Round barrow cemetery in Rackham Plantation

Reasons for Designation

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them, contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Bowl barrows are the most numerous form of round barrow, constructed as bowl-shaped mounds, sometimes ditched, covering single or multiple burials. Often superficially similar, although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a diversity of burial practices. The round barrow cemetery in Rackham Plantation survives well, despite some subsequent disturbance by forestry operations, and will retain important archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the construction and original use of the monument.

Details

The monument, which falls into five separate areas, includes a round barrow cemetery made up of ten bowl barrows situated on a low sandstone hill in the Sussex Weald 2km to the west of the River Arun. The barrows have bowl-shaped mounds ranging between about 16m-27m in diameter and up to 2m high, encircled by ditches from which material used to construct the barrows was excavated. These have become infilled over the years but will survive as below ground features up to 2m wide. The barrows have been partly disturbed by forestry operations and the southern side of the northernmost barrow has been levelled by a forest track.

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:

29285

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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