Monument record MDO7409 - Bowl barrow south of Afflington Barn, Corfe Castle

SY 96607847 Bowl barrow, 52ft diameter and 6ft high in an area of 'Celtic' fields (see SY 97 NE 28) on a spur above Coombe Bottom. Modern ploughing has exposed several large stones. Austen (circa 1855) found an apparently primary cremation in a highly ornamented urn with applied handles (now in Dorset County Museum), inverted
and resting on two flat stones and also surrounded by packing stones. At the same level on the east was a Bronze Romano-British penannular brooch probably associated with an intrusive inhumation. Two small, probably bucket urns, one inverted and both holding cremations, lay in the stone mound forming the centre of the barrow.
On the south was part of a circle of upright stones with signs of burning around. <5>

SY 967785. Round barrow, 1000 yards southeast of Kingstone Barn. Scheduled. <6>

SY 96597847. Corfe Castle 22. Bowl barrow listed, details as above. The ornamented urn with four applied handles suggested as 'Mid Bronze Age/LBA hybrid?' is in Dorset County Museum Acc No 1954.3. <2> <7>

As described. Published 1:2500 survey revised. <9>

The site of a Bronze Age bowl barrow is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar <10-11>. The mound is 17m across and lies to the north-west of Swanworth Quarries. It was digitally mapped during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1955, 149 (Serial). SDO55.

‘Mr. Calkin points out that a large ornamented urn with applied handles comes from a barrow (SY 96597847) south of Afflington Barn opened by J. H. Austen in 1855. It is of a transitional Middle to Late Bronze Age type.’

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 103 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1960, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1959, 118-119 (Serial). SDO59.

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

(SY 96597847) Tumulus (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, 443 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(183) Bowl (SY 97 NE; 96607847). On spur 400 ft. above O.D. above S.E. slope into Coombe Bottom. Diam. 52 ft., ht. 6 ft. In area of 'Celtic' fields (Ancient Field Group (23)). Modern ploughing has exposed several large stones. Austen found an apparently primary cremation in a highly ornamented urn with applied handles (now in D.C.M.), inverted and resting on two flat stones and also surrounded by packing stones. At same level on E. was a bronze, Romano-British, penannular brooch, probably associated with an intrusive inhumation. Two small, probably bucket urns, one inverted and both holding cremations, lay in the stone mound forming centre of barrow. On S. was part of circle of upright stones with signs of burning around. (Austen, Purbeck Papers I (1855), 39–40; Ant. J. XIII (1933), 444; Dorset Procs. LXXXI (1959), 118–19.)’

<6> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 62 (Monograph). SWX1687.

<7> Grinsell, L V, 1982, Dorset Barrows Supplement, 37 (Monograph). SWX1703.

<8> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey (Index). SDO147.

‘Bowl barrow. Diam. 15.8m and Ht.1.8m. Situated on land regularly ploughed and in ley pasture when visited. The mound is unploughed and covered in a thick growth of blackberry with hawthorn. Damage from basal ploughing. Swanworth limeston quarry lies 200m SE. of this barrow. British Gas AP//1979//Oblique9163-7, 14, 21, 9164-18, 9165-26. Also DCC AP//1972//5585 212198. 1/2/B.’

<9> Wardale, C F, Various, Field Investigators Comments CFW, F1 CFW 16-APR-86 (Unpublished document). SWX2704.

<10> Channel Coastal Observatory, 25-FEB-2009, Lidar (Aerial Photograph). SDO12879.

<11> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 4225-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13380.

<12> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<13> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456428 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 12 2024 5:32PM