Monument record MDO6087 - Bronze Age bowl barrow, Handley Hill, Sixpenny Handley

A bowl barrow reported in 1975 as being around 21 feet in diameter with a surviving mound less than one foot high. This barrow was excavated by Pitt-Rivers, who found no human remains, but some prehistoric flints and potsherds and some Roman pottery were among the finds. The area was examined in 1976 during the construction of a new roundabout. The excavators reportedly found no trace of the mound, nor of any encircling ditch.

A bowl barrow on Handley Hill. Described by RCHME as a plough-reduced mound 21 feet in diameter and less than 1 foot high, it was dug into by Pitt Rivers in August 1893. Both RCHME and Grinsell record that Pitt Rivers found nothing. In fact, he found no human remains. Some prehistoric flints and potsherds and some Roman pottery were among the finds. The area was examined in 1976 during the construction of a new roundabout. The excavators reportedly found no trace of the mound, nor of any encircling ditch, concluding that "the identification of this (apparently) small tumulus as a barrow must remain in doubt".

<1> Pitt-Rivers, A H L F, 1898, Excavations in Cranborne Chase near Rushmore on the Borders of Dorset and Wilts 1893-96 Volume IV, [Relic table between pages 160-1] (Monograph). SDO16623.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 114 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 71 (Monograph). SDO129.

'(38) Bowl (01131659), immediately E. of the Salisbury-Blandford road; diam. 21 ft., ht. less than 1 ft. When excavated by Pitt-Rivers, nothing was found (Excavations IV pl. 244).'

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1978, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1976, 60-1 (Serial). SDO76.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1312717 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 27 2023 9:01AM