Monument record MDO3393 - Pond barrow, one of the Sheep Down Group, Winterbourne Steepleton

Pond barrow, one of a group of several Bronze Age Barrows noted on Sheep Down. Also visible as an earthwork and a cropmark at this location on aerial photographs.

Five round barrows, including a double bowl and a pond barrow lie above apparent limit of 'Celtic' fields on a broad spur running North East from the Ridgeway at about 460 ft above OD. … 'B' Pond barrow (60708901) 93 yds North North East of 'A' Central depression, diam 35 ft, depth 2 ft, surrounded by bank 10 ft to 12 ft wide and 5 ins high. Excavation by H G Wakefield for the commission in 1947-8 and by R J C Atkinson in 1950 showed that a pavement of flints gathered from the top-soil largely covered the depression. Beneath and around the pavement were thirty-five pits cut into the chalk subsoil, in some cases through the pavement. Seventeen pits contained Early Bronze Age urns, two held an urn and an inhumation, one held a urn and a cremation, seven contained only cremations, and eight were filled with soil alone. The whole site had been stripped before the pavement was laid, the pits dug, and the bank built. <1-3> <5> 'B' Ploughed out. No remains. <4> Site of a Bronze Age pond barrow. It is one of a group of several Bronze Age Barrows noted on Sheep Down (MDO3392-6) that lie above apparent limit of 'Celtic' fields (MDO3414) on a broad spur running North East from the Ridgeway at about 460 ft above OD. A circular hollow which may be the remains of this barrow is also visible as an earthwork and a cropmark at this location on aerial photographs <9-10>, measuring approximately 11 metres in diameter. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

Record last edited

Dec 14 2023 1:17PM