Monument record MWX683 - Bronze Age round barrow, Holme Heath, East Holme

A circular mound is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of Holme Heath. It is considered likely to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. This may be a fourth barrow associated with three located 80m to the north-east (MDO7627-29).

A Diameter 12.5 metres; height 1.4 metres. No sign of berm or ditch. Slight mutilation on top. B. Diameter 12.0 metres; height 1.6 metres. No trace of berm or ditch. Mutilated on top. 'C' Diameter 10.0 metres; height 1.2 metres. Very slightly mutilated on top. No sign of berm or ditch. Small mounds mentioned in Authority 2 are natural gravel outcrops. (See SY 98 NW 42). (3) Three barrows, all excavated by Austen in 1860. To the north-west and south is a large group of small mounds (see SY 98 NW 42), surrounding barrows (b) and (c), one apparently impinging on (c). Details of the barrows are as follows:- (a) SY 90698528. Bowl barrow 326 feet diameter by 4 1/2 feet high. Nothing found by Austen. (b) SY 90678529. Ditched bowl barrow 36 feet diameter by 4 feet high. It contained a probable cremation. (c) SY 90648528. Bowl barrow 27 feet diameter by 2 1/2 feet high. An inverted urn, probably primary, lay in a cist cut into the subsoil and covered with a sandstone slab. A secondary urn lay 'Unprotected' 1 1/2 feet to the south and 1 foot from the surface. This barrow is overlapped by one of the adjoining mounds, (SY 98 NW 42). (4) A circular mound, approximately 20.4m in diameter, is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of Holme Heath (9). It is considered likely to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. This may be a fourth barrow associated with three located 80m to the north-east (MDO7627-29). This feature was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project. It is not visible on the most recent Google Earth imagery, the area now under dense scrub.

Record last edited

Mar 20 2023 2:52PM