Monument record MDO7315 - Bowl barrow, Knowle Hill, Church Knowle

A Bronze Age barrow 15m across is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs to the south east of Norden Wood, Church Knowle.

"In May 1861 I examined the remainder of the Barrows upon Bucknowle Hill, situated at about 200 paces east of the one which I opened in a previous year (SY 98 SW 16) and which has been described in the first volume". "There are two large and two smaller with a square earthwork measuring 12 paces in diameter, which would seem to be of later date than the barrows from the fact that its south bank passes across one of them." … The other large barrow situated 25 paces due south from the last (evidently B) was 47 yards in circumference and was surrounded by a ditch". The outside was found to be composed of a hardened wall of earth and chalk. Five feet south of the centre (and apparently at a depth of 5' - the passage is obscure) was a mass of black earth or charcoal in which was found a whetstone, perforated at its smaller end. Beneath this was a cist which contained a deposit of burnt bones. In the SW section of the barrow were extensive traces of similar black earth.The two low barrows were unimportant". <1> 'B' has a diameter of 14.0m. And a height of 1.6m. And is surrounded by a ditch on all but the south quadrant where it has been obliterated by a modern track. The ditch is 4.0m. Wide and 0.6m. Deep. It is turf-covered and appears to have been a bowl-barrow. The top shows signs of mutilation, probably as a result of the earlier excavation. <3> SY 94598233. Church Knowle 8. … Two bowl barrows listed, details as Authy 2-5. The bronze dagger from Barrow 'A' is in Dorset County Museum. (The two mounds east of the published barrows are not mentioned by Grinsell). <4> 'B'. Ditched bowl barrow (SY 94588233) 40 yds. S. of 'A' diam 45ft., ht. 4 1/2ft. Opened 1861 by Austen who found a probably primary cremation in a cist below much burnt material containing a perforatedwhetstone now in Dorset County Museum. <5> SY 945824. Three round barrows on Knowle Hill. Scheduled. <6> 'B' A ditched bowl barrow untouched by the plough with an overall diameter of 24.5m; the mound is up to 1.8m high and has an 0.3m deep central depression. The ditch is up to 0.8m deep but it has been effaced on the south side. <8> A Bronze Age barrow 15m across is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs to the south east of Norden Wood, Church Knowle <10-11>. The site was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

Record last edited

Oct 23 2023 4:08PM