Monument record MDO2600 - Bowl barrow, Sydling St Nicholas

An oval mound identified as a probable bowl barrow. In 1952 this monument was reported as being around about 42 feet by 30 feet and around 2 feet high. A semi-circular mound is visible as a low and indistinct earthwork on 1940s aerial photographs. The feature may be the easternmost of three mounds along the line of the field boundary speculated as possible Bronze Age bowl barrows (NRHE Hob UID 453078). The feature was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.

Centred SY 624976). Along the southern boundary of the small field containing earthworks (see SY 69 NW 7) on South Field Hill is a mound ('A') measuring 23ft diameter and 1.25ft high, partly destroyed by the west boundary of the field. Another mound ('B') has the appearance of a bowl barrow, 24ft diameter and 1.75ft high with traces of a ditch. Situated to the east of ('B') is an oval mound ('C') about 42ft by 30ft and 2ft high. (1)

'A' - SY 62379762. A possible bowl barrow, 7.0m diameter and 0.4m high with no trace of ditch. The western side is slightly incomplete where the north-south hedge bank appears to cut off a segment of the circle.

'B' - SY 62399762. A probable bowl barrow, 8.5m diameter and 0.6m high surrounded by a ditch 2.0m wide by 0.2m deep.

'C' - SY 62449763. A probable bowl barrow, 11.5m east-west by 10.0m north-south. Flat-topped and without a ditch. (2)

No change: revised at 1:2500 on MSD. (3)

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<2> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FP 1379-80 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16847.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 235 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(24) EARTHWORKS, in a small field on South Field Hill 1 m. S.S.W. of the church, consist of a bank and ditch, mounds and hollows. The ditch extends for about 130 yards and has remains of a bank on its N. side. Another ditch or hollow-way crosses the S.E. angle of the field. Along the S. boundary of the field are (a) part of a circular bank of 48 ft. diam.’; (b) an oval mound about 42 ft. by 30 ft. and 2 ft. high; (c) a mound with the appearance of a bowl barrow 24 ft. in diam. and 1¾ ft. high with traces of a ditch; (d) a third mound 23 ft. in diam. and 1¼ ft. high partly destroyed by the W. boundary of the field. Further W. are two circular depressions, probably pit-hollows, and traces of others.’

<4> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 17-JAN-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<5> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F2 NJA 19-FEB-81 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 882935 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME: Settlement on Shearplace Hill, Sydling St Nicholas, Dorset. Annotations

<8> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1989, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1988, 143 (Serial). SDO88.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453078 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 19 2024 5:01PM