Monument record MDO7627 - Bronze Age round barrow, Holme Heath, East Holme

The excavated remains of a Bronze Age round barrow is visible as an earthwork on Lidar imagery of Holme Heath. It is one of a group of three round barrows located here (MDO7627-29). This barrow was explored in the 1860s by antiquarian J H Austen, who found an inverted urn in a cist covered with a stone slab, and a second urn higher in the mound.

Group of three Barrows, lying on a gravel spur running north from Battle Plain. They were all dug into in 1860. <1>

Short report on J Austen's excavation. <2>

Three barrows dug by J H Austen. The westernmost contained two urns. Nearby are some 120 small mounds.
Three bracken covered bowl barrows, lettered A, B, & C. <4>

'A' Diameter 12.5 metres; height 1.4 metres. No sign of berm or ditch. Slight mutilation on top.
'B'. Diameter 12.0 metres; height 1.6 metres. No trace of berm or ditch. Mutilated on top.
'C' Diameter 10.0 metres; height 1.2 metres. Very slightly mutilated on top. No sign of berm or ditch.
Small mounds mentioned in Authy 2 are natural gravel outcrops. (See SY 98 NW 42). <5>

Three barrows, all excavated by Austen in 1860. To the north-west and south is a large group of small mounds (see SY 98 NW 42), surroundingbarrows (b) and © one apparently impinging on ©. Details of the barrows are as follows:-

© SY 90648528. Bowl barrow 27 feet diameter by 2½ feet high. An inverted urn, probably primary, lay in a cist cut into the subsoil and covered with a sandstone slab. A secondary urn lay 'Unprotected' 1½ feet to the south and 1 foot from the surface.

This barrow is overlapped by one of the adjoining mounds, (SY 98 NW 42). <7>

SY 907853. Three round barrows on Holme Lane Plantation. <8>

The excavated remains of a Bronze Age round barrow, approximately 16.6.m in diameter, is visible as an earthwork on Lidar imagery of Holme Heath <11>. It is one of a group of three round barrows located here (MDO7627-29). A possible forth round barrow is located 80m to the south-west (MWX683) and may also be contemporary with them. This feature was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

Richards, J, 1987, The Archaeological Implications of proposed mineral working at Squirrel Cottage, Holme Lane, Wareham (Unpublished document). SDO21195.

<1> Austen, J H, 1856-7, Purbeck Papers 1 (Monograph). SWX4501.

<2> Austen, J, 1858, Archaeological Journal 15, 151-2 (Serial). SWX2961.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1930 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SY 906852) Tumuli (N) (Three Shown)

<4> Calkin, J B, 1950, Annotated Record Map Corr. 6 (Map). SWX2543.

<5> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 23-JUL-52 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<6> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 106 (Monograph). SDO132.

‘JHA’s C: primary (?) inverted urn 1 ft. high, edged round with flints, in cist covered with sandstone slab. 1½ ft. away was an urn 6 in. high of the coarsest make (LBA?).’

<7> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 445 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘Three barrows (SY 98 NW) lie above 50 ft. contour just S. of local crest of gravel spur running N. from Battle Plain (see Fig. p. 482). All were dug into by Austen in 1860 (Purbeck Papers I, 233–8). To N.W. and S. surrounding (9) and (10) is a large group of small mounds, one apparently impinging on (9) (see Mounds, E. Holme (12)). (9) Bowl (90648528). Diam. 27 ft., ht. 2½ ft. An inverted urn, probably primary, lay in a cist cut into the sandy subsoil and covered with a sandstone slab. A secondary urn lay 'unprotected' 1½ ft. to the S. and 1 ft. from the surface. Mound (12c) overlaps (9) on W.’

<8> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 63 (Monograph). SWX1687.

<9> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 124 (Index). SDO147.

‘Low rise situated in managed coniferous woodland. Beyond a track to the N.W is a large area currently being quarried for ball clay. Pine and rhododendron grow from the mound. 1/3/C.’

<10> Smith, R, 1991, Three Barrows in Holme Lane Plantation, Purbeck - Contour Survey (Unpublished document). SWX9267.

‘Barrow 3 (Figs 7 and 8)

Barrow 3 lies some 21 metres to the south-west of Barrow 2. The barrow mound is oval, with a north-south axis, measuring c. 12 metres by 10 metres across and 0.8 metres high. The contours are evenly spaced and the slopes of the mound are fairly even. There are slight variations in steepness of slope around the monument. The very top of the mound is slightly flattened. The contour survey does not clearly indicate a ditch around or at the base of the mound.

There is no clear evidence from the contour survey for major intrusions into the mound of Barrow 3. Slight variations in slope around the mound may represent the remnants of intrusions or slight spoil heaps or the presence of recent trees/shrubs. The slightly flattened top to the mound may result from a partially back filled intrusion into its core. The slight ovoid shape to the mound and the apparent absence of a barrow ditch may result from the spreading of spoil from an intrusion somewhere around the monument. Otherwise any major intrusion that had been adequately back filled may not be easily recognised from the contour survey.

The central cores of all three barrows are reported to have been excavated by Austen in the 1860s. The location and scale, at least of some, of Austens’ interventions on Barrows 1 and 2 are detectable from the contour survey. Despite the absence of clear evidence from the survey for pitting of the core, there is no reason to doubt that his was not also the case with Barrow 3.’

<11> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DSM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13147.

<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, 456669 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 19 2024 2:42PM