Monument record MDO7629 - Bronze Age round barrow, Holme Heath, East Holme

A Bronze Age round barrow is visible as an earthwork on Lidar imagery of Holme Heath. It is one of a group of three round barrows located here (MDO7627-29). A possible fourth round barrow is located 80m to the south-west (MWX683) and may also be contemporary with them. Opened in the 1860s by antiquarian J H Austen, who found nothing.

Short report on J Austen's excavation. <2>

Three barrows dug by J H Austen. The westernmost contained two urns. Nearby are some 120 small mounds.

Three bracken covered bowl barrows, lettered A, B, & C. <4>

'A' Diameter 12.5 metres; height 1.4 metres. No sign of berm or ditch. Slight mutilation on top.
'B'. Diameter 12.0 metres; height 1.6 metres. No trace of berm or ditch. Mutilated on top.
'C' Diameter 10.0 metres; height 1.2 metres. Very slightly mutilated on top. No sign of berm or ditch.
Small mounds mentioned in Authy 2 are natural gravel outcrops. <5>

Three barrows, all excavated by Austen in 1860. To the north-west and south is a large group of small mounds (see SY 98 NW 42), … Details of the barrows are as follows:- (a) SY 90698528. Bowl barrow 326 feet diameter by 4½ feet high. Nothing found by Austen. <7>

SY 907853. Three round barrows on Holme Lane Plantation. <8>

The Evaluation of two Round Barrow at Squirrel's Cottages, East Holme, occurred in 1991. The barrows were built of turves capped with a thin skin of sand dug from shallow surrounding ditches. The only finds were a 'handful of undiagnostic worked flints and some burnt flint.' <10-12>

A Bronze Age round barrow, approximately 20.7m in diameter, is visible as an earthwork on Lidar imagery of Holme Heath <13>. It is one of a group of three round barrows located here (MDO7627-29). A possible forth round barrow is located 80m to the south-west (MWX683) and may also be contemporary with them. This feature was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

Richards, J, 1987, The Archaeological Implications of proposed mineral working at Squirrel Cottage, Holme Lane, Wareham (Unpublished document). SDO21195.

<1> Austen, J H, 1856-7, Purbeck Papers 1 (Monograph). SWX4501.

<2> Austen, J, 1858, Archaeological Journal 15, 151-2 (Serial). SWX2961.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1930 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SY 906852) Tumuli (N) (Three Shown)

<4> Calkin, J B, 1950, Annotated Record Map Corr. 6 (Map). SWX2543.

<5> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 23-JUL-52 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<6> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 106 (Monograph). SDO132.

‘JHA’s A: opened without result.’

<7> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 445 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘Three barrows (SY 98 NW) lie above 50 ft. contour just S. of local crest of gravel spur running N. from Battle Plain (see Fig. p. 482). All were dug into by Austen in 1860 (Purbeck Papers I, 233–8). To N.W. and S. surrounding (9) and (10) is a large group of small mounds, one apparently impinging on (9) (see Mounds, E. Holme (12)). … (11) Bowl (90698528) 20 yds. E.S.E. of (10). Diam. 36 ft., ht. 4½ ft. Nothing found.’

<8> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 63 (Monograph). SWX1687.

<9> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 126 (Index). SDO147.

‘A low rise situated in managed coniferous woodland. Beyond a track to the N.W is a large area currently being quarried for ball clay. Pine and rhododendron grow from the mound. 1/3/C.’

<10> 1991, Round Barrows at Squirrel's [sic] Cottages, East Holme, Dorset. Archaeological Evaluation. (Unpublished document). SDO212.

<10> Healy, F, 1991, Round barrows at Squirrel's Cottages, East Holme (Article in serial). SWX9270.

<11> Smith, R, 1991, Three Barrows in Holme Lane Plantation, Purbeck - Contour Survey (Unpublished document). SWX9267.

‘Barrow 1 (Figs 3 and 4)

The mound of Barrow 1 is of irregular plan, approximately 14 metres by 9 metres across and 0.8 metres high. The mound is bisected by a c. 2 metres wide linear depression on a north-west to south east axis. The mound to the north of this depression is rounded with evenly spaced contours. To the south the mound is uneven and irregular. ‘Dimples’ at the base of the mound may indicate the remnants of a ditch surrounding the mound.

The contour survey suggests that the barrow mound has previously been examined by a c. 2m wide trench, aligned south-east to north-west across the near-centre of the monument. Spoil from this trench, which was presumably only partially backfilled, appears to have been displaced over mainly the southern portions of the mound. Other intrusions may have occurred on this southern part of the mound. Evidence for a surrounding ditch has probably been obscured by the dumping of spoil form these intrusions around the edges of the mound.’

<12> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1992, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1991, 170 (Serial). SDO91.

<13> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DSM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13147.

<14> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<15> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456669 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 19 2024 2:42PM