Monument record MDO6021 - Round barrow, Shapwick

A plough-levelled Bronze Age round barrow visible as a ring ditch with a diameter of approximately 50 feet on aerial photographs. There may be a central pit; a length of linear ditch is immediately adjacent to the east of the monument. The barrow is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs and was digitially plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AI&M. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

(ST 957025) Deep ploughing has revealed the site of a barrow (shown as a mound on OS 1" 1811), which shows as a well defined ditch circle with the position of the cist apparent in the centre. The ditch circle is 21 paces in diameter and fragments of a Bronze Age urn and an Early Iron Age or Romano-British secondary interment were found. This is possibly the site of the 'Badbury Barrow'. (See ST 90 SE 40). <1>

A barrow at ST 95800255 has been levelled by ploughing but appears as a ring ditch on air photographs (b). It is about 50ft in diameter and there are suggestions of a central pit. Immediately adjacent on the E is a length of ditch. <2>

The site of a Bronze Age round barrow comprising a ring ditch 16m across with a small central pit is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs and was digitially plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AI&M <5>.

Grinsell, L V, 1982, Dorset Barrows Supplement, 49 (Monograph). SWX1703.

<1> Field, N H, Oral: Letter from Norman Field, 19.12.64 (Verbal communication). SDO19374.

Sketch plan

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 64 (Monograph). SDO129.

'(56) Barrow (95800255), on the crest of a Chalk ridge S.W. of Badbury Rings has been levelled by ploughing, but appears as a ring-ditch on aerial photographs (C.U.A.P., XZ 26, 27); diam. about 50 ft. There are suggestions of a central pit. Immediately adjacent on the E. is a length of ditch.'

<4> Papworth, M, 1994, Shapwick Parish, Kingston Lacy Estate, Wessex Region, 55 (Unpublished document). SDO14228.

The site of a round barrow visible as a ring ditch on aerial photograph CUAP XZ26-7 with a ditch aligned north-south (112,285) touching its east side. The ring ditch measures 15m dia. and 1.5m wide. The farmer, Mrs Burleigh, contacted Mr Field (1964) who then excavated the site where some bones had been disturbed by deep ploughing. He considered that this site could be the Badbury Barrow (see 112,059). This because of the evidence for the disturbance of the site in the 18th-19th century, probably due to antiquarian excavation. RCHM(1975) argues that 112056-059 are better contenders for the Badbury Barrow. Field identified the fragmentary remains of two inhumations on the west side of the barrow. Within the ring ditch was a central area which was interpreted as a disturbed central cist burial. Neither the cist nor ring ditch were excavated.

<5> J R Boyden, 07-FEB-1971, JRB 371/4587 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18111.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209569 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

May 22 2023 3:27PM