SDO12562 - The Excavation of a Round Barrow at Long Bredy, Dorset; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society

Introduction. This barrow, a scheduled monument, was situated alongside the A35 Dorchester-Bridport road at grid reference SY 570914. In the early 1960s the Dorset County Council drew up plans for improving the road. According to these plans it was intended to widen and realign the road in the neighbourhood of the barrow, in fact the barrow would be in the line of the altered road. Accordingly the County Council informed the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments of the then Ministry of Public Building and Works, now the Department of the Environment. Subsequently the Inspectorate decided that the barrow should be excavated. This work was undertaken by the Inspectorate, under the immediate direction of the writer, during August-September 1964. The excavation was carried out on the quadrant method. The site is situated in south-west Dorset about four miles inland from the coast. It is at the extreme western end of the Dorset ridgeway, and the surrounding countryside is undulating chalkland. In the immediate vicinity of the site, the maximum height of the hills is only slightly over 600 ft. The site itself is situated at a height of 453 ft. OD. From the site there is a fairly extensive view to the west and south-wet. Lyme Bay is visible as is the Devon coast across the bay to the south-west. In the other direction, however, the chalk hills restrict the view. The area in the vicinity of the site was intensively settled during prehistoric times. It is rich in barrows; overlooking the site is Long Barrow Hill, Martin’s Down, with its immensely large, long barrow and several round barrows (for good air photograph of the area, see Forde-Johnston, 1976, Pl. 12). Before excavation the site appeared as a very well preserved example of a bowl barrow and it had been listed by the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments as Long Bredy, 9a.