Shapwick Barrow

Nearest town:
Blandford Forum (7km WNW)
OS reference:
ST933016
OS sheet:
195
Latitude:
50° 48' 47.92 N
Longitude:
2° 5' 42.4 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Shapwick Barrow (Round Barrow) by formicaant

A contemporary engraving of Shapwick barrow under excavation.

Image credit: Mike Rowland 18/10/2007.
formicaant
formicaant Oct 18, 2007
Image of Shapwick Barrow (Round Barrow) by formicaant

The barrow from Shapwick churchyard, the river Stour is inbetween.

Image credit: Mike Rowland 18/10/2007.
formicaant
formicaant Oct 18, 2007

Articles

Shapwick Barrow

formicaant
formicaant Oct 18, 2007

This barrow is only really visible from Shapwick churchyard. It is situated on a flood plain next to the river Stour, Badbury rings is about two miles to the north of this site.
The barrow is relatively well known for the engraving of its excavation in 1838. The person responsible for the dig was the Rev. Charles Wools, the then curate of Sturminster Marshall. Wools wrote that “the examination of the Barrow was continued for Eight Days with an indomitable spirit of perseverance.” Work had to stop when they dug below the level of the river and the trench began to flood. A possible Bronze age cremation burial was found.
Wools wrote up the dig in a book called “The Barrow Diggers; a Dialogue in Imitation of the Grave Diggers in Hamlet” a mixture of farce and serious scholarship.

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