Monument record MDO7423 - Bronze Age bowl barrow, Little Woolgarston Farm, Corfe Castle

A circular mound surrounded by an outer ditch is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of fields to the south of Little Woolsgarston Farm, Corfe Castle. It is considered likely to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. An additional outer circular ditch is visible as a cropmark and may also be associated with the barrow.

Surveyed at SY 97498093 is a circular mound with a diameter of 27.0m. and a height of 1.0m. It has no trace of a surrounding ditch or berm. It is now under grass but has been much ploughed over and spread out. Sited on a small hilltop its slopes in the East merge with the natural slopes of the hill. A possible bowl barrow. <1>

SY 97498093. Bowl barrow, about 70ft diameter and 2ft high. Ploughed. <3>

A bowl barrow approximately 25m in diameter and 0.7m high, merging with the hillslope 1:2500 survey on OS plan revised. <5>

A circular mound, approximately 18.7m in diameter and surrounded by a 0.5m wide ditch, is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of fields to the south of Little Woolsgarston Farm, Corfe Castle <6>. It is considered likely to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. An additional outer circular ditch, approximately 35m in diameter and 1m wide, is visible as a cropmark <7> and may also be associated with the barrow. These features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck mapping project.

<1> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 9-AUG-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

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

(SY 97498093) Mound (NAT)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 443 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(197) Bowl (SY 98 SE; 97498093). On spine of slight E.-W. ridge. Diam. about 70 ft., ht. 2 ft. Ploughed.’

<4> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 44 (Index). SDO147.

'Bowl Barrow: Diam.24.0m and Ht. 0.5m. Situated in a field that is regularly ploughed but under grass. This barrow, visible as a low rise, has been reduced and spread by ploughing. OS SY98SE11. 7/7/C.'

<5> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F2 NVQ 1986-04-21 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<6> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 2405-06 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13667.

<7> Royal Air Force, 06-MAY-1969, RAF 58/2843 0100-01 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13676.

<8> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456786 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 16 2023 4:26PM