Prehistoric linear boundary at Crown Tegleaze, 1km north west of Littleton Farm

Reasons for Designation

Linear boundaries are substantial earthwork features comprising single or multiple ditches and banks which may extend over distances varying between less than 1km to over 10km. They survive as earthworks or as linear features visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs or as a combination of both. The evidence of excavation and study of associated monuments demonstrate that their construction spans the millennium from the Middle Bronze Age, although they may have been re-used later. The scale of many linear boundaries has been taken to indicate that they were constructed by large social groups and were used to mark important boundaries in the landscape; their impressive scale displaying the corporate prestige of their builders. They would have been powerful symbols, often with religious associations, used to define and order the territorial holdings of those groups who constructed them. Linear earthworks are of considerable importance for the analysis of settlement and land use in the Bronze Age; all well preserved examples will normally merit statutory protection.

Despite some disturbance by subsequent activities, the prehistoric linear boundary at Crown Tegleaze survives well, retaining important archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the construction and original purpose of the monument. The linear boundary forms part of a group of linear earthworks and round barrows which cluster along this part of the downland ridge. These monuments are broadly contemporary and their close association will provide evidence for the relationship between land division and funerary practices during the later prehistoric period.

Details

The monument includes a roughly north-south aligned, gently curving linear boundary dating to the later prehistoric period, constructed across the eastern slope of a chalk hill which forms part of the Sussex Downs. The boundary has a large ditch up to 12m wide and 1.7m deep flanked to the east by a bank up to 12m wide and 2.6m high. The earthworks have been disturbed in places by subsequent activities, including the construction of a track along the southern end of the bank, resulting in its part levelling. The prehistoric boundary earthworks coincide with the course of a more recent woodland boundary, and this now tumbled flint wall survives along the top of the northern part of the earlier bank. The modern surface of the track which crosses the monument is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is included.

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:

29287

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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