Round barrow on Cliffe Hill

Summary

Round Barrow on Cliffe Hill, 1.09km north-east of Lewes Golf Course Club 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.

Despite the landscaping of Lewes Golf Course, the round barrow on Cliffe Hill, 1.09km north-east of Lewes Golf Course Club House survives as a slight earthwork and buried feature, which has the potential for the recovery of archaeological and environmental information relating to the barrow and the landscape in which it was 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 a round barrow, likely to be of bowl barrow type, situated at the summit of Cliffe Hill on Lewes Golf Course at the northern edge of the South Downs. The monument survives largely as a buried archaeological feature following landscaping of the golf course but is also visible as slight earthworks above ground. The mound measures 11m in diameter and is now less than 0.1 high. It was originally at least 0.5m high. A surrounding quarry ditch from which material to construct the mound was derived is also likely to survive as a buried feature.

The barrow is recorded on Ordnance Survey maps (1:2500) of 1873, 1899, 1910 and 1932.

Further archaeological remains survive within the vicinity of this monument. Some such as a nearby oval barrow are scheduled, but others, including three round barrows, are not because they have not been formally assessed.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

ES 230

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
NMR TQ41SW18. PastScape 406560.

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