Monument record MDO988 - Bowl barrow on Lord's Down, Dewlish

Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on the parish boundary between Dewlish and Milborne St Andrew. Opened in 1882, a bone pin and another bone object were found in a chalk cist. The site of this mutilated Bronze Age round barrow is visible as a low earthwork mound on lidar imagery and was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cern and Piddle AIM Project.

Six round barrows on Lord's Down (SY 7896) were excavated by Charles Warne immediately before the area was brought under cultivation. Warne's No 33 (probably SY 79 NE21C) was 82ft in diameter and 12ft high, having been enlarged periodically for the reception of secondary interments. It covered a primary grave 6ft in diameter and 2ft deep in the natural chalk; this grave contained a Beaker (probably Long-Necked or Type A) but apparently no inhumation. Above this lay the secondary interments; first, on a layer of chalk rubble, the skeleton of a child associated with Beaker fragments; second, in the top of the same layer, a cist with a small plain urn containing a cremation; third, above a layer of mould and in a further layer of chalk rubble, a cremation with ashes be beneath an inverted ridged Food-vessel urn; fourth, in a cist cut into the same layer, an inverted biconical urn; the bottom of the latter was smashed by, fifth, a further inverted biconical urn. Just below the surface was an undated skeleton, probably intrusive. Nos 34,35 and 36 all adjoined No 33 but are no longer visible. No 34 contained a primary cremation with ashes in a small cist cut into the natural chalk; No 35 had a skeleton 1 1/2 ft below the surface; No 36 had a crouched interment, probably primary. No 37 (probably SY 79 NE 21D) contained a primary cremation within a central cist, 4ft long, 2ft wide and 2ft deep, at the base of the mound; in association were a crutch-headed bone pin, tweezers, a perforated whetstone and a bronze ogival dagger (Wessex grave-group 8) No 38 (probably SY 79 NE 21E) covered a primary cremation with a bronze ogival dagger in a cist cut in the natural chalk; within a cairn of flints covering the cist were the fragments of an urn (Wessex grave-group 11). <1>

None of these barrows can be positively identified, but they are no doubt some of those in Group SY 79 NE 21. <2>

A barrow situated in a hedge-row on the Dewlish/Milborne Saint Andrew boundary, near the old turnpike
gate (SY 7896), was opened by J C Mansel-Pleydell in 1882. It "rested upon" an earthwork extending from Tolpuddle-down to Milborne wood (possibly a parish boundary bank), and was oblong in shape, "sixty-six feet in circumference and thirty-six in diameter". A its centre, 10 feet down and cut into the natural chalk, was a cist 8 feet long by 2 feet wide by 1 1/2 feet deep, containing a bone pin and another bone object. Above the cist were some animal bones. (This is almost certainly the round barrow - SY 79 NE21F) <1-2> <4>

Six round barrows on Lords Down: F: SY 78489635 Bowl barrow about 65 feet diameter by 7 feet high. It stands on the Milborne parish boundary and has an oval appearance, presumably the result of ploughing on either side, which is accentuated by the parish boundary bank running over it. (Barrow 'F' was probably excavated by Mansel-Pleydell in 1882.<4>

These barrows have been reduced by ploughing since 1970 and now measure: 'F' SY 78489635. East half ploughed down; western half heavily overgrown with trees and bushes and not ploughed down. It measures 32.0m. North-south by 27.0m. East-west; its height is 2.4m. None has a visible ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <5>

The site of this mutilated Bronze Age round barrow is visible as a low earthwork mound on lidar imagery and was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cern and Piddle AIM Project. <9>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1884, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 30-2 (Serial). SDO4.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 105 (Monograph). SDO132.

‘In hedge, on MILBORNE ST. ANDREW bdry. Opened 1882: bone pin and another bone object in chalk cist. Dorset Proc v, 30-32 (no. 4).’

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SY 783963) Tumulus (NR) (twice) Tumuli (NR) (twice)

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 88 (Monograph). SDO146.

‘Lord's Down Group comprises the following four barrows which lie within the S. projection of the parish between 250 ft. and 300 ft. above O.D. … (14) Bowl (78489635), 50 yds. E. of (13) on the parish boundary with Milborne, has an oval appearance, presumably the result of ploughing on either side, which is accentuated by the parish boundary bank running over it; diam. about 65 ft., ht. 7 ft.’

<5> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 07-OCT-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454535 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454621 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454622 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<9> Environment Agency, 15-DEC-2023, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO20691.

Record last edited

Aug 17 2024 6:48PM