Monument record MDO3039 - Bell Barrow, one of the Came Down Group, Winterborne Came

Bell barrow on Came Down Golf Course, top of barrow used as a tee. Visible on aerial photographs as an earthwork mound 29m in diameter. Digitally plotted for the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping project.

'B'-Bell Barrow (SY 68878690) 43 yards east south east of 'A'. Diameter 87 ft., ht 7 ft., with ditch 15 ft. wide, destroyed on east. Berm visible only on south and perhaps on west. Top of mound used as golf tee. Probably excavated by Cunnington in 1882 who found a few worked flints and a near-central cremation in a chalk-cut hollow 6 ins.deep, dug apparently beside the pyre. <1> <3>

'B' SY 68868688. Possible bell barrow; mis-shapen by the construction of golf tees and bunkers around the mound. Now impossible to determine the true extent of a berm. Ditch visible on NW and SW quadrant only. Diameter overall 36.0m and height 3.0m. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. See ground photographs. <4>

Bell barrow, 87ft. In diam and 7ft. High, with ditch 15ft. Wide, destroyed on the E. side. Berm visible only on the S. and perhaps on W. side. Top of mound used as a golf tee. Probably excavated in 1882 by Cunnington who found a few worked flints and a near-central cremation in a chalk cut hollow six inches deep, apparently beside the pyre. Visible on aerial photographs <7> as an earthwork mound 29m in diameter. Digitally plotted for the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping project.

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 149, 166 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

('A'-SY 68838690; 'B'-68878688) Tumuli (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 464-465 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(37) Bell (SY 68 NE; 68878690) 43 yds. E.S.E. of (36). Diam. 87 ft., ht. 7 ft., with ditch 15 ft. wide, destroyed on E. Berm visible only on S. and perhaps on W. Top of mound used as golf tee. Probably excavated in 1882 by Cunnington who found a few worked flints and a near-central cremation in a chalk-cut hollow 6 ins. deep, dug apparently beside the pyre (Dorset Procs. XXXVII (1916), 43). '

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 11-JAN-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 508 (Index). SDO12304.

Possible bell barrow, misshapen by the construction of golf tees and bunkers around the mound. Now impossible to determine the true extent of the berm. Ditch visible on NW and SW quadrant only. Diameter overall 36.0m, ht. 3.0m, under grass. 1/2/B

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

<7> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 1057-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12018.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451992 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jun 29 2023 3:30PM