Details

The monument includes a pair of bowl barrows forming part of a roughly
north-south aligned, linear barrow group situated on a saddle of chalk
downland which projects from the southern slope of a ridge of the Sussex
Downs.
The northerly bowl barrow of the pair has a mound c.18m in diameter and around
2m high. In the centre is a large hollow which indicates that the barrow has
been partially excavated some time in the past. Surrounding the mound is a
ditch from which material used to construct the barrow was excavated. This has
become infilled over the years, but is visible as slight depression around 2m
wide.
Lying c.20m to the south, the second barrow has a mound measuring c.17m in
diameter, surviving to a height of around 2.3m. This also has a central hollow
indicating partial excavation. The surrounding ditch is visible as an area of
darker vegetation around 2m 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 some disturbance by modern ploughing and partial excavation, the pair
of bowl barrows 420m south of Overhill Lodge survive as visually impressive
earthwork features and will contain archaeological remains and environmental
evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was
constructed. The close association of the barrows with an adjacent bowl barrow
to the south east, and with broadly contemporary and later, early medieval
funerary monuments on the ridge to the north, provides evidence for the
continuing importance of this area of downland for burial and ceremonial
practices over a period of around 3,000 years.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
ref. 2, Grinsell, LV, TQ 40 NE 18 C, (1930)

Source: Historic England