Reasons for Designation
Beneficial land use over the years has enabled Bow Hill and Kingley Vale to
support one of the most diverse and well-preserved areas of chalk downland
archaeological remains in south eastern England. These remains are considered
to be of particular significance because they include types of monument,
dating from the prehistoric and Roman periods, more often found in Wessex and
south western Britain. The well-preserved and often visible relationship
between trackways, settlement sites, land boundaries, stock enclosures, flint
mines, ceremonial and funerary monuments in the area gives significant insight
into successive changes in the pattern of land use over time.
Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise
closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds
covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a
considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as
a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit
considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including
several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later `flat' burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.
Bell barrows, the most visually impressive form of round barrow, date to the
Early and Middle Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period
1500-1100 BC. They were constructed as single or multiple mounds covering
burials, often in pits, and surrounded by an enclosure ditch. The burials are
frequently accompanied by weapons, personal ornaments and pottery and appear
to be those of aristocratic individuals, usually men. Bell barrows are rare
nationally, with less than 250 known examples, most of which are in Wessex.
Pond barrows also date to the Early and Middle Bronze Age, although, rather
than a mound, they were constructed as regular circular depressions with an
embanked rim and, occasionally, an outer ditch or an entrance through the
bank. Where excavation has occurred, single or multiple pits or cists,
occasionally containing human remains, have usually been discovered within the
central depression, whilst at one example a well-like shaft was revealed. The
function and role of pond barrows is not fully understood but their close
association with other types of barrow and the limited but repeated occurrence
of human remains from excavated examples supports their identification as
ceremonial monuments involved in funerary ritual. Pond barrows are the rarest
form of round barrow, with about 60 examples recorded nationally and a
distribution largely confined to Wiltshire and Dorset.
Cross dykes are substantial linear earthworks typically between 0.2km and 1km
long and comprising one or more ditches arranged beside and parallel to one or
more banks. They generally occur in upland situations, running across ridges
and spurs. The evidence of excavation and analogy with associated monuments
demonstrates that their construction spans the millenium from the Middle
Bronze Age, although they may have been reused later. Current information
favours the view that they were used as territorial boundary markers, probably
demarcating land allotment within communities. Cross dykes are one of the few
monument types which illustrate how land was divided up in the prehistoric
period. Very few have survived to the present day, and they are of
considerable importance for any analysis of settlement and land use in the
Bronze Age.
Despite partial excavation of the two bell barrows, the four barrows and the
cross dyke on Bow Hill survive well and contain archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was constructed. These monuments are broadly contemporary and their close
association will therefore provide evidence for the relationship between land
division and funerary practice during the period of their construction and
use.
Details
The monument includes two bell barrows and two pond barrows forming part of a
linear round barrow cemetery and a cross dyke situated on the summit of a
ridge of the Sussex Downs.
Running across the ridge immediately to the south west of the four barrows,
the cross dyke is a north west-south east orientated ditch with a total length
of 230m, made up of three zig-zagged sections 4m wide and 1m deep. Each
section of ditch is flanked on the south east side by a bank 6m wide and up to
1m high. The most northerly section of the ditch is 45m long and ends in a
well-defined, rounded terminal at its northern end. The central section is 75m
long and is separated from the northern and southern sections by two parallel
trackways running along the top of the ridge. The southern section is 80m long
and, at its southern end, fades out at the point where the ground falls away
to form the southern slope of the ridge.
To the north east of the central section of the cross dyke is the first of the
bell barrows with a central mound 26m in diameter and 4m high. The mound has a
central hollow indicating partial excavation in the 19th century. Separating
the mound from its surrounding ditch is a flat platform or berm 3m wide, which
gives the barrow its distinctive, bell-shaped form. The ditch, from which
material used to construct the barrow was excavated, survives as an earthwork
feature 5m wide and 0.8m deep.
North east of the bell barrow is a pond barrow with a central depression 4m in
diameter and 0.6m deep, surrounded by a bank 2m wide and 0.2m high. The second
bell barrow lies c.2m to the north east and has a mound 26m in diameter and
3.5m high with a central hollow, the result of partial excavation in 1933. The
surrounding berm is up to 4m wide and the outer ditch 5m wide and 0.8m deep.
Five metres to the north east is the second pond barrow with a central
depression 6m in diameter and 0.5m deep surrounded by a bank 2m wide and 0.2m
high.
Together with two bowl barrows c.105m to the north east, the barrows are known
as The Devil's Humps or Kings Graves. A Bronze Age flint scraper and sherds of
Bronze Age or Iron Age pottery were found during the excavation of the second
bell barrow, along with some Romano-British pottery sherds and a Roman bronze
coin of Valentian II.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
