Ancient Monuments

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Bowl barrow on Didling Hill

A Scheduled Monument in West Dean, West Sussex

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.9508 / 50°57'2"N

Longitude: -0.8131 / 0°48'47"W

OS Eastings: 483469.948436

OS Northings: 117491.398572

OS Grid: SU834174

Mapcode National: GBR DFC.C77

Mapcode Global: FRA 965L.K23

Entry Name: Bowl barrow on Didling Hill

Scheduled Date: 1 November 1963

Last Amended: 12 November 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1009335

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20051

County: West Sussex

Civil Parish: West Dean

Traditional County: Sussex

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): West Sussex

Church of England Parish: Treyford-cum-Didling St Andrew

Church of England Diocese: Chichester

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow which survives as a slight earthwork on a
chalk ridge at the north edge of the South Downs. The barrow mound has a
diameter of 10m and stands at a height of 0.2m. 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.1.5m 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 evidence of partial excavation, the Didling Hill bowl barrow survives
in a stable condition and has potential for the recovery of archaeological
remains and environmental evidence relating to 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)

Source: Historic England

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