Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, the most northerly of a group of three
round barrows situated on a ridge of the Sussex Downs. The barrow has a
roughly circular mound c.9m in diameter and around 0.5m high surrounded by 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 up to 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.

The bowl barrow 700m north west of Lewes Prison survives well and will contain
contemporary archaeological and environmental remains. The close association
of the barrow with two further round barrows c.90m to the south provides
evidence for the extensive use of the downland to the north west of modern
Lewes for burial during the prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England