Monument record MWX853 - Barrows, Swanage

A - SZ 02738123. Turf covered bowl barrow 7.0m. diameter and 0.5m. high with no surrounding ditch or traces of mutilation. B - SZ 02748123. Turf covered bowl barrow, 6.5.m. diameter and 0.5m. High with no surrounding ditch. Mutilated in the south by a track and in the north by a slit trench. C - SZ 02798125. No visible traces of this barrow; the site having apparently been built upon during the 1939-45 war. (see plan and profile). D - SZ 02758125. A slight elongated mound, orientated north- south, and surmounted by a boundary stone (shown on OS 6), is probably a natural feature. (2)

Ballard Down Group of round barrows lie close together on the spine of the steep: sided chalk ridge. The area, built on the disturbed circa 1940, and now almost levelled by ploughing, contains numerous slight rises similarly marked by concentrations of stone rubble, making identification of barrows recorded here very difficult. The reasonably certain barrows are:
'A' (84)-SZ 02738123. Bowl Barrow, 27ft diameter and 1ft high. (Grinsell's Swanage No 7).
'B'- (85)-SZ 02748123. Bowl barrow about 24ft diameter and 1ft high. (Grinsell's Swanage No 7a)
'C'-(87)-SZ 02798125. Bowl (?)barrow, (no diameter given) 1ft high. (Grinsell's Studland No 10 recorded as 11 paces diameter. X 1 1/2ft high). See field report
'D'-(86)-SZ 02768125. Bowl(?) barrow, about 30ft diameter and 1ft high. Boundary stone on top. (Grinsell's Studland No 5) see field report Authority 2.
'E'-SZ 02788124. Bowl barrow, 8 paces diameter and 1ft high near parish boundary. Grinsell's Swanage No.8 - not listed by RCHM). (3-4)

Until recently, when it came to the National Trust, Ballard Down was regularly ploughed but it is now reverting to downland. Since the RCHM reported on this barrow group in 1970 (3) RCHM 84 (SZ 02728124) and RCHM 85 (SZ 02738123) have been ploughed out and only the faintest traces remain. RCHM 87 remains as described but is doubtfully a barrow. RCHM 86 (SZ 02748125) has a boundary stone on top, on the line of the fence separating NTL from arable to the N, and only the N side is now surveyable. On grassland these 'features' are in bad condition, 160m OD. Surveyed at 1:2500. (5)

National Record of the Historic Environment, 457635 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

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

<1> Ordnance Survey, Various, Ordnance Survey Map 6in. Prov. Ed (Map). SWX2257.

Tumuli (NR) (three shown)

<2> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 02-SEP-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<5> Wardale, C F, Various, Field Investigators Comments CFW, F2 CFW 16-AUG-85 (Unpublished document). SWX2704.

Record last edited

Apr 19 2023 12:54PM