Monument record MDO7972 - Bronze Age round barrow, Godlingston Heath, Studland

SZ00618306 Five Bowl barrows and a Bell barrow forming a round barrow cemetery on a prominent ridge of Godlingston Heath. The bowl barrows each have a mound composed of sand and turf, with diameters ranging between 12 and 18m and a maximum height of between c. 1m and 1.5m. Each mound is surrounded by a ditch which survive as buried features c.2m wide.

The bell barrow is situated on the northern side of the group and is made up of sand and turf, with a maximum diameter of 20m. This is surrounded by a berm 5m wide, which is in turn surrounded by a ditch which survives as a buried feature c 2.5m wide. The cemetery has been disturbed by recent military activity. <2>

A Bronze Age round barrow is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs and lidar imagery on Godlingston Heath. The barrow measures approximately 13 m in diameter. A hollow, probably the result of excavation, is visible on the top of the barrow. The barrow is scheduled in a group together with five others (see linked records). <3> These features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Papworth, M, 1989, Six barrows on Godlingston Heath, Studland. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 110 for 1988, 144 (Article in serial). SDO20920.

‘During survey work on the Corfe Castle Estate a group of six previously unrecorded barrow mounds was identified on Godlingston Heath.
They lie on a flat topped knoll 65m OD which has been cut into by clay pits on the north and south sides. Two ore more of the mounds are visible from nearly all directions on the surrounding heath, and from the Studland sand dunes to the north-east a line of five can be seen on the horizon. The barrows are heather covered and undamaged apart from a number of rectangular pits, average size 1.5m by 0.7m by 0.5m deep, which cut three of the mounds and appear to be military trenches of the 1940s. Five of the barrows forma curve aligned north to south with the sixth barrow lying north-east of the southernmost mound. Each mound is less than 5m from its neighbour. None of these bowl barrows has a visible berm or ditch. The national grid references and dimensions of each of the barrows are as follows
SZ00598309 12.0m diameter, 1.0m high. Cut by three trenches.’

<2> English Heritage, Record Form, 9-SEP-1995 (Index). SDO20475.

<3> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13148.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1067630 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 21 2024 7:43AM