Monument record MDO1000 - Ring ditch on Lords Down, Dewlish

Ring ditch in group of three seen as crop marks on an aerial photograph taken by John Boyden in 1973. Probably the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. Thought to have been opened by antiquarian Charles Warne, who found a cremation burial in a cist.

Excavated by C. Warne, primary cremation with ashes in cist, skeleton (primary or secondary?) near to the surface and a crouched interment, adult, probably male and primary. <1> 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). <4> Six round barrows on Lords Down: G: Centred SY 78359650 Cropmarks of three ring-ditches additional to the above sites. <4> These barrows have been reduced by ploughing since 1970 and now measure: 'G'. Nothing visible on the ground. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <5> None of these barrows can be positively identified, but they are no doubt some of those in Group SY 79 NE 21. <6>

Record last edited

Jun 3 2024 11:07AM