Monument record MDO7994 - Round Barrow in the Ballard Down Group, Ballard Down, Swanage

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Summary

Bronze Age round barrow, one of a group on Ballard Down, disturbed and reduced by ploughing.

Map

Type and Period (1)

Full Description

'B' - SZ 02748123. Turf covered bowl barrow, 6.5.m. diameter and 0.5m. High with no surrounding ditch. Mutilated in the south by a track and in the north by a slit trench. <2> Ballard Down Group of round barrows lie close together on the spine of the steep:sided chalk ridge. The area, built on the disturbed circa 1940, and now almost levelled by ploughing, contains numerous slight rises similarly marked by concentrations of stone rubble, making identification of barrows recorded here very difficult. The reasonably certain barrows are: 'B'- (85)-SZ 02748123. Bowl barrow about 24ft diameter and 1ft high. (Grinsell's Swanage No 7a). <4-5> Until recently, when it came to the National Trust, Ballard Down was regularly ploughed but it is now reverting to downland. Since the RCHM reported on this barrow group in 1970 (3) RCHM 84 (SZ 02728124) and RCHM 85 (SZ 02738123) have been ploughed out and only the faintest traces remain. RCHM 87 remains as described but is doubtfully a barrow. RCHM 86 (SZ 02748125) has a boundary stone on top, on the line of the fence seperating NTL from arable to the N, and only the N side is now surveyable. On grassland these 'features' are in bad condition, 160m OD. Surveyed at 1:2500. <5>

Sources/Archives (9)

  • <1> Map: Ordnance Survey. Various. Ordnance Survey Map 6in. Prov. Ed. 6 inch.
  • <2> Unpublished document: Rigg, J. Field Investigators Comments JR. F1 JR 02-SEP-52.
  • <3> Monograph: Grinsell, L V. 1959. Dorset Barrows. 132-3.
  • <4> Monograph: Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England). 1970. An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3. 453.
  • <5> Unpublished document: Mead, Richard. Field Investigators Comments RPM. F2 RPM 1981-08-12.
  • <6> Index: Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology. 1983. Isle of Purbeck Survey. Form AM107. IOP 301.
  • <7> Unpublished document: Papworth, M. 1992. Whitecliff Farm, Purbeck, Dorset, Wessex Region. 10.
  • <8> Unpublished document: Royal Commission on Historic Monuments. Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East).
  • <9> Digital archive: National Record of the Historic Environment. 457635.

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (0)

Location

Grid reference Centred SZ 0273 8124 (9m by 10m)
Map sheet SZ08SW
Civil Parish Swanage; Dorset
Unitary Authority Dorset

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Other Statuses/References

  • Legacy UID: Dorset Sites and Monuments Record: 6 020 085
  • Legacy UID: National Monuments Record: SZ 08 SW 29 B
  • Legacy UID: National Record of the Historic Environment: 457635
  • Royal Commission Inventory Reference: Swanage 85

Record last edited

Apr 14 2023 7:18PM

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