Poor Lot Barrow Cemetery Explained

Poor Lot Barrow Cemetery
Map Type:Dorset
Map Size:240px
Coordinates:50.7147°N -2.5836°W
Gbgridref:SY 589 908
Type:Round barrow cemetery

Poor Lot Barrow Cemetery is an archaeological site, a group of Bronze Age round barrows, near the A35 road about 2miles west of Winterbourne Abbas, in Dorset, England. It is an English Heritage site.

Description

Although the barrows are situated not on a ridge or hilltop, as is usually found, but on relatively low-lying ground, the site is near the head of a valley descending to the east. Most are south of the A35 road, with a few north of the road. They date from about 1500 BC.[1] [2] [3]

There are 44 barrows. Half of these are bowl barrows; the rest include seven bell barrows, six disc barrows, five pond barrows and two bell-disc barrows.[2] The barrows, individually or in groups, are separately listed as ancient monuments.

There is a minor plateau on the west of the site, from which all the barrows can be seen. These include two rough alignments of barrows south of the road, on the eastern edge of the plateau.[3] The alignment nearer the road includes a large ditched bell barrow of diameter and height ; adjacent to this on the west is a disc barrow of diameter . To the south-west is the second alignment, where there is a prominent bell barrow of diameter and height .[2]

Two pond barrows were excavated in 1952–1953; pits and flint paving were found, but no burials; little is now left of the excavated barrows.[3]

Notes and References

  1. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/winterbourne-poor-lot-barrows/history/ "History of Winterbourne Poor Lot Barrows"
  2. Richard Wainwright. A Guide to the Prehistoric Remains in Britain. Volume 1: South and East. Constable, 1979. Pages 128–129.
  3. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol2/pp434-480 'Earthworks: Round Barrows', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2, South east (London, 1970), pp. 434-480