Monument record MWX683 - Bronze Age round barrow, Holme Heath, East Holme

A circular mound is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of Holme Heath. It is considered likely to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. This may be a fourth barrow associated with three located 80m to the north-east (MDO7627-29).

A Diameter 12.5 metres; height 1.4 metres. No sign of berm or ditch. Slight mutilation on top. B. Diameter 12.0 metres; height 1.6 metres. No trace of berm or ditch. Mutilated on top. 'C' Diameter 10.0 metres; height 1.2 metres. Very slightly mutilated on top. No sign of berm or ditch.

Small mounds mentioned in Authority 2 are natural gravel outcrops. (See SY 98 NW 42). (3)

Three barrows, all excavated by Austen in 1860. To the north-west and south is a large group of small mounds (see SY 98 NW 42), surrounding barrows (b) and (c), one apparently impinging on (c).

Details of the barrows are as follows:-

(a) SY 90698528. Bowl barrow 326 feet diameter by 4 1/2 feet high. Nothing found by Austen.

(b) SY 90678529. Ditched bowl barrow 36 feet diameter by 4 feet high. It contained a probable cremation.

(c) SY 90648528. Bowl barrow 27 feet diameter by 2 1/2 feet high. An inverted urn, probably primary, lay in a cist cut into the subsoil and covered with a sandstone slab. A secondary urn lay 'Unprotected'
1 1/2 feet to the south and 1 foot from the surface. This barrow is overlapped by one of the adjoining mounds, (SY 98 NW 42). (4)

A circular mound, approximately 20.4m in diameter, is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of Holme Heath (9). It is considered likely to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. This may be a fourth barrow associated with three located 80m to the north-east (MDO7627-29). This feature was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project. It is not visible on the most recent Google Earth imagery, the area now under dense scrub.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1930 edition OS map (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SY 906852) Tumuli (N) (Three Shown)

<2> Calkin, J B, 1950, Annotated Record Map Corr. 6 (J B Calkin 1950) (Map). SWX2957.

Three barrows dug by J.H. Austen. The westernmost contained two urns. Nearby are some 120 small mounds. Three bracken covered bowl barrows, lettered A, B, & C.

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, 23-JUL-52 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> 1978, List of ancient monuments in England: Southern England, p63 (Monograph). SWX1558.

SY 907853. Three round barrows on Holme Lane Plantation. Scheduled.

<6> Austen, J, 1858, Archaeological Journal 15, p151-2, Illus. (Serial). SWX2961.

<7> DCMS, 1999, Scheduled Monument Notification 1999, 07-JUL-1999 (Scheduling record). SDO17351.

<8> Purbeck Papers, p233 (Monograph). SWX8202.

<9> Royal Air Force, 18-FEB-1970, RAF 58/0254 0036 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13485.

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

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456669 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 20 2023 2:52PM