Monument record MDO3361 - Bowl Barrow on Sheep Down, Winterbourne Steepleton

A Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on the south eastern part of Sheep Down. It forms part of a wider round barrow group situated on the South Dorset Ridgeway. The barrow has a mound composed of sand, gravel and turf, with maximum dimensions of 15 metres in diameter and about 1.5 metres in height. The mound shows signs of disturbance which may relate to an antiquarian investigation. The mound is overlain by a bank, aligned SSE-NNW, with maximum dimensions of 0.8 metres in width and about 0.5 metres in height, which marks the parish boundary between Winterbourne Steepleton (to the east) and Littlebredy (to the west). Surrounding the mound is a quarry ditch which has become infilled over the years and now survives as a buried feature 1.5 metres wide. The barrow is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs

A bowl barrow, about 36 ft diameter and 5 1/2 ft high with a disturbed top, crossed by the parish boundary one of the few isolated barrows on the Ridgeway.

A Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on the south eastern part of Sheep Down. It forms part of a wider round barrow group situated on the South Dorset Ridgeway. The barrow has a mound composed of sand, gravel and turf, with maximum dimensions of 15 metres in diameter and about 1.5 metres in height. The mound shows signs of disturbance which may relate to an antiquarian investigation. The mound is overlain by a bank, aligned SSE-NNW, with maximum dimensions of 0.8 metres in width and about 0.5 metres in height, which marks the parish boundary between Winterbourne Steepleton (to the east) and Littlebredy (to the west). Surrounding the mound is a quarry ditch which has become infilled over the years and now survives as a buried feature 1.5 metres wide. <2-3>

SY 60088833. Bowl barrow flat-topped and bracken-covered. Diameter 14.0m. N-S by 11.0m. height.1.6m. No visible evidence of a ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <4>

It is also visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs <5-6> measuring approximately 11 metres in diameter. It was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 117 (Monograph). SDO132.

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

(SY 60088834) Tumulus (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 1, 471 (Monograph). SDO148.

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 28-FEB-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3097-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11790.

<6> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 4279-81 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11791.

<7> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 175 (Index). SDO12304.

On heathland verge between a road and a conifer plantation. An old parish boundary bank crosses this barrow. The mound is grass and bracken covered. 1/3/C

<8> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<9> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452307 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

May 19 2023 2:10PM