Monument record MDO8118 - Ditched bowl barrow, Worgret Heath Group

Ditched bowl barrow, forming part of the Worgret Heath group. A circular mound surrounded by an outer ditch is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs and Lidar imagery of Worgret Heath, Wareham Town. It is considered likely to be the remains of the round barrow described above. It is one of two barrows lying adjacent to one another (see also MWX3889).

'B' Dimensions: Diam. 22 yards. Height 5'6". Shallow narrow ditch. Undisturbed. <2>

Three barrows lettered A, B, & C. 'B' Diameter 21.0 metres; height 1.9 metres. No visible berm, but a slight depression exists in the top of the mound. A surrounding ditch is 1.4 metres wide and 0.3 metres deep, and has a small slit trench dug into it on N side. Heather covered; probably a bowl barrow. <3>

Three round barrows: (B) Ditched bowl (90328727) 50 yards NE of (A) at end of spur. Diam. 38ft., ht. 5 1/2ft., with ditch 6 1/2 wide and up to 1 ft deep. <4>

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

A circular mound, approximately 13.2m in diameter with a 1m wide outer ditch, is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs <6> and Lidar imagery <7> of Worgret Heath, Wareham Town. It is considered likely to be the remains of the round barrow described above. It is one of two barrows lying adjacent to one another (see also MWX3889). 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), 23.2.39 (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 Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 30-JUL-52 (Unpublished document).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.

‘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). … (84) Ditched bowl (90328727) 50 yds. N.E. of (83) at end of spur. Diam. 38 ft., ht. 5½ ft., with ditch 6½ ft. wide and up to 1 ft. deep.'

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

<6> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 6407 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13439.

<7> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DSM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13147.

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

Record last edited

Feb 4 2024 8:56AM