Bowl barrow 700m north west of Lewes Prison: the northerly barrow of a group of three round barrows

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1013540
Date first listed:: 17-Jan-1996

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1013540
Date first listed:: 17-Jan-1996

Location

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

County:: East Sussex
District:: Lewes (District Authority)
Parish:: Lewes
National Park:: SOUTH DOWNS
National Grid Reference:: TQ 39806 10452

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.

The bowl barrow 700m north west of Lewes Prison survives well and will contain contemporary archaeological and environmental remains. The close association of the barrow with two further round barrows c.90m to the south provides evidence for the extensive use of the downland to the north west of modern Lewes for burial during the prehistoric period.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, the most northerly of a group of three round barrows situated on a ridge of the Sussex Downs. The barrow has a roughly circular mound c.9m in diameter and around 0.5m high 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 up to 1.5m wide.

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:: 27022
Legacy System:: RSM

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.