Monument record MDO863 - Bowl barrow on Lyscombe Hill, Cheselbourne

One of a group of small mounds identified as possible bowl barrows. May be natural feature. A small mound 6.5m across is visible as low earthworks on lidar imagery; it is possibly the site of a round barrow and was digitally recorded from lidar imagery during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM Project.

A barrow group centred ST 730023 (See Table). <2-4>

B. ST 73030230 & ST 73010227, Two low stony mounds 8.0 m in diameter and 0.4m, and 0.5m high respectively.

Tumuli surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <5>

A small mound 6.5m across is visible as low earthworks on lidar imagery; it is possibly the site of a round barrow and was digitally recorded from lidar imagery during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM Project. (Lidar 2021 (7)).

Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1986, Dorset Barrow Survey, Papworth MDJ, TWA 26 November 1985 (Index). SDO134.

‘Visible as faint rises in rough grassland; appear to have been ploughed in the past but not recently as there are clumps of gorse in the vicinity. To the NW lies deciduous woodland. The barrows within the wooded area are also small mounds.’

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch 2 (Map). SDO11594.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 100 (Monograph). SDO132.

‘Group of small mounds - perhaps barrows; but three mounds of an analogous group (MELCOMBE HORSEY 2a) on the opposite side of Lyscombe Bottom have proved to be probably natural features.’

<3> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 221 (Monograph). SDO136.

<4> Rigg, J, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments JR, F1 JR 25-AUG-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<5> Barrett, G, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments GB, F2 GB 08-NOV-78 (Unpublished document). SDO17369.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 202054 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<6> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Nov 11 2025 12:03PM