Hardown Hill (207 metres, 679 feet high) is a hill between Ryall and

Morcombelake Morcombelake (also spelled Morecombelake) is a small village near Bridport in Dorset, England, within the ancient parish of Whitchurch Canonicorum. Golden Cap, part of the Jurassic Coast The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the Engl ...

in the county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It rises west of the

South Dorset Downs The Dorset Downs are an area of chalk downland in the centre of the county Dorset in south west England. The downs are the most western part of a larger chalk formation which also includes (from west to east) Cranborne Chase, Salisbury Plain, Ham ...

, close to the Dorset coast, and overlooks the Marshwood Vale to the north. Its prominence qualifies it as one of Dorset's four

Marilyns This is a list of Marilyn hills and mountains in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Ireland by height. Marilyns are defined as peaks with a prominence of or more, regardless of height or any other merit (e.g. topographic isolation, as used in ...

and it is listed as one of the "top 12 Dorset views to take your breath away" by Dorset's official tourist website.''Top 12 Dorset views to take your breath away''
at www.visit-dorset.com. Accessed on 3 May 2013. The hill lies about 6 kilometres west of Bridport and about 500 metres north of the A 35 road. It is not nearly as well known as its southern extremity,

Golden Cap Golden Cap is a hill and cliff situated on the English Channel coast between Bridport and Charmouth in Dorset, England. At , it is arguably the highest point on the south coast of Great Britain (although the highest point is set back some 250m fr ...

, which is a spectacular bluff on the coast, 2 kilometres to the south. From the top of the hill, which is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, there are impressive views that take in

Thorncombe Beacon Thorncombe Beacon is a hill between Bridport and Charmouth in Dorset, England. It lies about west of Eype Mouth and east of Seatown. It is in the south-west part of Symondsbury parish close to the parish of Chideock. It is high, compared to ...

Chardown Hill Chardown Hill is a prominent, rounded hill, high, just to the southwest of the village of Morcombelake in the county of Dorset in southern England. It overlooks the Dorset coast around 1½ kilometres to the south. Its prominence of means it is ...

, Quarry Hill and

Langdon Hill Langdon may refer to: Places Australia * Langdon, Queensland, a neighbourhood in the Mackay Region Canada * Langdon, Alberta, a hamlet United Kingdom * Langdon, Cornwall, a hamlet * Langdon, Kent, a civil parish * Langdon, Pembrokeshire ...

. There is a group of ten barrows, mostly covered in gorse and bracken, about 300 metres north of the summit above the hamlet of Ryall. These barrows are thought to be of disc and bowl form, likely dating to the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. Wyatt Wingrave excavated fifteen artefacts dating to the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

in 1916, which he interpreted as the associated objects of an early Anglo-Saxon inhumation burial. No skeletal remains were found, and it is not clear which of the barrows was excavated. Vera Evison later reinterpreted the assemblage as a group of Anglo-Saxon burials that represented

secondary interment The secondary burial (German: ''Nachbestattung'' or ''Sekundärbestattung''), or “double funeral”Duday, Henri, et al. The Archaeology of the Dead: Lectures in Archaeothanatology. United Kingdom, Oxbow Books, 2009. (not to be confused with dou ...

s in a Bronze Age barrow. A recent consideration of the context and a reclassification of the artefacts has cast doubts on the burial interpretation, and has instead interpreted the assemblage as a

hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

.''Austin, M. 2014. 'Rethinking Hardown Hill: Our Westernmost Early Anglo-Saxon Cemetery?', Antiquaries Journal, 94. 49-69''
/ref>

Gallery

File:Hardown Hill from the road to Ryall - geograph.org.uk - 390270.jpg, Hardown Hill from the road to Ryall File:Path at the top of Golden Cap - geograph.org.uk - 1146049.jpg, Hardown Hill and the village of Morcombelake from Golden Cap File:Hardown Hill, view east - geograph.org.uk - 519414.jpg, View from Hardown Hill looking east with the A35 on the right File:Hardown Hill, view northwest - geograph.org.uk - 519416.jpg, View from Hardown Hill looking northwest over Whitechurch Canonicorum File:Hardown Hill, view west - geograph.org.uk - 519419.jpg, View from Hardown Hill looking west towards the Dorset coast File:Hardown Hill, Morcombelake - geograph.org.uk - 163068.jpg, Summit area of Hardown Hill

References

{{Reflist Hills of Dorset