Summary
Long barrow near Winton Chalk Pit, 484m north-east of meadow down.
Reasons for Designation
Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and, consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 long barrows are recorded in England. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are considered to be nationally important.
Despite having been levelled by ploughing, the long barrow near Winton Chalk Pit, 484m north-east of meadow down survives as a buried feature. The excavation of the mound in the past has demonstrated that it is a significant prehistoric burial site. The buried remains will contain archaeological and environmental information relating to the mound, quarry ditch and surrounding landscape in which it was constructed. The close association with broadly contemporary and later funerary monuments along the ridge, such as Long Burgh long barrow, provides evidence for the continuing importance of this area of chalk downland for burial and ceremonial practices over a period of around 3000 years.
History
See Details.
Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 26 February 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.
The monument includes an unchambered long barrow situated on the south-east slope of a ridge of chalk downland overlooking the village of Alfriston on the South Downs. It has been levelled by ploughing and survives as a buried archaeological feature. The mound was, in the3 1930s, about 30m long, 18m wide and up to 1.8m high and orientated SSE and NNW. On the SSE and NNW sides of the mound is a now infilled quarry ditch from which material to construct the mound was derived. The barrow was totally excavated in 1974, which showed that the chalk core of the mound was capped with a layer of large flint nodules. A burial pit located south-west of the mound's centre contained a crouched female inhumation. A second pit to the north contained a similar fill but no burial. 13 post holes were noted around the area of the mound. The finds included over 8000 flints, 84 small Neolithic pottery sherds, Iron Age and Roman pottery sherds and a bronze fibula dating to the 1st century AD.
Further archaeological remains survive within the vicinity of this monument. Some such as the nearby Long Burgh long barrow are scheduled, but others are not because they have not been formally assessed.
