MSO6825 - Bronze Age bowl barrow on Great Buscombe Ridge (Monument)

A Bronze Age bowl barrow measuring 11 to 13 metres in diameter and 0.6 metres high. It has an irregular hollowed centre which may be the result of excavation and robbing. A shallow ditch is evident on the south and southwestern sides.

SS 7671 4205, a bowl barrow 12 paces across and 2 feet high, found by Grinsell in 1961 (Exmoor No. 4). [1] This is a low bowl barrow which has been considerably disturbed at the centre. See GPs AO/65/128/7 & 8 (Stereo pair). Surveyed at 1/2500. [2] No change. Surveyed at 1/2500 on PFD at SS 7672 4199. [3] (SS 76724199) Tumulus (NR). [4] A barrow centred at SS 7672 4199 on the spine of Great Buscombe ridge at 441 metres above Ordnance Datum. It has a predominantly westerly and southerly aspect, with good visibility towards The Chains and Ashcombe Ridge respectively. The barrow is subcircular, between 11 and 13 metres in diameter (with a summit diameter of 5.8 metres) and is 0.6 metres high. It has an irregular, hollowed centre, 4.8 metres across and 0.3 metres deep, which may be the result of an excavation or robbing. The hollow appears to have been driven into the mound from the north, where it opens out through the side of the barrow. On the southern and southwestern sides are traces of a shallow ditch, 1.3 metres wide an 0.2 metres deep. It is separated from the foot of the mound by a narrow berm. The ditch is not tracable around the northern and eastern sides of the barrow due to the uneven and disturbed nature of the ground. [5] The barrow described by [5] is clearly visible on aerial photographs; however the associated ditch cannot be traced. The barrow lies in an area of extensive 19th century drainage ditches constructed by the Knight family as part of their land improvement plan, and it is likely that such activity has disturbed both the mound and ditch. [6,7] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [8] The feature is depicted and labelled ""Tumulus"" on the 2021 MasterMap data. [9]