Monument record MWX632 - Bronze Age bowl barrow on Swyre Head, Corfe Castle

A bowl barrow situated on Swyre Head. The barrow has a mound composed of earth and chalk, with maximum dimensions of 25 metres in diameter and about 2.5 metres in height. The mound is steep-sided and flat-topped, with a large square stone situated in the centre. The form of the mound is likely to reflect later modification of the barrow in order to act as a windmill mound, evidence for which is visible as two shallow trenches which cross the mound. Surrounding the mound is a quarry ditch which has become infilled over the years, but will survive as a buried feature 2 metres wide. Scheduled.

Very large bowl barrow. (may have been added to recently). <2>

A turf covered Bowl Barrow with a diameter of 23.0m. and a height of 3.0m. It has no ditch. The barrow is flat-topped and surmounted by a modern square stone. It is mutilated in the North and South quadrants by footpaths. Extending to the South is a slight ramp (exaggerated slopes OS 6" 1929) which is possibly the spoil deposited when the barrow was truncated. <3>

SY 93417846. Corfe Castle 21. Bowl barrow on Swyre Head listed, as Authority 2. <4>

A bowl barrow at SY 93417846 is 83 feet in diameter by 8 feet high, turf covered but damaged by paths. There is a stone base on the flattened top of the mound. <5>

A fine bowl barrow 3m high and with diameters of 20m by 23m excluding a 10m long ramp up the S side. There is no ditch and the mound is turf covered except for the top, which has been truncated to provide material for the ramp and has exposed a stone and earth content. Grinsell's view that the barrow has been added to in recent time presumably applies to the ramp which is for access to (and possibly the positioning of two ashlar blocks which together form a seat 1.7m square and 0.4m high. It lacks a back stone but is otherwise similar to the "Eldon seat" (SY 97 NW 35). The barrow is set back 10m from a steep W slope which drops 100m to the narrow coastal plain. Although extensive views can be obtained from the barrow, it cannot be seen from any point on the plain. <6>

The barrow is visible on aerial photographs and lidar <7-9> and was digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset).

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1929 (Map). SWX1540.

Tumulus (NR)

<2> Colquhoun, F D, Field Investigators Comments FDC, F1 FDC 25-OCT-51 (Unpublished document). SWX2609.

<3> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F2 JR 29-JUL-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<4> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 103 (Monograph). SDO132.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 443 (Monograph). SDO150.

<6> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F3 NVQ 29-APR-86 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<7> National Monuments Record, 18-NOV-2005, NMR 24139/34-41 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12883.

<8> Channel Coastal Observatory, 23-MAR-2008, Lidar (Photograph). SDO12878.

<9> Channel Coastal Observatory, 25-FEB-2009, Lidar (Aerial Photograph). SDO12879.

<10> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<11> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 97/H/23 (Index). SDO14738.

VIEW OF "THE ELDON SEAT" FROM THE NORTH - MODERN SQUARE STONE ON TOP TOP OF LARGE BOWL BARROW. Photographer: UNKNOWNDonor: UNKNOWNCopyright: UNKNOWN

<12> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 97/H/27 (Index). SDO14738.

BOWL BARROW FROM NORTH-EAST. THIS VERY LARGE BARROW IS MUTILATED TO NORTH AND SOUTH BY FOOTPATHS. IT IS SURMOUNTED BY A MODERN SQUARE STONE. Photographer: UNKNOWNDonor: UNKNOWNCopyright: UNKNOWN

<13> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 97/H/28 (Index). SDO14738.

VIEW FROM SOUTH-EAST. VERY LARGE BARROW MUTILATED TO NORTH AND SOUTH BY FOOTPATHS. SURMOUTED BY MODERN SQUARE STONE. Photographer: UNKNOWNDonor: UNKNOWNCopyright: UNKNOWN

<14> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456525 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 7 2024 8:31AM