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Latitude: 50.8424 / 50°50'32"N
Longitude: -2.4962 / 2°29'46"W
OS Eastings: 365160.486874
OS Northings: 104875.768845
OS Grid: ST651048
Mapcode National: GBR MV.WCDC
Mapcode Global: FRA 56NW.3CD
Entry Name: Platform barrow 300m south west of Lane Cottages
Scheduled Date: 28 April 1961
Last Amended: 18 November 1996
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1015876
English Heritage Legacy ID: 27446
County: Dorset
Civil Parish: Minterne Magna
Traditional County: Dorset
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Dorset
Church of England Parish: Minterne Magna St Andrew
Church of England Diocese: Salisbury
The monument includes a platform barrow lying on an east facing slope 300m
south west of Lane Cottages.
The barrow has a central platform, 7.5m in diameter, raised 0.4m above the
adjacent ground level, surrounded on its rim by a circular bank c.4m wide,
0.3m high from the inside and a maximum of 0.7m high from the outside. The
mound and bank appear to be composed of flint nodules, some of which have been
exposed by tree roots. There are slight traces of a quarry ditch surrounding
the mound. This has largely become infilled over the years but survives as a
slight depression on the south west side of the mound and elsewhere as a
buried feature c.2m wide.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
Source: Historic England
Platform barrows, funerary monuments dating to the Bronze Age (2000-700 BC),
are the rarest of the recognised types of round barrow, with fewer than 50
examples recorded nationally. They occur widely across southern England with a
marked concentration in East and West Sussex and can occur either in barrow
cemeteries (closely-spaced groups of barrows) or singly. They were constructed
as low, flat-topped mounds of earth surrounded by a shallow ditch,
occasionally crossed by an entrance causeway. None of the known examples
stands higher than 1m above ground level, and most are considerably lower than
this. Due to their comparative visual insignificance when compared to the
larger types of round barrow, few were explored by 19th century antiquarians.
As a result, few platform barrows are disturbed by excavation and,
consequently, they remain a poorly understood class of monument. Their
importance lies in their potential for illustrating the diversity of beliefs
and burial practices in the Bronze Age and, due to their extreme rarity and
considerable fragility, all identified platform barrows would normally be
considered to be of national importance.
The platform barrow 300m south west of Lane Cottages is a well preserved
example of its class. Its buried deposits will include archaeological remains
containing information relating to the Bronze Age burial practices, economy
and environment.
Source: Historic England
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