Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, part of Fitzhall Heath round barrow
cemetery, situated on a rise in the Greensand 3.5km north of the South Downs.
The cemetery is linear and consists of 8 bowl barrows orientated 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 is slightly to the north of the line of the cemetery and has a mound
which measures 15m in diameter and 0.3m,high. Surrounding this is a ditch
from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument.
This has become infilled over the years and now survives as a buried feature
c.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.

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.

The bowl barrow 520m north of Fitzhall survives well and has 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
distribution of burial monuments.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Ordnance Survey, SU 82 SW 6, (1970)

Source: Historic England