Reasons for Designation
Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking
ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic
periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early
farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments
surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows
appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the
human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide
evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and,
consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites
for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 examples of
long barrows and long cairns, their counterparts in the uplands, are recorded
nationally. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as
earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and
their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are considered to be
nationally important.
Details
The monument includes a north west-south east aligned long barrow situated on
a south facing downland slope, some 400m north of the Channel coast just to
the east of Brighton. Discovered by the analysis of an aerial photograph taken
in the dry summer of 1995, the long barrow is visible in the form of parch
marks, or areas of dryer vegetation, which represent a pair of curving ditches
cut into the underlying chalk. These are each around 80m long and originally
flanked a now levelled earthen mound. The broader end of the barrow faces the
lower ground to the south east. The monument has been partly disturbed by
modern landscaping work associated with the construction of the miniature golf
course which now occupies the hillslope.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
29234
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Other
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.
End of official list entry
