Monument record MDO8542 - Round Barrow, Kinson, Bournemouth

An Early Bronze Age round barrow was excavated in 1973 in advance of redevelopment. The barrow survived as a ring ditch eleven metres in diameter. The ditch fill contained large quantities of flint flakes, seven sandstone objects and six inurned cremations. The barrow was subsequently the focus of a Middle Bronze Age cremation cemetery with 28 burials found outside the ditch to the north-east. The barrow is faintly visible as a ring ditch and low interior mound on 1940s aerial photographs and was digitally plotted from these by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Diameter 40 feet, height 3 1/2 feet. Unopened but disturbed; doubtful ditch. <1>

Bowl Barrow on golf course. <2>

This round barrow was formerly in a golf course and subsequently in a caravan park. In 1969 it was described as a level, circular platform, less than 0.1 metre in height, upon the top of a grass-covered knoll. <4>

The barrow was excavated in 1973 by members of the South Wessex Archaeological Association and the Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, in advance of redevelopment. The mound had been entirely removed by landscaping associated with the former golf course and caravan park. The sole surviving feature was the surrounding ditch, which was 11. - 2 m wide, 0.7-0.8 m deep and had an inner diameter of 11 metres. The ditch fill contained hundreds of flint flakes, seven sandstone objects and six inurned cremations. A further 28 burials were found outside the ditch to the north-east. The urns were in a very poor state due to poor manufacture and recent mechanical damage. <5-6>

The barrow is faintly visible as a ring ditch and low interior mound on 1940s aerial photographs. The feature is slightly elliptical in shape, around 13m by 11m and with an outer 1.4m wide ditch <7> The feature was digitally plotted from the 1940s aerial photographs by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

<1> Wallace, W G, Rec 6", 1919-23 (Map). SDO17466.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1940, Hampshire Barrows; Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society 14 (Article in serial). SWX3470.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 scale, 1969 (Map). SWX1197.

SZ 0504 9560: Tumulus

<4> Phillips, A S, Various, Field Investigators Comments ASP, F1 ASP 25-MAR-69 (Unpublished document). SWX3817.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1974, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1973, 84-86 (Serial). SDO73.

<6> Hedges, M E, and Aiken, P, 1975, Rescue Archaeology in Hampshire, 5-34 (Article in serial). SWX3864.

<7> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RS 4204-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16063.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 457718 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 4 2023 1:37PM