Details

The monument includes a north west-south east aligned long barrow situated on
a south facing downland slope, some 400m north of the Channel coast just to
the east of Brighton. Discovered by the analysis of an aerial photograph taken
in the dry summer of 1995, the long barrow is visible in the form of parch
marks, or areas of dryer vegetation, which represent a pair of curving ditches
cut into the underlying chalk. These are each around 80m long and originally
flanked a now levelled earthen mound. The broader end of the barrow faces the
lower ground to the south east. The monument has been partly disturbed by
modern landscaping work associated with the construction of the miniature golf
course which now occupies the hillslope.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 5 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking
ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic
periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early
farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments
surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows
appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the
human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide
evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and,
consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites
for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 examples of
long barrows and long cairns, their counterparts in the uplands, are recorded
nationally. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as
earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and
their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are considered to be
nationally important.

Despite being levelled, the long barrow on Beacon Hill 160m north west of the
windmill will contain archaeological and environmental remains relating to
its construction and use. Around 200m to the NNW is a further long barrow,
which is the subject of a separate scheduling. The close association of these
similarly aligned monuments illustrates the use of this area of downland as a
focus for funerary rites during the Neolithic period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
15 August, RCHME, NMR 15380 TQ3602/3 Frame No. 17, (1995)

Source: Historic England