Monument record MDO7384 - Bowl barrow on Coombe Heath, Coombe Keynes

A ditched bowl barrow on a slight rise. In 1970 this monument was described as being around 56 feet in diameter with a mound about 4½ feet high, with a flattened top and an irregular ditch around it. It is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in 1946.

A bowl barrow with a ditch. <2>

A mound composed of black sandy earth, and partly heather covered. Its diameter is 19.0m., and its height 1.4m. A surrounding ditch is 1.7m. wide and 0.4m. deep. There is no sign of a berm. The top is flattened, and mutilated by rabbits, and the ditch has been damaged on its west side by tracked vehicles. This bowl barrow is situated on a military firing range. <3>

SY 86578493. Ditched bowl barrow, 56ft. diameter and 4 1/2ft. high with flattened top and irregular ditch situated on Coombe Heath. <4>

SY 861845 & SY 866850. Round barrows on Coombe Heath. Scheduled. <5>

SY 86568493. Bowl barrow, overall diameter 22.5m., which includes a ditch 2.0m. wide and 0.4m. deep. Height of mound 1.7m. above ditch.
The ditch has been destroyed on the north-east and west sides by forestry trenching and a track respectively. Resurveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <6>

A large round mound (16m across) with surrounding ditch is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in 1946 on Coombe Heath <7>. The barrow is now under a modern plantation and no longer visible on aerial photographs. The site was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1930 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 86568493) Tumulus (NR)

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F2 NVQ 09-SEP-52 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<2.1> Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document). SWX1556.

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 10-JUL-53 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

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

‘All eight barrows lie on heathland about ¾ mile E. of the village; six form the Coombe Beacon Group. … (19) Ditched bowl (SY 88 SE; 86578493) on slight rise on Coombe Heath but below 100 ft. Diam. 56 ft., ht. 4½ ft. Ditch irregular. Top flattened.’

<5> Department of the Environment, 1977, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England Vol 2, 62 (Monograph). SWX2300.

<6> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F3 JGB 26-JUN-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<7> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455464 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 21 2023 6:44AM