Monument record MDO2042 - Bowl barrow, one of the Black Down Barrow Group, Portesham

Site of a probable Bronze Age bowl barrow located on the edge of a steep north east slope on Black Down, just to the north-east of bowl barrow (MDO2041). It measures 21 meters in diameter and 1.2 meterst in height and is one of a group of potential barrows situated on Black Down {1}. It features traces of an excavation in the centre, possibly that of Cunnington in 1878 {2}.

A mound is also visible at this location as an earthwork on aerial photographs {3}, situated 10 metres east of Hardy's Monument (MDO2030) and measuring approximately 20 metres in diameter. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Cunnington, E, 1915, Cunnington MSS (Unpublished document). SDO10110.

<2> Thompson, M W, and Ashbee, P, 1957, Excavation of a barrow near the Hardy monument, Black Down, Portesham, Dorset; Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 23 (Article in serial). SDO17266.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

<4> 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.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 208 (Index). SDO12304.

Dimensions as above. Heather covered mound. 1/4/D

<6> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3299-3300 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11849.

<7> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1175351 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

May 17 2023 3:18PM