Monument record MDO7628 - Bronze Age round barrow, Holme Heath, East Holme

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). A possible forth round barrow is located 80m to the south-west (MWX683) and may also be contemporary with them. Opened in the 1860s by antiquarian J H Austen, who found ashes, possibly the remains of a cremation burial.

(Centred SY 906852) Tumuli (N) (Three Shown) (1) OS 6" 1930

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 (c) one apparently impinging on (c). Details of the barrows are as follows:-

(b) SY 90678529. Ditched bowl barrow 36 feet diameter by 4 feet high. It contained a probable cremation. <7>

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

The evaluation of two Round Barrow at Squirrel Cottage, East Holme, occurred in 1991. The barrows were built of turves capped with a thin skin of sand dug from shallow surrounding ditches. The only finds were a 'handful of undiagnostic worked flints and some burnt flint.' <9> <10> <11>

A Bronze Age round barrow, approximately 12m in diameter, is visible as an earthwork on Lidar imagery of Holme Heath <9>. 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J, 1987, The Archaeological Implications of proposed mineral working at Squirrel Cottage, Holme Lane, Wareham (Unpublished document).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.

<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 B: a ditched barrow in which he found ashes only.’

<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)). … (10) Ditched bowl (90678529) 40 yds. N.E. of (9). Diam. 36 ft., ht. 4 ft. Probable cremation.’

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

<9> 1991, Round Barrows at Squirrel's [sic] Cottages, East Holme, Dorset. Archaeological Evaluation. (Unpublished document). SDO212.

<9> Healy, F, 1991, Round barrows at Squirrel's Cottages, East Holme (Article in serial). SWX9270.

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 Smith, R, 1991, Three Barrows in Holme Lane Plantation, Purbeck - Contour Survey (Unpublished document).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

‘Barrow 2 (Figs 5 and 6)

Barrow 2 lies some nine metres to the west of Barrow 1. Its mound measures 10 metres in diameter and 0.75 metres high. The mound is rounded with evenly spread contours, with the exception of a steeper slope to the north-east and the very top of the mound. The latter consists of a shallow depression c. 0.15 metres deep and 4.5 metres in diameter. A shallow depression surrounds the majority of te base of the mound, 006xcept to the north-west, and may represent the remnants of a ditch.

The contour survey suggests the centre of the barrow mound has been disturbed by a pit cut vertically into the core of the monument. This pit was probably only partially back filled, the spoil possibly being spread over the north-western slope and base of the mound. This may account for the apparent absence of the surrounding ditch at this point of the monument. The steeper slope on the north-east of the monument may indicate another intrusion or recent erosion.’

<11> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1992, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1991, 170 (Serial). SDO91.

<12> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 125 (Index). SDO147.

‘Low rise 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 this mound. 1/3/C.’

<13> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DSM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13147.

<14> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<15> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456669 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 19 2024 2:42PM