Monument record MDO724 - Mound, Cerne Abbas

A mound interpreted as a probable round barrow. In 1952 this monument was reported as being around 38 feet in diameter with a mound about ¾ foot high. The barrow is visible as a low earthwork on 1940s aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

There are four mounds in the position described by the Royal Commission, within an area of ploughed-down banks and lynchets (see ST 60 SE 44). "A" - ST 67860103. Probable bowl barrow, 16.0m dia by 0.6m high. Badly shaped. <2>

The pasture field centred at ST 679011 contains a number of small undulations some of which are at the above-given sitings but none can for certain be stated to be the remains of barrows, but may mark the sites of barrows. No mound exceeds 0.3m in height. (Not depicted on OS 25" 1900). <3>

The barrow is visible as a low earthwork on 1940s aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project. <5, 6>

Historic England, National Record of the Historic Environment, 199031 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 84 (Monograph). SDO97.

’(36) MOUND, over ¾ m. E. of the church, is 38 ft. in diam and ¾ ft. high.’

<2> Rigg, J, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments JR, F1 JR 02-APR-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<2.1> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 2374-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18833.

<3> Phillips, A S, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments ASP, F2 ASP 22-JUL-77 (Unpublished document). SWX3817.

<5> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2374 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20876.

<6> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Jan 6 2026 3:32PM