Monument record MDO8145 - 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 64 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, 64ft in diameter, 3 and a half ft high. Its top is markedly flat, apparently an original feature. This barrow is part of the Seven Barrows Group, a group of eight barrows (scheduled as two separate groups of four) 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 (3-5) and Lidar imagery (6) 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, Wareham St Mary 9 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘Eight of the nine barrows are in the Seven Barrows Group. Six others have been claimed, but four (LVG 1, 2 4 and 5) are probably upcast from gravel digging, and nothing remains of the other two.

(AA) 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).

(9) Bowl (91168868) 30 yds. N.E. of (8). Diam. 64 ft., ht. 3½ ft. Flat-topped as (8).’

<3> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3054-55 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13408.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 07-MAR-1971, OS/71005 002-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13412.

<5> Pan Government Agreement, 2008, PGA (Aerial Photograph). SDO13137.

<6> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DSM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13147.

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

Record last edited

Oct 25 2024 10:10AM