Monument record MDO2051 - Bowl barrow near Friar Waddon, Portesham

Bronze Age bowl barrow. In 1970 this monument was reported as being about 70 feet in diameter with a mound around 8½ feet high. The barrow was excavated in 1885 by Cunnington, who found a cist burial and the burial of a child. Later burials inserted into the mound were a cremation in a large urn with a smaller vessel, and the remains of two extended burials. Near the top of the mound was a child burial of probable Roman date. Finds from Cunnington’s excavations are in the Dorset County Museum. Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs

"Near top of the mound was child inhumation in a grave partly consisting of a Roman roof slab, associated wtih a Romano-British sherd. Part of a saddle quern was in the body of mound". <1> A bowl barrow, 28 paces in diameter and 6 ft high. Excavated and numbered Ridgeway No 8 by E Cunnington. Primary crouched but rather decomposed interment with remains of child; secondary cremation in large LBA urn with three applied fingertip decorated bands below the rim, with accessory vessel; three feet higher up; two extended skeletons arranged head to feet, each with a pot at its head; intrusive child's skeleton (Romano-British) in grave composed partly of a Roman roof-slab with Roman potsherds just above. In the material of the mound was part of a saddle quern. <3-4> A ditchless, grass covered bowl barrow 24.0m North-South and 22.5m East-West with a height of 2.3m in the East. Its flat top appears to result from excavations the spoil of which may have been thrown down to the south thus enlongating the barrow. <5> SY 64578646. Bowl barrow in arable, but not ploughed over although the perimeter has been cut into by ploughing. Diameter 23.0m., height (maximum) 4.5m. No visible ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <7> Also visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs <10-13>, measuring approximately 23 metres in diameter. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

Record last edited

Nov 14 2023 7:29AM