Summary : A plough-levelled bowl barrow, part of the general group of barrows on Oakley Down (SU 01 NW 19). Listed by RCHME as Wimborne St Giles 123 and by Grinsell, curiously, as both Wimborne St Giles 1a and 77, it was described by RCHME as a levelled mound formerly circa 45 feet in diameter. This also appears to be the most plausible candidate for a barrow excavated in the early 19th century by Cunnington and Hoare, and numbered 27 on Hoare's plan. Although not explicitly stated in his text, barrow 27 would appear to be the one in which they found "some burned bones, and some large headed nails within a very irregular cist". Hoare's barrow 27 is listed by Grinsell as Wimborne St Giles 26, and sited by him to SU 02081768. However, RCHME investigation strongly suggested that the mound at this location (SU 01 NW 18) is in fact the junction of two banks in the "Celtic" field system which covers the area (SU 01 NW 71) and not, as Grinsell felt, a barrow. |