Monument record MDO279 - Bowl barrow, one of the Bincombe Hill Group, Bincombe

Bronze Age bowl barrow. In 1972 this monument was reported as a mound around 92 feet in diameter and 11 feet high with a surrounding ditch 15 feet wide and 2 feet deep, and damaged on the south-east side. The mound has a hollow in the centre, presumably caused by antiquarian investigation. Thought to be a barrow opened by Charles Warne, without result. Visible as earthworks on aerial photographs.

Grinsell recorded this barrow as a mound 92 feet in diameter and 11 feet high, with a berm of unknown width and a ditch 13 wide and of unknown depth. <1>

Group of round barrows on Bincombe Hill: (D) Ditched bowl (68918466) 48 yds. North west of C diam. 100ft., ht. 12 1/2 ft. Ditch 10 ft. wide and 1 ft. deep.

Warne's No 43 was probably the largest mound of the triple barrow 'A' and hit No 6 was almost certainly one of the others near it. <1-2>

'D' SY 68898465. Bowl barrow: diameter 39.0m overall, mound 31.5m, height 3.5m. Ditch visible on the SE and S only. Excavation hollow in centre with trench running to the S. Barrows A, B, C and D are in pasture and have been ploughed. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <4>

This group of barrows is probably part of those excavated by the Rev J J Smith in 1842. <6>

The site of a Bronze Age bowl barrow is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs <8-9>. A large robber pit is visible cutting in from the north side. The site, which forms part of a larger linear barrow cemetery, was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 162 (Monograph). SDO132.

‘? Between a large bowl-barrow and a triple-barrow. Sloping berm. H/C. Rough measurements by RCHM. Either BINCOMBE, WINTERBORNE CAME or WINTERBORNE ST. MARTIN: bell barrow dug without result. CTC (tovp), no. 78; Archa xxx, 333 (no. 16).’

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 439 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(46) Bell (68948464) 68 yds. N.W. of (45). Diam. 92 ft., ht. 11 ft. Ditch 15 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep destroyed by ? ancient ploughing on S.E. The sloping berm, 9 ft. wide on S. and W., has been partly destroyed. Excavation hollow in centre.’

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1978 (Map). SDO17396.

(Centred SY 690845) Tumuli [NR]

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 04-JUL-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 511 (Index). SDO12304.

Overall diameter 42.0m, mound 27.0m, height 3.7m. Unploughed in permanent pasture. 1/2/A

<6> Fitzgerald, R J, RCHME Fieldworker's Comments RJF, R1 RJF 08-OCT-1991 (Unpublished document). SWX2638.

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

<8> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3242 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11964.

<9> 06-DEC-2006, NMR SY6984/14-17 (24498/35-41) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11965.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452697 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 22 2023 10:54AM