Four Barrows South of Coombe Plantation, Offham

Summary

A group of four round barrows, part of a small barrow cemetery, dating to the Bronze Age, and part of a wider funerary landscape.

Reasons for Designation

The group of four bowl barrows south of Coombe Plantation are scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: the barrows have been protected by scrub during the C20 and therefore survive reasonably well;
* Fragility/vulnerability: the scrub which had protected the barrows has been cleared and the barrows are vulnerable to damage;
* Potential: there are no obvious signs of excavation so that the archaeological potential is considered to be good;
* Group value: the barrows form part of a cemetery and also part of a larger funerary landscape with contemporary and later Anglo-Saxon barrows.

History

The four barrows south of Coombe Plantation are part of a round barrow cemetery. Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c 2000-700 BC). They consist of closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows. Round barrows are rubble or earthen mounds covering a single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, sometimes many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They often show considerable variety in burial rites, form and plan, and commonly include several different types of round barrow. Where cemeteries have been investigated by large scale excavation, contemporary or later ‘flat’ burials between the barrow mounds have often been discovered. Round barrow cemeteries can be found across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex. They are occasionally associated with earlier long barrows. In some cases they are clustered around other important contemporary monuments such as henges. Round barrow cemeteries are often located in prominent locations and are a major historic element in the modern landscape. Their diversity and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities and are particularly representative of their period.

Whilst this group of four barrows south of Coombe Plantation forms a small discrete cluster in its own right it is also part of a small cemetery which includes a single bowl barrow about 150m to the SW (NHLE 1008051). This small cemetery is part of a wider funerary landscape of over 20 known and suspected Bronze Age barrows, some of which are scheduled, stretching westward upslope to the top of the ridge and beyond. There are a few barrows downslope, one of which, about 160m to the south is under consideration for designation. A further element in this immediate landscape is an Anglo-Saxon barrow field (NHLE 1009101) comprising 13 small barrows which contain burials. The barrow field lies 215m to the SE is of the barrow group under consideration.

Three of the barrows in the group are recorded on the Pre-War County Series Historic Ordnance Survey Mapping, Sussex 1878 (1:10560). There is no record of excavation, but the barrows had been observed from time to time: they were recorded by Leslie Grinsell (a renowned authority on Bronze Age barrows) on a 6” map in 1930 and had been the subject of comment by the Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator in 1952. The fourth barrow in the group was found by field investigation during an English Heritage inspection visit in March 2014.

Details

SUMMARY OF MONUMENT: a group of four round barrows, part of a small barrow cemetery, dating to the Bronze Age, and part of a wider funerary landscape.

DESCRIPTION: the small cluster south of Coombe Plantation includes four barrows situated just below the crest of an E facing hill. The barrows are grouped in pairs in an approximate E-W alignment with mounds measuring from 6m to 12m in diameter and from 0.7m to 1m high. No ditches were observed but will be present as the quarry from which each mound was constructed. They will survive as buried features about 3m wide and will contain archaeological information and environmental evidence relating to the group of barrows and the landscape in which it was constructed. This cluster is associated with other barrows in the area as noted in the history.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: the four barrows are contained within two scheduled areas each containing a pair of barrows. The scheduling aims to protect the full known extent of each pair of barrows including the mound and ditch of each barrow. Also included is a margin of 3m around each pair of barrows for the maintenance and protection of the monument. The maximum extent of the western area of protection is about 28m E-W by 22m N-S and that of the eastern area of protection is about 28m E-W by about 24m N-S.

Sources

Other
East Sussex HER record MES1499,

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