Ancient Monuments

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Bowl barrow on Willingdon Hill, 450m south-west of the South Downs Way

A Scheduled Monument in Old Town, East Sussex

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.7834 / 50°47'0"N

Longitude: 0.2314 / 0°13'52"E

OS Eastings: 557393.197672

OS Northings: 100580.500557

OS Grid: TQ573005

Mapcode National: GBR MTZ.Z59

Mapcode Global: FRA C7C0.PY5

Entry Name: Bowl barrow on Willingdon Hill, 450m south-west of the South Downs Way

Scheduled Date: 19 June 1967

Last Amended: 23 October 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1009082

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20134

County: East Sussex

Electoral Ward/Division: Old Town

Built-Up Area: Eastbourne

Traditional County: Sussex

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): East Sussex

Church of England Parish: Willingdon St Mary the Virgin

Church of England Diocese: Chichester

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the crest of a ridge in area
of chalk downland. The barrow is visible as a mound 13m in diameter and 1m
high which has a slight hollow in the centre suggesting that it was once
partially excavated.
Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the
construction of the monument. This is no longer visible at ground level
having become infilled over the years, but now survives as a buried feature
c.2.5m 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

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.

Despite partial excavation, the bowl barrow on Willingdon Hill 450m south-west
of the South Downs Way survives comparatively well and contains archaeological
remains and environmental evidence relating both to the monument and the
landscape in which the barrow was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows (Volume 75), , Vol. 75, (1934), 273

Source: Historic England

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