Monument record MDO2952 - Bowl barrow, one of the Culliford Tree Group, Whitcombe

A Bronze Age bowl barrow, part of a wider linear barrow cemetery. In 1970 this monument was reported as being around 87 feet in diameter and about 12 feet high with a flat top, much reduced by ploughing. Soil marks indicated an original diameter of around 100 feet, and traces of chalk suggested an encircling bank outside the ditch.

A Bronze Age bowl barrow, part of the Culliford Tree barrow group, a linear group of barrows ranged along part of the Dorset Ridgeway. Listed by RCHME as Whitcombe 11 and by Grinsell as Whitcombe 2, it was recorded by the Ordnance Survey in 1979 as a flat-topped mound 28 metres by 26.5 metres across and 4 metres high, with no surviving visible evidence of a surrounding ditch. Previously RCHME had reported both a ditch and possible traces of an outer bank. Two barrows near Culliford Tree were apparently dug "a little into the tops" by Capt. Damer of Came in circa 1860, with some skeletons being discovered. Grinsell suggests that this may have been one of the two barrows, though this is entirely speculative. The account, though brief, suggests that the skeletons were found at no great depth, and can probably be regarded as intrusive secondary burials, possibly much later in date than the mound itself. Damer was also responsible for partial excavation of the nearby Culliford tree barrow from which inhumations of probable Anglo-Saxon date were again recovered just below the summit. <1-4>

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 143 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 459 (Monograph). SDO150.

'Eleven of the nineteen barrows are in the Culliford Tree Group (R.11), and four in a small Group (AB) on the N. slope from the Ridgeway. (R.11) Culliford Tree Group (SY 68 NE, 78 NW; Plate 209). Twenty-six round barrows, with a bank barrow (Broadmayne (19)), a long barrow (Whitcombe (5)) and a small D-shaped enclosure (Whitcombe (25)) closely associated, in the S. of Winterborne Came, Whitcombe and Broadmayne parishes, where they end some 470 ft. above O.D. on top of the Ridgeway. Included in the group are two probable bells, and three, possibly five, pond barrows. A W.-E. line of barrows from (9) to Broadmayne (24), including the bank barrow, is on the exact summit of the narrow but gently defined ridge. (7, 10) virtually share this position but all the others are off the exact summit, …
The bank barrow is earlier than Broadmayne (20), which lies over its W. end (cf. (8) on top of long barrow Whitcombe (5)). It is almost certainly earlier than (9–16), seemingly arranged to continue its alignment to the W. on the crest, and than Broadmayne (21–3), lying parallel to it on the N. edge of its ditch. Indeed the whole group appears to be related to the bank barrow, from which, also, barrows of Groups R.10, R.12, R. 13 and R.14 are clearly visible. This concentration of barrows in groups around the bank barrow appears to be the E. end of the Ridgeway Group: very few barrows, and certainly no comparable complex, exist along the Ridgeway to the E. … All of the barrows are damaged, particularly by ploughing and many are covered by trees or scrub; only one excavation, (9), is certainly located. … (11) Ditched bowl (69978545) 80 yds. E.S.E. of (9). Diam. now 87 ft. but formerly about 100 ft., ht. about 12 ft. with flat top. Spread chalk outside ditch suggests bank. '

<3> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 16-NOV-1979 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<4> Grinsell, L V, 1982, Dorset Barrows Supplement, 53 (Monograph). SWX1703.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 445 (Index). SDO12304.

Diameter 28.0m NS by 26.5m EW, ht. 4.0m. Mound unploughed, ditch ploughed out. Hawthorn and grass-covered. Ditch ploughed out. In regularly ploughed field of ley pasture. 1/3/C

<6> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<7> 22-APR-1954, NMR SY 7085/6-10 (Aerial Photograph). SDO10766.

<8> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3284-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO10765.

<9> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 2K/07848 (Index). SDO14738.

CULLIFORD TREE BARROW

<10> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF110930 (Index). SDO14738.

BF110930

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1338188 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 16 2025 7:08PM