Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, part of Fitzhall Heath round barrow
cemetery, and an adjacent length of Roman road, both situated on a ridge in
the Greensand 3.5km north of the South Downs. The complete cemetery consists
of 8 bowl barrows running east-west. Those to the east of the cemetery are
closely spaced while those to the west are more dispersed. All the barrows
survive as earthworks and have mounds ranging in size from 12m to 26m in
diameter and 0.25m to 2.5m high. This barrow has a mound which measures 21m
in diameter and 2.5m high. Surrounding this is a ditch from which material
was quarried during the construction of the monument and which has become
infilled over the years. This survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. A
hollow in the centre of the mound suggests that the barrow was once partially
excavated. This barrow is the central one in the group and the ditch on its
eastern edge has been cut through by the construction of a Roman road which at
this point runs in a north-south direction at right angles to the line of the
cemetery. The road survives as an upstanding earthwork to the south, where it
crosses the barrow cemetery. It has a central upstanding agger, or trackway,
6.5m wide and 0.8m high with a ditch 4m wide and 0.5m deep to the east and
4.5m wide and 0.5m deep to the west. Towards the north of the barrow it has
been more disturbed and eroded surviving as a series of hollows with the
flanking ditches surviving as buried features. The line of the road can be
seen plainly on aerial photographs and survives as a length 650m long. The
road ran between Chichester and Silchester, connecting the two regional
capitals. The three bowl barrows to the east of the Roman road do not
actually impinge on it, the closest being c.10m away, and are being scheduled
separately.

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.

Despite evidence of partial excavation, the bowl barrow 180m north west of
Fitzhall Lodge survives comparatively well and has the potential for the
recovery of archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the
landscape in which it was constructed. The cemetery represents one of many
such monuments to survive in the area, giving an insight into the intensity
with which the area was occupied during the Bronze Age as well as the related
distribution of burial monuments. In addition to the Bronze Age barrow the
monument includes a length of well preserved Roman road. These monuments
provide information on the passage and extent of the Roman conquest of Britain
and the civil engineering skills of their builders. The length of Roman road
which crosses Iping Common survives comparatively well and is in a stable
condition. It has potential for the recovery of structural and artefactual
archaeological remains as well as environmental evidence relating to the
landscape in which the road was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Margary, I D, Roman Roads in Britain, (1973)
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows, , Vol. 75, (1934)

Source: Historic England