Monument record MDO5942 - Long barrow, Pentridge

A long barrow incorporated into the north west bank of the Dorset Cursus, which it is thought to pre-date. In 1975 this monument was recorded as an earthwork 140 feet long with a mound 50 feet wide and 8 feet high at the north east end, tapering to 40 feet wide and 4½ feet high at the south west.

A Neolithic long barrow incorporated into the line of the Dorset Cursus (Linear 41). The barrow is listed by RCHME as Pentridge 18 and by Grinsell as Pentridge IV. RCHME described the barrow as a mound 140 feet long, measuring 50 feet wide and 8 feet high at the northeast end and 40 feet wide and 4.5 feet high at the southwest end. The barrow has been incorporated into the northwest bank of the Cursus, and its alignment differs slightly from that of the Cursus. The barrow is presumed to have pre-dated the Cursus, although Barrett et al (1991, 49) raised the possibility that the barrow may have been built alongside an earlier phase of the Cursus, becoming incorporated into the Cursus bank when the latter monument was enlarged. In the absence of excavation, this is highly speculative. <1, 3-5>

Record last edited

Feb 15 2023 6:56AM