Monument record MDO111 - Barrow on Eggardon Hill, Askerswell

A Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on a ridge south of Eggardon. The mound was at first thought to be a spoil heap from quarrying but was excavated by Dorset Institute of Higher Education in 1981 and proved to be a barrow. The remains of a late Bronze Age urn, likely to have contained a cremation burial, were found at the circumference. Three extended inhumations were found in the centre of the mound. They were oriented east-west and had no grave goods, and so were thought to represent re-use of the barrow in the early medieval period.

Within the enclosure are several mounds which had been assumed to be spoil heaps. However on excavation the largest of these turned out to be a round barrow with remains of one late Bronze Age urn at its circumference. In the centre were three extended inhumations lying nearly east west, all without grave goods. They may well represent re-use of the barrow in Saxon times. <1>

It was a large bowl barrow severely damaged by the construction of the Roman road, much material having been removed form the northern side. No further inhumations were found, but the primary cremation was located; this was a collared urn containing at least one other vessel. <2>

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1983, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1982, 181 (Serial). SDO82.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1983, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1983, 146 (Serial). SDO83.

Record last edited

Dec 19 2016 3:08PM