Bowl barrow 200m east of Plumpton Bostall (top end)

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1012468
Date first listed:: 27-Jan-1967

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1012468
Date first listed:: 27-Jan-1967
Date of most recent amendment:: 07-Jun-1991

Location

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

County:: East Sussex
District:: Lewes (District Authority)
Parish:: Plumpton
National Park:: SOUTH DOWNS
National Grid Reference:: TQ 35844 12678

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 the limited damage to the barrow mound caused by partial excavation, the monument near the top of Plumpton Bostall retains significant archaeological potential for the recovery of evidence of the nature and duration of its use and of the environment in which it was constructed. As one of many Neolithic and Bronze Age funerary monuments in the area, the monument indicates the significance of the South Downs for burial in the later prehistoric period.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow which comprises a mound and a surrounding ditch. The mound measures 17m across and stands to a height of 0.9m. The surrounding ditch, which has been partially infilled by soil eroded from the mound, is most easily visible on the western side as a hollow some 2m across at the foot of the mound. The hollow in the summit of the mound resulted originally from partial excavation in the 19th century. The diameter of the mound and ditch together is 21m.

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:: 12877
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
Darvill, T, Monument Class Description - Bowl barrows, 1988,

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 Culture, Media and Sport.