Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows, part of a group of 15 round barrows
forming a linear round barrow cemetery running from west to east along a ridge
of the Sussex Downs.
The most westerly of the two barrows has a circular mound 10m in diameter,
surrounded by a ditch from which material used to construct the mound was
excavated. This survives as a slight depression between 2.5m and 3m wide and
0.1m deep. Six metres to the east is a second bowl barrow with a mound
surviving as a slight earthwork 6m in diameter and 0.1m high. This smaller
mound would also have been surrounded by a ditch which, having become infilled
over the years, survives as a buried feature c.1m 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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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 and date from the Late
Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age. Most examples were constructed in the
period 2400-1500 BC. They occur across most of lowland Britain and, although
superficially similar in appearance, exhibit regional variations of form and a
diversity of burial practices.
The two bowl barrows 600m south east of Ditchling Cross survive comparatively
well and will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence
relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows, , Vol. 75, (1934), 258

Source: Historic England