Monument record MDO7324 - Mound on Knowle Hill, Church Knowle

(SY 93548222) Long Barrow ? <1>

Surveyed at SY 93548225 this elongated mound has its long axis NE-SW in which direction it measures 21.0m. It is 9.0m across the North Eastern half and 7.0m across the South Western half. The North Eastern half has a uniform height of 1.0m and the South Western half a height of 0.7m. A straight ditch touches and passes the base of the mound on the South side - probably an old agricultural ditch. The mound is turf covered and there were no surface finds. A very doubtful long barrow. <2>

SY 93578225. Church Knowle I. Doubtful long barrow, found by Stuart Piggot in 1940. <3>

A mound at SY 93538224, on the crest of Knowle Hill, is 60 feet long, aligned west to east. It is 30 feet wide by 2 feet high, and is blunt ended. No ditch is visible. The mound is possibly associated with the adjacent Iron Age 'A' settlement (SY 98 SW 13). <4>

SY 935824. Cross ridge dykes, mound and settlement on Knowle Hill, Scheduled. Protected by preservation order. <5>

Church Knowle I, listed (with reference to RCHM - Authy 4) as perhaps not a long barrow but part of Iron Age settlement. <6>

This turf-covered earthern mound, which at some time has been disturbed and mutilated, is as described by J Rigg except that the vague ditch, of uncertain date is to the north not south. The mound appears to have originally been rectangular in shape and the observation that it is blunt ended suggests that it could be a pillow mound; certainly the proportionsand form share striking similarities with some of the pilow mounds located on the south-west slopes of the hill (SY 98 SW 8). Published 1/2500 survey revised. <8>

Possible site of a medieval or post medieval pillow mound on Knowle Hill. The earthworks are visible on aerial photographs <10> and were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Calkin, J B, Annotated Record Map Corr. 6, 1949 (Map). SWX8351.

<2> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 17-JUL-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<3> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 78 (Monograph). SDO132.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 481 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(51) MOUND (SY 98 SW; 93538224; Fig. opp. p. 509), on crest of Knowle Hill 665 yds. N.W. of St. Peter's Church. Length 60 ft. W.-E., width 30 ft., ht. 2 ft., with blunt ends. No ditch visible. It is possibly associated with the adjacent Iron Age 'A' settlement (Church Knowle (54)).’

<5> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 76 (Monograph). SWX1687.

<6> Grinsell, L V, 1982, Dorset Barrows Supplement, 30 (Monograph). SWX1703.

<7> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey (Index). SDO147.

‘Earthwork clear in permanent pasture grazed by cattle when visited. 1/2/B.’

<8> Fletcher, Martin, Field investigator's comments MJF, MJF 30-APR-1986 (Unpublished document). SDO17630.

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

<10> National Monuments Record, 18-NOV-2005, NMR SY 9382/2-3 (NMR 24140/02-3) (Aerial Photograph). SDO13513.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456927 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 20 2025 10:37AM