Monument record MDO6371 - Bell barrow, Oakley Down Group, Wimborne St Giles

Bell barrow forming part of the Oakley Down Group. In 1975 the RCHME reported that the mound was 84 feet in diameter and 10 feet high; the sloping berm is 12 feet across; the ditch 16 feet wide and 1 foot deep. Primary and seconday burials have previously been found.

A bell barrow, part of the group on Oakley Down (SU 01 NW 19). It was described by RCHME as a mound 84 feet in diameter and 10 feet high, surrounded by a sloping berm 12 feet across and a ditch 16 feet wide and 1 foot deep. It was excavated in the early 19th century by Cunnington and Hoare (their barrow 4). At a depth of 12 feet 4 inches was an unaccompanied inhumation. At a depth of 10.5 feet they found two skeletons with a handled pottery vessel with four feet, a shale bead and a bronze dagger. The pottery vessel is in Devizes Museum. Near the surface were some "fragments of a large ornamented urn". In 1950, following disturbance by rabbits, a secondary adult cremation was discovered in an inverted urn which featured 11 "rivet" holes. Nearby were sherds of a second urn and a few burnt bones. Further sherds were found in 1954.

The primary inhumation was oriented north-south, head probably to the north, and was found at a depth of some 12 feet and 4 inches. Above this were two more skeletons, also north-south, with a small four footed handled vase, black bead and bronze dagger. A secondary adult cremation in an inverted Late Bronze Age urn with 11 rivet holes was found in 1950 in a rabbit barrow just below the surface of the barrow, with fragmentary remains of another Late Bronze Age cremation. <2>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1951, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1950, 91-92 (Serial). SDO50.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1955, 151 (Serial). SDO55.

<3> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 165 (Monograph). SDO132.

<4> Annable, F K and Simpson, D D A, 1964, A guide catalogue of the Neolithic and Bronze Age collections in Devizes museum, 60, 116, No. 463 (Unpublished document). SDO18620.

<5> Colt Hoare, Sir Richard, 1975, The ancient history of Wiltshire, 237 (Monograph). SDO18077.

<6> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 104 (Monograph). SDO129.

‘(121) Bell (02011752), (Hoare No. 4), yielded a primary inhumation at a depth of 12 ft. and, 2 ft. above it, two further inhumations with a small handled cup, a bronze dagger and a shale bead (Devizes Mus. Cat., 1964, No. 463). More recently, two secondary cremations (one in an inverted urn) and sherds including the rim of a bucket urn were found near the surface, in the side of the mound (Dorset Procs., 72 (1950), 92; 77 (1955), 151). The mound is 84 ft. in diameter and 10 ft. high; the sloping berm is 12 ft. across; the ditch is 16 ft. wide and 1 ft. deep.’

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1312552 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 19 2024 4:42PM