Monument record MWX237 - Bowl barrow on Golden Cap, Stanton St Gabriel

Bronze Age bowl barrow, one of a group of four on Golden Cap. The barrows were originally recorded as being between 11 and 13 metres in diameter and between 1 and 1.2 metres high. However due to a covering of wind blown sand, a nearby barrow was found to be larger in diameter than it appeared on the surface. It is possible that the barrows in this group are similarly buried and consequently larger in diameter. The four barrows are each surrounded by a quarry ditch from which material was excavated during their construction. These have become infilled but survive as buried features approximately 2 metres wide. Scheduled.

(B - SY 40569211; C - SY 40559210; D - SY 40549208) Tumuli (NR) (1) (Centred SY 405921). Four mounds on Golden Cap, probably the remains of bowl barrows, in a group at the SW 3nd of the hill-top. (2) Bowl barrows on Golden Cap are as follows:- SY 40589214 (A). 8 paces diameter by 2 ft high SY 40589211 (B). 11 paces diameter by 2 ft high SY 40569209 (C). 13 paces diameter by 2 1/2ft high SY 40549207 (D). 12 paces diameter by 2 1/2ft high (3) (1-5). One of these barrows was partially excavated by the National Trust. (6)

National Record of the Historic Environment, 450221 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1968 edition OS map (Map). SWX1540.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 223-4 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(5) MOUNDS, probably the remains of bowl barrows, on Golden Cap, over ¼ m. S.E. of the old chapel, are five in number. Four form a group at the S.W. end of the hill-top and the fifth is about 200 yards to the N.E. The dimensions are as follows—(a) 25 ft. diam. and 1 ft. high; (b) 40 ft. diam. and 3½ ft. high; (c) 39 ft. diam. and 3½ ft. high; (d) on the cliff edge, 34 ft. diam. and 2½ ft. high; (e) 40 ft. diam. and 3½ ft. high. All have been much disturbed and denuded.’

<4> DCMS, 1997, Scheduled Monument Notification 1997, 22/12/1997 (Scheduling record). SDO17426.

<6> Papworth, Martin, 1993, Excavation of a Bronze Age Round Barrow and Napoleonic Signal Station at Golden Cap, Stanton St. Gabriel; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SWX736.

Record last edited

Oct 7 2024 2:20PM