Monument record MDO1144 - Bowl barrow, Frampton, destroyed 1937

Bowl barrow, excavated before destruction for road widening in 1937.

(SY 63549487) Tumuli [NR] (sites of) [NAT] (1) One of two Bronze Age round barrows in Long Plantation known as Barrow Number 1. It was excavated in 1937 prior to destruction by road widening. SY 63549487. A bowl barrow, formerly 90 feet in diameter and 10 feet high excavated by V. F. M. Oliver in 1937. The sequence of construction appears to have been. Primary Phase. A chalk-cut grave had been constructed central to a circular or penannular ditch, 35 feet in diameter, but this had become silted before the barrow was started. The infilling of the grave contained fragmentary human bones, a small undecorated B2 beaker and a crouched inhumation; the human remains, collectively, represented three females and two children. Secondary Phase. About 12 feet north of the primary grave was a large cinerary urn covered by a chalk and clay mound, 20 feet indiameter and 4 feet high. The urn had been filled with a cremation and was placed in a circular chalk-cut pit, about 9 inches deep; in the top filling of this vessel a small pygmy or incense cup was seen. Higher up in the mound was a reddish-coloured biconical urn containing a cremation and immediately to the east of this stood a small buff-coloured pot which contained two smaller vessels, one inside the other. At a later period the mound had been enlarged with layers of clay, flint and chalk to its present (1937) size and an outer ditch was then constructed. About 2 feet below the surface of this enlarged barrow was a crouched burial with no associated finds. In view of the proximity of the Roman road (RR 47), Oliver suggested that it may possibly have been Roman. Finds from this barrow were deposited in Dorset County Museum Acc. No. 1937.82. (2-3) Part of the barrow remains, at SY 63539487, just west of the road; it is the western segment measuring 15 metres north-south by 8.5 metres east-west, and 1.6 metres high. Surveyed at 1/2500 on MSD. (4) The secondary crouched inhumation was found close to the top of the mound. No grave goods were found with it but due to its location is thought to be early Medieval in date. (5)

Record last edited

Mar 18 2022 1:39PM