SDO9688 - Observations on the site of the ‘Two Barrows’, Fordington Farm, Dorchester; with a note on the ‘Conquer Barrow’

Observations of road works in 1978, north of Hardye’s School grounds and 300 m west of Fordington Farm revealed part of the mound and western multiple ditches of a round barrow, probably the western of the ‘Two Barrows’ known from topographical records and antiquarian accounts. A mound structure of at least two phases, each enclosed by a ditch, may have succeeded an initial turf mound. No burials were observed, the centre of the barrow perhaps lying southeast beneath Hardye’s School’s northern boundary. The only finds consisted of a barbed and tanged arrowhead found incorporated in the turf mound, and a deposit of in situ flint knapping debris on the old ground surface beneath it. The barrow is identified with the site of a Wessex burial found in the last century, the location of which has been lost.