Monument record MDO7314 - Bowl barrow on Knowle Hill, Church Knowle

An oval mound, 13m by 7m is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs to the south east of Norden Wood, Church Knowle. It is of uncertain origin although potentially the site of a Bronze Age barrow.

An oval mound, 13m by 7m is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs to the south east of Norden Wood, Church Knowle <5-6>. It is of uncertain origin although potentially the site of a Bronze Age barrow. The feature was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

"In May 1861 I examined the remainder of the Barrows upon Bucknowle Hill, situated at about 200 paces east of the one which I opened in a previous year (SY 98 SW 16) and which has been described in the first volume". "There are two large and two smaller with a square earthwork measuring 12 paces in diameter, which would seem to be of later date than the barrows from the fact that its south bank passes across one of them."

The first barrow opened (evidently A) was "distant from the earthwork six feet towards the west". It contained, at a depth of 2' at the centre, a crouched burial with head to NE. The space occupied by the deposit was 39" by 24" and there was a considerable deposit of black ashes "close at the back of the skeleton and extending beneath it."

"The other large barrow situated 25 paces due south from the last (evidently B) was 47 yards in circumference and was surrounded by a ditch". The outside was found to be composed of a hardened wall of earth and chalk. Five feet south of the centre (and apparently at a depth of 5' - the passage is obscure) was a mass of black earth or charcoal in which was found a whetstone, perforated at its smaller end. Beneath this was a cist which contained a deposit of burnt bones. In the SW section of the barrow were extensive traces of similar black earth. "The two low barrows were unimportant". <1>

The barrow at SY 94588236 (A) was re-excavated in 1934-35. It was oval shaped, measuring 46' across from north to south and 50' 6" from east to west, and was surrounded by a shallow ditch about 1'9" deep and varying from 5'3" to 5'9" in width. It was found to comprise an original EBA mound built on top of a small knoll of chalk into which a cavity containing a cremation had been dug. This early mound had later been enlarged to cover new burials and provided with a ditch.

'A' has a diameter of 13.0 m. and a height of 1.2m. The mound has been badly mutilated by excavation trenches. It is surrounded by a ditch, 1.5 - 2.5m. Deep, which is in process of being ploughed out andhas been obliterated in part on the north-east. A modern fence passes over the mound on the west. It is turf-covered and appears to have been a bowl-barrow. <3>

The primary burial pit consisted of an oblong cavity dug 2' deep into the natural chalk, oriented NW-SE and measuring 2'6" by 3'3". It held a cremation, covered by rubble and earth mould, of bones reduced to powdery ashes. A small bronze mid-rib dagger (EBA) was found lying upon the ashes. There were two secondary burials. The first was almost in the centre of the barrow and consisted of a skeleton in a very dismembered state,oriented roughly N-S. It lay on the top of the humus near the centre of the barrow. Some of the broken bones were badly burnt and this was taken to mean that the body had been partially burnt on a small pyre (evidenced by charcoal remains) before being covered by the earth of the secondary barrow phase. The other secondary burial was at the same level and comprised a heap of bones too mixed up to indicate orientation. There was charcoal but no sign that the bones had been burnt. Some small fragments of a hand-made pot were found in the make-up of the second phase of the barrow, which Professor Stuart Piggott considered might be from a Middle to Late BA cinerary urn. A few pieces of beadrim and other coarse IA or RB wares, a worn fragment of Samian, and part of a shale bracelet were discovered in the upper filling of the ditch on the east side. <4>

SY 94588236. Church Knowle 9. Two bowl barrows listed, details as Authy 2-5. The bronze dagger from Barrow 'A' is in Dorset County Museum. (The two mounds east of the published barrows are not mentioned by Grinsell). <5>

'A'.Ditched bowl barrow (SY 94588236) on Knowle Hill, diam. 38ft., ht. 3ft. Twice opened,in 1861 and in 1934-5. Primary cremation with small two-riveted bronze dagger was in a grave 2 1/2 ft. deep below a small mound. On top of this two inhumations, one contracted, were covered by a larger mound containing Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery within a ditch about 5 1/2ft. Wide and 2ft. Deep. <6>

SY 945824. Three round barrows on Knowle Hill. Scheduled. <7>

'A' This ploughed down round barrow has an overall diameter of 19.0m with a 1.0m high mound and a ditch, surviving on the west side only, up to 0.5m deep. The mutilations on the mound (3) have been smoothed out and a bank overlays the ditch in the NE quadrant. The field containing the ditched enclosure to the north of the mounds is under tall mowing grass. The enclosure could not be positively identified and it is probably ploughed out. Surveyed at 1:2500. <9>

<1> 2, 1896, Papers read before the Purbeck Society, 55-58 (Serial). SDO20201.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1929 (Map). SWX1540.

(A:SY 94588236: B: SY 94578233). Tumuli (NR)

<3> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 16-JUL-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1954, 53-55 (Serial). SDO54.

<5> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 101 (Monograph). SDO132.

<6> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 442 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(41) Ditched bowl (SY 98 SW; 94588236) on Knowle Hill 200 yds. E.S.E. of (40). Diam. 38 ft., ht. 3 ft. Twice opened, in 1861 and in 1934–5. Primary cremation with small two-riveted bronze dagger was in a grave 2½ ft. deep below a small mound. On top of this two inhumations, one contracted, were covered by a larger mound containing Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery within a ditch about 5½ ft. wide and 2 ft. deep. (Purbeck Papers II, 55–8; Dorset Procs. LXXVI (1954), 51–5.)’

<7> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 62 (Monograph). SWX1687.

<8> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 224 (Index). SDO147.

‘Barrow situated on grassland, occasionally ploughed an in ley pasture. A prominent rise ploughed over and uneven on top due to past excavation. The ditch is no longer visible. 1/2/C.’

<9> Fletcher, Martin, Field investigator's comments MJF, F2 MJF 30-APR-86 (Unpublished document). SDO17630.

<10> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<11> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 2412-13 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13498.

<12> National Monuments Record, 18-NOV-2005, NMR SY9482/3-4, 6-9 (NMR 24139/42-8) (Aerial Photograph). SDO13503.

<13> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456939 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 22 2024 12:48PM