Prehistoric linear boundary and Bronze Age bowl barrow in Pudding Bag Wood, 350m south of Upper Lodges

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.

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 prehistoric linear boundary in Pudding Bag Wood survives well and has been shown by partial excavation to contain valuable archaeological evidence relating to the period in which it was constructed and used. Despite evidence of partial excavation, the bowl barrow in Pudding Bag Wood survives comparatively well and contains archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating both to the monument and the landscape in which the barrow was constructed. Bowl barrows are the most numerous form of round barrow, with over 10,000 examples recorded nationally. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, each covering single or multiple burials. 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 linear boundary dating to the later prehistoric period, constructed along the eastern crest of a ridge which forms part of the Sussex Downs. Partial excavation in the year 2000 showed that the 104m long boundary has a `V'-shaped ditch up to 4m wide and 1.2m deep flanked to the east by a bank, up to 12m wide and 0.7m high and separated from the ditch by a narrow berm. Finds discovered during excavation suggest that the boundary was constructed in the Bronze Age. These included pottery sherds and worked flint, including a barbed and tanged arrowhead. The southern end of the earthwork has been disturbed by later quarrying. The northern end peters out close to two further depressions associated with quarrying, and appears to be undisturbed. A Bronze Age round barrow, or burial mound, stands some 20m to the north west of the linear boundary. It is visible as a mound 19m in diameter and 0.7m high which has a large central depression suggesting that it was once partially excavated. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. Having become infilled over the years, this is no longer visible from ground level but survives as a buried feature about 3m 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:

34307

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Funnell, J, Sussex Past and Present: Stanmer's Ridge Dykes, (2001)

Other
Title: TQ 30 NW 42 Source Date: 1962 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
Funnell, J, Preliminary report on archaeological investigations..., 2000,

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