Details

The monument includes one of an original group of six bowl barrows situated on
a ridge of the Sussex Downs, adjacent to the South Downs Way. Of the six, this
is the only barrow to survive. The barrow has a roughly circular, unevenly
surfaced mound with a maximum diameter of 17m, which survives to a height of
up to 1m. The mound has a central hollow, indicating partial excavation some
time in the past. More recent disturbance by modern ploughing has partially
damaged the mound on its south eastern and north western edges. This past
disturbance has scattered the large flint nodules used to construct the mound
over the surface of the barrow. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which
material used to construct the barrow was excavated. This has become infilled
over the years, but survives as a buried feature c.2m wide.
An Early Bronze Age beaker, a particularly fine, decorated pottery cup or
small urn, now in the Sussex Archaeological Society's museum in Lewes, is
believed to have been discovered during partial excavation of the barrow.

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 some disturbance by modern ploughing, the bowl barrow on Front Hill
survives comparatively well and has been shown by partial excavation to
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), 266
Other
F1 ASP 08/05/1972 (OS surveyor), Ordnance Survey, TQ 40 NW 23, (1972)

Source: Historic England