Monument record MDO7413 - Bronze Age bowl barrow, Corfe Common, Corfe Castle

A circular mound is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of Corfe Common, Corfe Castle. It is considered likely to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. It is one on a group of several round barrows located dispersed across the common (MDO7412-19 & MDO7540).

'B'-(187)-SY 95878099. Bowl (?) barrow, 62ft diameter and 5 1/2ft high. <1> <4>

A plain tripartite urn in the British Museum collection has been identified as coming from one of these barrows or from the adjacent barrow groups. (SY 98 SE 17 or SY 98 SE 47) Brit Mus Acc. No. 1982.9-1.238. <2>

SY 962809. Group of round barrows on Corfe Common. Scheduled. <6>

Four well preserved bowl barrows: … SY95878098 Average 20m in diameter but spread on a N-S axis to 24m across. An average height of 2m. There is evidence of disturbance in the form of pits and perhaps a slight trench across the top of the rounded mound, There is no clear trace of a ditch. <8>

A circular mound, approximately 19.8m in diameter and surrounded by a 0.5m wide outer ditch, is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of Corfe Common, Corfe Castle <9-10>. It is considered likely to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. It is one on a group of several round barrows located dispersed across the common (MDO7412-19 & MDO7540). This feature was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck mapping project.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1957, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1956, 76 (Serial). SDO56.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1960, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1959, 118 (Serial). SDO59.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SY 959809) Tumuli (NR)

<4> 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.

‘Corfe Common Group (SY 98 SE; Fig. p. 97). Eight barrows straggle along the spine of a ridge about 150 ft. above O.D. All but (191) are bracken-covered. LVG 10a-c, between (192) and (193), are unidentifiable. … (187) Bowl (?) (95878099) on N.W. slope 230 yds. E. of (186). Diam. 62 ft., ht. 5½ ft.’

<5> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

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

<7> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 33 (Index). SDO147.

‘Probable bowl barrow. Diam 18.9m and Ht 1.7m. Situated on heathland a prominent rise covered in grass with blackberry and bracken. Land used as rough grazing for horses and cattle. OS SY98SE16. 1/2/B.’

<8> Fletcher, Martin, Field investigator's comments MJF, Field Investigation 20-DEC-2003 (Unpublished document). SDO17630.

<9> Ordnance Survey, 19-APR-1982, OS 82047 427-428 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13682.

<10> Pan Government Agreement, 2008, PGA (Aerial Photograph). SDO13137.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456801 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 16 2023 12:12PM