More information : [ST 48543199] Dundon Beacon Tumulus [GT]. (1)
Dundon Beacon was excavated by Hasell [c.1831] who found beneath its
base a rude cist enclosing an inhumation in kneeling posture,
together with an urn containing a number of penannular rings,
thought to be of tin, much oxidised, rather more than 3/4" in
diameter.
A letter from Hasell to Colt Hoare referring to this barrow is in
Taunton Museum. (2)
A large ditchless bowl barrow, 3.7 m. high. Published survey, 1/2500
revised. (3)
ST 48543199. An earthen mound sited on the south-east corner of the ramparts at Dundon Hill (ST 43 SE 15). It takes the form of a truncated cone of 35m diameter at base by approximately 5m high, with flattish top and evenly sloping sides. It is clearly later than the rampart into which it is built as the north-western sides of the mound, facing the interior, have visibly cut through the earlier earthworks and a hollow to the west of the mound, which has also destroyed parts of the rampart, was probably a source of material for its construction. A sloping earthen causeway appears to have given access to the mound from the north-west. The site was excavated in the 1850's when a burial was discovered leading to its current classification as a `Tumulus' on OS maps. Other interpretations include a motte and a firebeacon, all of which are plausible, though unproven. (4)
The original account of the 1851 is contained in the volume of the Archaeological Journal for that year. (5)
The feature is marked on the Ordnance Survey first edition map of the area. (6)
The feature is noted in EJ Burrow's 1927 work on earthworks in Somerset. (7)
First thought to be simply a bowl barrow, it may also have been a motte or beacon. (8)
Recent investigation sugests that the original barrow was added to and modified as a Norman motte. (9)
This is a scheduled monument. (10) |