Monument record MDO989 - Bowl barrow, Dewlish

Bronze Age bowl barrow. In 1970 this monument was recorded as 75 feet in diameter with a mound about 2½ feet high, and heavily ploughed. This is thought to be a barrow opened by antiquarian Charles Warne, who found a cremation burial with a bronze dagger still in its leather sheath, in a cist covered by a cairn in which were found fragments of an urn. The site is visible as a cropmark ring ditch on aerial photographs and was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle AIM Project. Traces of an internal mound are visible as low earthworks on lidar imagery.

Grinsell recorded this barrow as 32 paces in diameter and 4½ feet high. <2>

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). <3>

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

Six round barrows on Lords Down: E: SY 78309654 Bowl barrow about 75 feet diameter by 2 1/2 feet high. It lies immediately south of the road and has been heavily ploughed. (Barrows 'C' 'D' and 'E' were probably excavated by Warne). <4>

These barrows have been reduced by ploughing since 1970 and now measure: 'E' SY 78309654, diameter approximately 30.0m., height 0.3m to 1.4m. None has a visible ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <5>

The site is visible as a cropmark ring ditch on aerial photographs and was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle AIM Project. Traces of an internal mound are visible as low earthworks on lidar imagery. <8-9>

<1> Warne, C, 1866, The Celtic Tumuli of Dorset (1866) (Monograph). SWX8166.

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

‘Opened by CW: primary cremation with ashes and pointillé-decorated grooved bronze dagger with two rivets, which ‘still remained encased in its original sheath of leather’, in cist covered by cairn of flints; packed in this cairn were the fragments of an urn. CTC (mopr), no. 38; Wessex interment 11. Dagger in DCM.’

<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, 89 (Monograph). SDO146.

‘Eight round barrows survive and are widely dispersed, except for the small group on Lord's Down. That this group was formerly more numerous is evident from Warne's excavation of six barrows here, immediately before the Down was brought into cultivation (C.T.D., Pt. 1, Nos. 33 to 38). … No. 38, probably (15), 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, P.P.S. IV (1938), 102; U.L.I.A. 10th Annual Rept. (1954), 58). … 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. … (15) Bowl (78309654), 300 yds. N.W. of (14) immediately S. of the Milborne-Puddletown road, is heavily ploughed; diam. about 75 ft., ht. 2½ 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, 454622 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<8> Environment Agency, 15-DEC-2023, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO20691.

<9> Historic England Archive, 30-APR-2015, HEA 29577/027 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20881.

Record last edited

Oct 11 2024 2:25PM