Monument record MDO8629 - Barrow 12, Hengistbury Head

Bronze Age round barrow on north east part of Warren Hill, Hengistbury Head. It was excavated in 1919 by Harold St George Gray and a cremation in a collared urn was recovered from the centre of the mound. Parts of two further pottery vessels were also recovered associated with burnt material.

Barrow with a slight ditch. <2-3>

A cremation in an urn (type unknown) was found in this barrow when excavated by H St G Gray, 1919. Excavation unpublished. One of two urns given to the late Gordon Selfridge, the remaining material probably went to Taunton Museum. <4.1>

A heather-covered mound, 7.5m in diameter and 0.7m high, and extensively mutilated by trenching. No trace of a ditch. <4>

No change. Published 1:2500 survey revised. <5>

This round barrow is situated in the northeast part of Warren Hill, Hengistbury Head. It was about 10.3 metres in diameter and about 0.5 metres high. It was excavated as Mound H by H. St George Gray in July 1919. He dug a trench 8.8m by 3m through this barrow, subsequently the trench was enlarged. The barrow mound was described as consisting of a layer of sand with flint pebbles with a c. 0.2m thick layer of peaty topsoil over. The mound sealed an old land surface represented by 'tufts of heather and fern'. A single urned cremation was recovered in roughly the centre of the mound set in a small pit with the rim of the Collared Urn roughly at old ground surface level and surrounded by burnt material. This was probably the primary burial. The urn was of Longworth's Secondary Series, South-eastern Style, form Bi/ii. Parts of two other pots were also recovered from the southern part of the barrow associated with charcoal and burnt deposits of oak and hazel. <6-7>

Barrow 12 (Gray's mound H) a barrow 10.3m in diameter, 0.5m high. Gray's excavations located an in-urned cremation, situated within the centre of the mound. The urn was of Longworth's Secondary Series, Southeastern Style, form Bi/ii. Worked flint, including scrapers and cores, and burnt flint recovered. <7>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1931 (Map). SWX1540.

(SZ 17939056) Tumuli (NR)

<2> Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society, 1938, Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society, 363-4 (Serial). SDO19201.

<3> Grinsell, L V, 1940, Hampshire Barrows; Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society 14, 363-4 (Article in serial). SWX3470.

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 14-JUL-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4.1> Calkin, J B, Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments: J B Calkin, Virginia House, Langton Matravers, 14.7.54 (Verbal communication). SWX3444.

<5> Aldsworth, F G, Various, Field Investigators Comments FGA, F2 FGA 19-MAR-69 (Unpublished document). SWX1161.

<6> Longworth, I H, 1984, Collared Urns of the Bronze Age in Great Britain and Ireland, No. 378, plate 179c (Monograph). SWX9167.

<7> Cunliffe, B, 1987, Hengistbury Head, Dorset. 1: The Prehistoric and Roman Settlement, 3500BC- AD500, Excavations at Crouch Hill, 1921, 1969. in Oxford University Committee for Archaeology monograph series Vol no.13 Page(s) 40-7, 53 (Monograph). SWX4038.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 458754 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 23 2024 3:41PM