Monument record MDO7678 - Bowl barrow on Chick's Hill, East Stoke

A Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on a spur overlooking the river Frome. In 1970 this monument was reported as 28 feet in diameter with a mound about 3 feet high before being partly destroyed. It was excavated in 1955-6, revealing a cremation in an upturned urn set on large flints over a small pit containing charcoal and burnt flints. Excavation also revealed an irregular ditch around the mound.

SY 86878588. Ditched bowl barrow on Chick's Hill, about 28 ft diameter and 3 ft high, before partial distruction and excavation in 1955-6. A primary cremation in an inverted globular urn lay just above the old surface, in the centre on large flints, and immediately above a small infilled pit with signs of burning. Some 6 ft to the north east was a similar pit containing pine and oak charcoal and burnt flints. The mound had been heaped up in stages with material from slightly irregular flat-bottomed ditch about 5ft wide and 3 ft deep. Some cultivation had probably taken place in the area before the barrow was built.<3>

SY 86888588. This bowl was completely destroyed when Laurel Cottage was built. The house and its recent extension cover the site. <4>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1957, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1956, 79 (Serial). SDO56.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1959, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1958, 146-159 (Serial). SDO58.

<2> Ashbee, P, and Dimbleby, G W, 1959, 'The Excavation of a Round Barrow on Chick's Hill, East Stoke Parish, Dorset' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SDO12403.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 451 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(22) Ditched bowl (SY 88 NE; 86878588) on Chick's Hill, a spur S. of the Frome, just over 50 ft. above O.D. Diam. about 28 ft., ht. 3 ft., before partial destruction and excavation in 1955-6. Primary cremation in inverted globular urn lay just above old surface in centre on large flints and immediately above small infilled pit containing pine and oak charcoal and burnt flints. The mound had been heaped up in stages with material from slightly irregular flat-bottomed ditch about 5 ft. wide and 3 ft. deep. Some cultivation had probably taken place in the area before the barrow was built.'

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 26-JUN-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

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

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455251 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 19 2023 10:27AM