Details

The monument includes a platform barrow situated on a chalk spur which
projects to the south east from Wolstonbury Hill, forming part of the Sussex
Downs. The barrow has a roughly circular, flat-topped mound c.14m in diameter
and up to c.0.3m high. The mound is surrounded by a ditch from which material
used to construct the barrow was excavated. This has become infilled over the
years, but will survive as a buried feature c.1m 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

Platform barrows, funerary monuments dating to the Bronze Age (2000-700 BC),
are the rarest of the recognised types of round barrow, with fewer than 50
examples recorded nationally. They occur widely across southern England with a
marked concentration in East and West Sussex and can occur either in barrow
cemeteries (closely-spaced groups of barrows) or singly. They were constructed
as low, flat-topped mounds of earth surrounded by a shallow ditch,
occasionally crossed by an entrance causeway. None of the known examples
stands higher than 1m above ground level, and most are considerably lower than
this. Due to their comparative visual insignificance when compared to the
larger types of round barrow, few were explored by 19th century antiquarians.
As a result, few platform barrows are disturbed by excavation and,
consequently, they remain a poorly understood class of monument. Their
importance lies in their potential for illustrating the diversity of beliefs
and burial practices in the Bronze Age and, due to their extreme rarity and
considerable fragility, all identified platform barrows would normally be
considered to be of national importance.

The platform barrow 300m south of Wolstonbury Camp survives comparatively well
and will contain important archaeological remains and environmental evidence
relating to the ways in which the monument was constructed and used. The
barrow forms part of a group of broadly contemporary monuments situated on
Wolstonbury Hill, including Wolstonbury Camp (SM 27077) and a cross dyke and
bowl barrow c.120m to the south east (SM 27075). Their close association will
provide evidence for the relationship between ceremonial and burial practices
and land division during the later prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England