Monument record MDO8745 - Bowl barrow on St Catherine's Hill, Christchurch

A Bronze Age bowl barrow on St Catherine's Hill. The barrow survives as an earthwork 12 metres in diameter and 0.8 metres high, with faint traces of a ditch in the south and east quadrants. Excavations in 1921 by W G Wallace recorded an inverted urn containing a cremation and two flint flakes. An inverted collared urn was found in 1974 protruding from the top of the barrow. It contained a cremation burial and remains of a pigmy cup.A low sub-circular earthwork is visible at this location on current Lidar imagery and was digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project. The remains of a post medieval watchtower are recorded at this location on the OS 1st Edition map.

Bowl barrow. Diameter 14 paces, height 3 1/2ft. Excavated in 1921 by W.G.Wallace. Finds include a Middle Bronze Age urn of over-hanging rim type in an inverted position and containing a cremation - portions of the base and one side of the urn were missing, 2 flint flakes were found beneath the urn. (2-4)

Finds in Bournemouth NH & SS Museum. (5)

A bowl barrow, 12.0m. Diameter, 0.8m. High, with the faint suggestion of a ditch in the south and east quadrants. (6)

No change; published NSL 1:2500 survey correct. (7)

A disturbed burial urn was found in 1974 protruding from the top of this heavily eroded bowl barrow. It was removed for examination and found to be an Early Bronze Age collared urn, inverted, containing a cremation burial and the broken remains of a pigmy cup. (8)

A low sub-circular banked earthwork at this location is visible on current Lidar imagery at this location and was digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project (10). The earthwork measured around 12.4m long by 10m wide. The remains of a watchtower are shown at this location on the OS 1st Edition map (11).

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1988, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1987, 134 (Serial). SDO87.

‘St Catherine’s Hill. In January 1976 the author conducted emergency earthmoving funded by Christchurch Council to give some protection to barrows eroding into old quarry workings on St Catherin’s Hill. The barrow numbers are the Ordnance Survey Record Card series … SZ 19NW22. About 30 cm of topsoil was added to the centre of the barrow to reduce erosion due to a path over the barrow.’

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1931 (Map). SWX1540.

(SZ 14339592) Tumulus (NR)

<2> Calkin, J B, 1949, Annotated Record Map Corr. 6 (J B Calkin 1949) (Map). SWX2587.

<3> Wallace, W G, 1920-21, Excavations on St. Catherine's Hill, Christchurch; Proc. Bournemouth Natural Science Society 13, p65-66 Plan (Article in serial). SWX3859.

<4> Williams-Freeman, 1920-24, Field Archaeology; Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society 9, p288 (Article in serial). SWX3860.

<5> Grinsell, L V, 1940, Hampshire Barrows; Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society 14, p19, 363 (Article in serial). SWX3470.

<6> Woodhouse, W C, Various, Field Investigators Comments WCW, F1 WCW 15-JUL-54 (Unpublished document). SWX3798.

<7> Phillips, A S, Various, Field Investigators Comments ASP, F2 ASP 31-MAR-69 (Unpublished document). SWX3817.

<9> Hedges, M E, and Aiken, P, 1975, Rescue Archaeology in Hampshire, p39-42.plan, illus (Article in serial). SWX3864.

<10> XX-XXX-2015, Environment Agency DTM Lidar 1m (Aerial Photograph). SDO15442.

<11> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 458434 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<12> Jefferies, Jeff, 1999, The Barrows of Christchurch. Their Past, Present and Future, Appendix 1. Barrow Record 4 (Unpublished document). SDO20590.

Record last edited

Jul 24 2024 11:45AM