Details

The monument includes one of a pair of bowl barrows situated on the crest of a
ridge of chalk downland. The barrow is visible as a mound 24m in diameter and
1.3m high. There is a slight hollow in the centre of the mound which suggests
that the barrow was once partially excavated. Surrounding the mound 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

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 damage to the monument from cultivation, the bowl barrow 780m
south-west of Bignor Hill survives well and contains archaeological remains
and environmental evidence relating both to the monument and to the landscape
in which it was constructed. To the south of the barrow is a Neolithic
causewayed enclosure. Although this is of earlier date, the grouping of such
monuments gives an indication of changing land use and settlement density
through time.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Ordnance Survey, SU 91 SE 34A, (1962)
Pagination 13, Leach, P.E., Excavation of a Neolithic Causewayed enclosure on Barkhale Down, Sussex Archaeological Collections, (1983)

Source: Historic England