Monument record MDO20909 - Bowl barrow on Frome Hill, West Stafford

A Bronze Age round barrow recorded as a cropmark ring ditch on aerial photographs. One of a cluster of ring ditches located to the southeast of the Mount Pleasant henge enclosure, although first identified in 2004 it was actually first photographed in 1978. It is circa 27.5 metres in diameter.It is part of a wider linear barrow cemetery located to the south-east of Mount Pleasant.

Ring ditch, approximately 30m in diameter, visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs <1-3>. It is probably the site of a Bronze Age bowl barrow and appears to be part of a wider linear barrow cemetery aligned north-west - south-east, located approximatly 300m south-east of Mount Pleasant henge (MDO2890).

A ring ditch located southeast of the Mount Pleasant henge enclosure, one of several recorded for the first time during analysis of aerial photographs in 2004-5. Following the simple nomenclature used in the RCHME inventory and existing monument records, the barrow is designated 'D'.

Located at SY 71408978, there is a gap of just 6.5 metres between this ring ditch and that of barrow 'C' to the east. The ring ditch itself measures circa 27.5 metres in maximum internal diameter. Despite having a smaller overall diameter than 'B' and 'C', the ditch itself appears to be wider - circa 2.3 metres on average, compared to circa 1.5 metres for 'B' and 'C'. The ring ditch was first photographed, faintly, as a cropmark by the Ordnance Survey in 1978. <1-6>

<1> 11-JUN-1978, NMR OS/78080 015 (Aerial Photograph). SDO10982.

<2> 01-SEP-2004, NMR SY 7189/35 (Aerial Photograph). SDO10980.

<3> 15-FEB-2005, NMR SY 7189/45-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDO10979.

<4> Barber, M, 2005, Mount Pleasant 2005 plot (Cartographic materials). SDO10978.

<5> Barber, M, 2008, Mount Pleasant Draft Archive Report 2008 (Unpublished document). SDO10981.

<6> Barber, Martyn, 2014, Mount Pleasant, Dorset. A Survey of the Neolithic 'Henge Enclosure' and Associated Features (Monograph). SDO14409.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1494110 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 16 2025 6:59PM