Details

The monument includes a pair of bowl barrows aligned north-south and situated
on a ridge of the Sussex Downs, around 1.25km south of the village of West
Firle. The ridge commands extensive views of the Weald to the north and the
English Channel to the south.
The north westerly barrow has a circular mound 13m in diameter and around 1m
high. A central hollow indicates that the barrow has been partially excavated
some time in the past.
Lying around 12m to the south east, the mound of the second barrow measures
12m in diameter and survives to a height of around 0.9m. This also has an
excavation hollow in its centre.
Both mounds are surrounded by ditches from which material used to construct
the barrows was excavated. These have become infilled over the years, but
survive as buried features 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 partial excavation, the pair of barrows 500m north
east of Overhill Lodge survive well and will contain archaeological remains
and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which
it was constructed. Their close association with broadly contemporary and
later, early medieval funerary monuments situated along the ridge to the west
and east, provides evidence for the continuing importance of this area of
downland for burial and ceremonial practices over a period of around 3000
years.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows, (1934), 268
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows, (1934), 268

Source: Historic England