Monument record MDO2061 - Barrow on Friar Waddon Hill, Portesham

A Bronze Age Bowl barrow on the crest of Friar Waddon Hill, noted by field investigators as an extant earthwork and also visible as a low earthwork on aerial photographs. One of several bowl barrows situated along the crest at the east end of Friar Waddon Hill. A food vessel 5 1/2 inches high, now in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, may have come from one of these barrows, or those located further to the west.

Group of four bowl barrows along the crest at the east end of Friar Waddon hill, one above 400 ft, the others on east slope.
'B' (64548545) 65 yds east of 'A'.Diam 42 ft, ht 5 ft. Excavated in centre. A food vessel 5 1/2 inches high, now in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, may have come from one of these barrows or those to the west (MDO2059 & MDO24592). <1> <3>

'B'. SY 64538544. Bowl barrow, diameter 15.0m. Height 2.0m. None of these 6 barrows has a visible ditch, and all are under permanent pasture. A, B, C and D re-surveyed, and 'E' and 'F' surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <4>

Also visible as a circular earthwork mound on aerial photographs <5-6>, measuring approximately 8 metres in diameter. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 127 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

('B' - SY 64538544; 'C' - SY 64608540) Tumuli (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 450 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(53) (64548545) 65 yds. E. of (52). Diam. 42 ft., ht. 5 ft. Excavated in centre.’

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 11-APR-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Royal Air Force, 17-1-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 1063-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11906.

<6> Royal Air Force, 22-1-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 3295-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11932.

<7> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey (Index). SDO12304.

'Measurements and description as above. Situated in a field of permanent pasture grazed by cattle when visited. Slightly mutilated by a trackway on its N side.'

<8> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<9> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452490 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jun 27 2022 5:12PM