Monument record MDO7441 - Bowl barrow, one of the Ailwood Down Group, Corfe Castle

A Bronze Age round barrow is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of Nine Barrows Down, Corfe Castle. It is one of a group of seventeen Bronze Age round barrows (MDO7427-7442) and a Neolithic long barrow (MDO7407) located here.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 456762 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 444 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘Seventeen bowl barrows and a long barrow on summit and South shoulder of part of Purbeck Hills, here over 600 ft above O.D. Ten form an irregular W.N.W – E.S.E line only 250 yards long on the summit while the rest including the long barrow, lie on slightly lower ground immediately to the South. Only the two highest barrows have continuous ditches. Some others have quarry pits, probably original. All are under turf. One, unidentified, but adjacent contained a cremation.’

<3> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey (Index). SDO147.

‘Bowl barrow Diam.6.4m and Ht0.3m. Situated on heathland, covered in grass and gorse. The mound is crossed by a footpath which has eroded the top of this barrow E-W. See RAF/VAP/1821:2403 and OS SY98SE5. 1/3/C.’

<4> Papworth, M, 1994, Eastington, Acton, Westwood, Wilkswood, New Barn, Corfe Castle Estate, Wessex Region, 46 (Unpublished document). SWX1388.

A bowl barrow, one of a group of seventeen round barrows and one long barrow. This site lies south of the main group on the south slope below the crest of the chalk ridge. It is visible as a faint rise 6.5m dia. and 0.3m high with no visible ditch. Nine mounds are recorded on Woodward's map (1775) and a cremation burial is recorded from one of the barrows in this group (Miles 1826). This land has been downland since at least 1585 (Treswell) and appears never to have been ploughed.

Record last edited

Jan 20 2025 1:42PM