Monument record MDO2785 - Bronze Age bowl barrow on Southover Heath, Tolpuddle

One of nine round barrows that makes up the Southover Heath Group. Bowl barrow much covered with bracken and brambles, and has been damaged by a trench cut into it, south of the centre. Reported as being around 37 feet in diameter with a mound around 4 feet high. The barrow is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of 1945 at Tolpuddle Ball.

(Centred at SY 8083 9476). Two round mounds, apparently barrows. <1>

(A: SY 8082 9475) A bowl barrow, 14 paces diameter, 3 1/2ft high. <2>

A: surveyed at SY 8082 9473, has a diameter of 11.0 metres and a height of 1.2 metres. It has no surrounding ditch and has been badly mutilated in the southern quadrant by a military slit trench. Fern covered bowl barrow.
B: surveyed at SY 8086 9475 has a diameter of 18.6 metres and a height of 1.5 metres with no surrounding ditch and no traces of mutilation. A fern-covered bowl barrow. There were no surface finds in the vicinity of these barrows. <3>

A: (15) SY 8084 9474. Bowl barrow, about 37ft diameter and 4ft high, thickly covered with bracken and brambles and damaged by a trench cut into it, south of centre. <5>

A: SY 8084 9474. No change. Resurveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. (6)

The barrow is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of 1945. The barrow is sub-circular in shape and measures 11 m in diameter. <7> A second barrow is located 16 m to the north east (see MDO2786) and is probably associated with it. This feature was digitally plotted as part of the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Crawford, O G S, Annotated record map 6 inch (Map). SWX7265.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document). SWX1556.

<3> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 22-SEP-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(A: SY 8084 9476. B: 8086 9475) Tumuli (NR)

<5> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 290 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(15) Bowl (80849474), in the E. of the parish, on Tolpuddle Ball, lies at just over 300 ft. above O.D. on the crest of a narrow heathland ridge; it is thickly covered with bracken and brambles and has been damaged by a trench cut into it, S. of centre. Diam. About 37 ft., ht. 4 ft. '

<6> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 12-FEB-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<7> Royal Air Force, 10-FEB-1945, RAF 106G/LA128 7133-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13630.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456168 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 24 2023 12:30PM