Monument record MDO8116 - Bowl barrow, Worgret Heath, Wareham Town

Bowl barrow, located near the edge of a slope falling steeply to the north. Its diameter is about 50 ft and its height is 5 ft. A circular mound is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of Worgret Heath, Wareham Town taken in 1945. It is considered likely to be the remains of the round barrow described above. Summary from record MWX680: A bowl barrow surrounded by a shallow ditch. In 1970 this monument was reported as being a mound 20 feet in diameter and about 2½ feet high.

‘WORGRET HEATH GROUP (SY 98 NW), nine barrows, including Wareham Lady St. Mary (82-4) of which (83) is a possible bell. On relatively high ground around the 100 ft. contour, though (31) is below it to the E. One barrow in this area, excavated in c. 1830 by Pennie and later destroyed, contained at least twenty-four Middle or Late Bronze Age urns, some holding cremations. Only one survives, in D.C.M. (Gentleman’s Magazine (1838), pt. I, 303; Hutchins I, 108). … '

'B' Dimensions: Diameter. 22 yards. Height 5'6". Shallow narrow ditch. Undisturbed. 'A' Dimensions: Diameter 32 yards. Height 6'-7'. Centre slightly disturbed. Well marked ditch 4 yards wide, 1 1/2 - 2' deep. <2>

Three barrows lettered A, B, & C. 'C' Diameter 14.5 metres; height 1.6 metres. No trace of berm or ditch. Slight mutilation in the top where a concrete slab has been sunk to hold a flagstaff. Bracken covered; probably a bowl barrow. <3>

Three round barrows: (C) Bowl (90238727) near edge of slope falling steeply N. Diameter. about 50ft., ht. 5ft. <4>

SY 903872. Round barrows on Worgret Heath. Scheduled. <5>

A circular mound, approximately 13.8m in diameter, is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of Worgret Heath, Wareham Town taken in 1945 <7>. It is considered likely to be the remains of the round barrow described above. This feature was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Various, Ordnance Survey Map 6in. Prov. Ed (Map). SWX2257.

(Centred SY 903872) Tumuli (NR) (three shown)

<2> Grimes, W F, Annotated Record Map Corr. 6 (W F Grimes), 24-APR-1939 (Map). SWX2943.

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 30-JUL-52 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 435 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(32) Ditched bowl (90118720) 175 yds. N.N.E. of (29) on end of spur. Diam. 20 ft., ht. 2½ ft.’

<5> 1978, List of ancient monuments in England: Southern England, p59 (Monograph). SWX1558.

<6> DCMS, 1999, Scheduled Monument Notification 1999, 04-FEB-1999 (Scheduling record). SDO17351.

<7> Royal Air Force, 14-MAR-1945, RAF 106G/LA/194 236-38 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13435.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456657 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 20 2024 6:24PM