Three barrows on Offham Hill

Summary

Three Bowl Barrows on Offham Hill, 305m north-west of Ousedale House.

Reasons for Designation

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period.

The three bowl barrows on Offham Hill form an important group, which will contain below-ground archaeological and environmental information relating to the mounds and the landscape in which they were constructed.

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 three bowl barrows situated on the north-east side of a reservoir on a spur of the Sussex Downs. To the east is the largest of the three barrows which has a circular mound about 12m in diameter, surviving to a height of about 0.4m. The mound is surrounded by a ditch from which material used to construct the barrow was excavated. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature about 2m wide. The second barrow lies about 8m to the south west and has a mound approximately 10m in diameter and 0.5m high, also surrounded by an infilled ditch about 2m wide. A third barrow, about 12m to the north survives as buried archaeological remains. It is just outside the north-east corner of the reservoir's perimeter fence. The circular mound was originally about 8m in diameter.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

ES 169

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
NMR TQ31SE55. PastScape 402898.

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