Monument record MDO7540 - 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 dispersed round barrows located across the common (MDO7412-19 & MDO7540).

'A' - Bowl barrow, 22m diameter and 1.9m. high. No trace of a ditch.

'B'-Bowl barrow, 23m diameter and 2m high. No trace of ditch. (2) jr

'A'-Bowl barrow, 21 paces diameter and 5ft high.

'B'-Bowl barrow, 20 paces diameter and 3ft high with traces of ditch.

'C'-SY 9658082 Doubtful barrow 7 paces diameter and 6 ins high.

'D'-SY 96568082. Doubtful barrow, 18 paces diameter and 2 1/2ft high.

'E'-SY 96588083. Possible barrow 12 paces diameter and 1 1/2ft high. Inf: A Herdan. (3) grinsel

'A'-Bowl barrow, 67ft diameter and 5ft high, possibly ditched. Irregular surface and flattened top.

'B'-Bowl (?)barrow, 72ft diameter and 4ft high.

Alleged barrows 'C', 'D' and 'E' are unidentifiable. (4) rchme

SY 962809. Group of round barrows on Corfe Common. Scheduled. (see also SY 98 SE 16, 17) (5) doe 1977

Barrows A: SY 96518083 and B: SY 96578082 are in good condition, on heathland, 50m OD. No change from auth 4. Surveyed at 1:2500 (6) cfw

A plain tripalite 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 16 or SY 98 SE 17) Brit Mus Acc No. 1892.9-1.238 (7) pdnhas

Two bowl barrows, and two mounds and an unlocated mound or barrow.
SY96518083 22m in diameter and 1.4m high but up to 1.9m high in places. Well defined mound with deep cuttings on the east and west sides caused by cross-ridge routes. No real evidence of a ditch.
SY96578081 24m in diameter and on average 1.2m high with a rather ragged disturbed top. Deep cuttings on the east and west sides, caused bu cross-ridge routes, have disturbed the sides of the mound. There is no real evidence of a ditch.

SY96538083 Two irregular flat topped mounds with deep cuttings on either sides. They have both been identified and scheduled as round barrows within a compact group of four - including 6008-192 and 6009-193 bu thtey would appear to be fortuitious mounds perhaps caused by cuttings made by the narrow routes that cross the steep ridge in this area. The smaller measures about 10m across whilst its neighbour is a maximum 23.0m long on a N-S axis. Both are listed as 'doubtful barrows' by the Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division. Neither are noted in the RCHME Inventory - here it is stated that Grinsells 10 a-c between 6008 - 192 and 6008-193 are unidentifiable.

SY96558082 Possible barrow not identified on the ground. (8) fletcher


A circular mound, approximately 19.8m in diameter, is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of Corfe Common, Corfe Castle (1-2). It is considered likely to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. It is one on a group of several dispersed round barrows located across the common (MDO7412-19 & MDO7540). This feature was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck mapping project.

<1> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 16-JUL-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 102 (Monograph). SDO132.

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

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

('A'-SY 96528084; 'B'-SY 96588082) Tumuli (NR) (two shown)

<5> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 40 (Index). SDO147.

‘Probable Bowl Barrows. Situated on heathland, OS (SY98SE47C-E) reports the sites of three barrows existing between (192) and (193). One mound diam. 21.0m and ht. 1.0m, another diam. 10.0m and ht. 0.2m. Overgrown with grass, gorse, blackberry and bracken. Two ditches cut the W. and E. perimeter of these mounds. A W.-E. track has eroded the tops of these surviving earthworks which may represent debris from the three destroyed monuments. 7/7/D.’

<6> Wardale, C F, Various, Field Investigators Comments CFW, F2 CFW 10-SEP-85 (Unpublished document). SWX2704.

<7> Fletcher, Martin, Field investigator's comments MJF, 20-DEC-03 (Unpublished document). SDO17630.

<8> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AF00137 (Index). SDO14738.

Corfe Common, Dorset

<9> Royal Air Force, 06-MAY-1969, RAF 58/2843 0100-01 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13676.

<10> National Monuments Record, 18-NOV-2005, SY 9680/2 NMR 24139/14 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13684.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456849 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 20 2024 8:21AM