Monument record MDO8144 - Bowl Barrow, one of the Seven Barrows group, Wareham Town

A bowl barrow, one of a linear group on a ridge. In 1970 this monument was reported as being around 66 feet in diameter with a mound just under four feet high, and with a noticeably flat top. A mound is visible as cropmarks and earthworks on aerial photographs and Lidar imagery of a field to the south-east of Seven Barrows Farm. It is considered likely to be one of the Seven Barrows group described above.

A bowl barrow 66 feet in diameter, 3½ feet high. Its top is markedly flat, apparently an original feature. This barrow is part of the Seven Barrows Group, a group of eight barrows, all but one at SY91218879 are in a near straight line running SW to NE on a small well-defined heathland ridge. It is thought that all except the barrow at SY91218879 were dug into by Shipp and Durden in 1844, but without any result. <2>

Visited by C D Drew on 1.11.1930, A Lloyd on 10.08.1979 and P Leech on 13.08.1987. The mound is composed of earth, sand and turf. It is surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during construction of the monument, Somewhat reduced by ploughing. <7>

A mound, approximately 18m in diameter, is visible as cropmarks and earthworks on aerial photographs (3-4) and Lidar imagery (5) of a field to the south-east of Seven Barrows Farm. It is considered likely to be one of the Seven Barrows group described above. This feature was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SY 912887) Seven Barrows (NR)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 455 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘SEVEN BARROWS GROUP (SY 98 NW). Eight barrows, all but (13) in a near-straight line S.W.-N.E. on the summit of a small but sharply-defined heathland ridge above the 100 ft. contour. A ninth possibly existed at 91168857 but no trace remains. Probably all but (13) were dug into by Shipp and Durden in 1844 without result (C.T.D., cpf, no. 1). (8) Bowl (91148864). Diam. 66 ft., ht. 3½ ft. Top markedly flat, apparently an original feature.’

<3> Ordnance Survey, 07-MAR-1971, OS/71005 002-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13412.

<4> Pan Government Agreement, 2008, PGA (Aerial Photograph). SDO13137.

<5> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DSM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13147.

<6> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456668 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 25 2024 10:09AM