Deserted medieval settlement at Lower Barpham Farm

Reasons for Designation

Medieval rural settlement in England is marked by considerable regional diversity in form, size and type, and the protection of archaeological remains of such settlements needs to take that diversity into account. In order to do this, England has been divided into three broad provinces on the basis of each area's distinctive combination of nucleated and dispersed settlements. The provinces have been further divided into sub-provinces and small local regions. This monument lies within the East Wessex sub-province of the eastern province which is characterised by nucleated settlements, both surviving and deserted, in an area of chalk downland with smoothly contoured valleys and winter streamflow. The settlements typically appear in chains along the valleys where water supply was assured. It is also an area in which moated sites and settlements with greens are uncommon, the latter contrasting markedly with sub-provinces to the east and north east. The deserted medieval settlement at Lower Barpham Farm represents the predominant, nucleated form of medieval rural settlement within the East Wessex sub-province and survives well in the form of substantial earthworks and undisturbed buried remains. These will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the date of the monument and its subsequent development and abandonment.

Details

The monument includes a deserted medieval settlement situated on the south east facing slope of a chalk hill which forms part of the Sussex Downs. The settlement, which survives in earthwork form, is grouped around an east-west aligned sunken trackway which runs across the slope in the northern part of the monument. This is flanked on either side by at least eight roughly square, terraced enclosures bounded by banks up to c.0.5m high. These represent the tofts, or the sites of the houses, outbuildings and yards of the settlement. Towards the south west is a larger, rectangular terraced enclosure measuring c.50m by c.30m, interpreted as the curtilage of a manor house, church or other high-status building. The areas between and around these enclosures contain associated cultivation terraces which survive as earthworks up to c.1m high. A further settlement 500m to the south west, believed to have been separate but broadly contemporary, is the subject of a separate scheduling. The telegraph poles which run along the northern boundary of the monument are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

29275

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.