Wor Barrow is a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

long barrow Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repre ...

Cranborne Chase Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The area is dominated by, ...

, about east of

Sixpenny Handley Sixpenny Handley or Handley is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge, in north east Dorset, England, situated on Cranborne Chase ten miles (16 km) north east of Blandford Forum. In the ...

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. Covering an area of , ...

, England. It is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. Its excavation by

Augustus Pitt Rivers Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers (14 April 18274 May 1900) was an English officer in the British Army, ethnologist, and archaeologist. He was noted for innovations in archaeological met ...

in 1893–1894 has been described as "an important event in the study of British archaeology".Richard Wainwright. ''A Guide to the Prehistoric Remains in Britain. Volume 1: South and East''. Constable, 1979. Page 133.

Description

There are many prehistoric remains on Cranborne Chase from the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. There are two

bowl barrow A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include ''cairn circle'', ''cairn ring'', ''howe'', ''ker ...

s nearby, and a group of round barrows at Oakley Down to the east: the presence of Wor Barrow may have been influential in their construction. The barrow, aligned north-west to south-east, dates from the Early to Middle Neolithic period, about 3400–2400 BC. It was originally long and wide; its height was about . A ditch surrounded the barrow, wide and up to deep.

Excavation

, inheritor of the Rushmore Estate, where he was resident from 1880, investigated many prehistoric monuments on his estate. Wor Barrow was totally excavated by Pitt Rivers, the ditch in 1893 and the barrow in 1894; the results were published in detail. In the ditch were found two Early Neolithic burials, stratified pottery from Early to Late Neolithic, and several burials from the Romano-British period. The mound had Romano-British burials in the upper levels; below were the remains of a rectangular timber enclosure, about , with traces of a turf mound covering it. The enclosure had an entrance at the south-east, and within were six male skeletons, three of which were disarticulated.'Sixpenny Handley', in ''An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 5, East'' (London, 1975), pp. 64-72
British History Online. Retrieved 29 December 2020. The timber mortuary enclosure, surrounded originally by a rectangular ditch, is regarded as the first phase of construction. In the second phase, the barrow covered the mortuary enclosure, and the earlier ditch was partly destroyed by the ditch of the barrow. The earth from the excavation was deposited in a terraced bank along the south-west side. The intention of Pitt Rivers was that the site should be an amphitheatre "for games or other amusements and exhibitions".

Excavations by Pitt Rivers

Other sites on Cranborne Chase excavated by Pitt Rivers include the

Martin Down Enclosure The Martin Down Enclosure is an archaeological site on Martin Down, near the village of Martin, in Hampshire, England. It is near the boundaries with Dorset and Wiltshire. The site is a scheduled monument, and it is one of several archaeological ...

Rotherley Down Settlement Rotherley Down Settlement is an archaeological site of the late Iron Age and Romano-British period on Cranborne Chase, England. It is about south of Berwick St John, and north of Tollard Royal, in Wiltshire, near the boundary with Dorset. It i ...

South Lodge Camp South Lodge Camp is an archaeological site of the Bronze Age, about south-east of the village of Tollard Royal, in Wiltshire, England. The site is on Cranborne Chase, near the boundary with Dorset. It is a scheduled monument. Description The sit ...

and Woodcutts Settlement.

References

{{Long Barrows in Britain Barrows in England Scheduled monuments in Dorset Archaeological sites in Dorset