<6.1> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 3344-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19635.

<6.2> Ordnance Survey, 18-APR-1980, OS 80/021 218-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19641.

<6.3> Royal Air Force, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 4127 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19636.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455740 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<8> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<9> National Monuments Record, 06-JUN-2007, NMR 24629/48 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19895.

Record last edited

Jan 20 2025 2:41PM