Monument record MDO8749 - Possible bowl barrow, Napoleonic Beacon at St Catherine's Hill, Christchurch

A possible bowl barrow though its irregular shape suggests it may be a Napoleonic beacon. The earthwork is visible on current Lidar imagery and was digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Bowl barrow. Diameter 25 paces, height 10ft. Mutilated. (2)

A large, shapeless, eroded mound, 23.0m diameter, av. height 3.0m. No visible ditch. (3)

No change. Published 1:2500 correct. (4)

The irregular shape of this mound suggests it may be Napoleonic beacon mentioned in documentary sources to be on St Catherine's Hill (5)

The earthwork is visible on current Lidar imagery, measuring 25m by 16m and was digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project (6). The site is under tree cover and not visible on a 2014 vertical aerial photograph (7).

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1931-38 (Map). SWX1540.

Tumulus (NR)

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1940, Hampshire Barrows; Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society 14 (Article in serial). SWX3470.

<3> Woodhouse, W C, Various, Field Investigators Comments WCW, F1 WCW 15-JUL-54 (Unpublished document). SWX3798.

<4> Aldsworth, F G, Various, Field Investigators Comments FGA, F2 FGA 20-MAR-69 (Unpublished document). SWX1161.

<5> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Records, SZ 19 NW 26 (Index). SDO131.

<6> XX-XXX-2015, Environment Agency DTM Lidar 1m (Aerial Photograph). SDO15442.

<7> GetMapping, 2014, Digital vertical aerial photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDO14101.

<8> Jefferies, Jeff, 1999, The Barrows of Christchurch. Their Past, Present and Future, Appendix 1. Barrow Record 8 (Unpublished document). SDO20590.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 458454 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 20 2024 11:12AM