Bowl barrow 960m WSW of Bignor Hill

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1010148

Date first listed: 07-Apr-1967

Date of most recent amendment: 09-Sep-1992

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

National Park: SOUTH DOWNS

National Grid Reference: SU 97284 12919

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 superficially similar, although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring across most of lowland Britain. 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 and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Despite partial excavation, the bowl barrow 960m WSW of Bignor Hill retains further archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the crest of a ridge of chalk downland. The barrow is visible as a mound 19m in diameter and 0.6m high. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This has become infilled over the years and now survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. The mound, which has been known locally as `Watch Ways', was partially excavated before 1870 when seven skeletons were found beneath the mound.

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.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number: 20098

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows, , Vol. 75, (1934)
Honywood, T, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in , , Vol. 22, (1870)
Other
Ketterington L, AM 12, (1980)

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.