Details

The monument includes a north east-south west aligned pair of platform barrows
situated on a chalk ridge which forms part of the Sussex Downs. The barrows
are part of a group of 13 burial mounds constructed along this part of the
ridge, forming a dispersed, linear round barrow cemetery.
Lying to the north east, the larger barrow of the pair has a raised circular
platform c.12m in diameter and c.0.4m high surrounded by a ditch from which
material used to construct the barrow was excavated. This has become partly
infilled over the years but survives to the south as a slight depression c.3m
wide and up to c.0.2m deep. The south western barrow partly overlies the
infilled ditch of the adjacent, larger barrow, indicating that it may have
been constructed at a slightly later date. This barrow has a circular mound
c.11m in diameter and c.0.3m high, surrounded by a now infilled construction
ditch up to c.2m wide.
The modern surface of the track which crosses the southern edge of the
monument is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is
included.

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

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise
closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds
covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a
considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as
a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit
considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including
several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

Platform barrows are the rarest of the recognised types of round barrow, and
take the form of low flat-topped mounds of earth surrounded by a shallow
ditch. They are of Bronze Age date (3400-2400BC). Very few examples have been
recorded to date, but all are in southern England with a marked concentration
in East and West Sussex.
The pair of platform barrows at Kithurst Hill car park survives well and will
contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the construction
and use of the cemetery. The barrows form part of a dispersed group of broadly
contemporary monuments situated along the ridge, providing important evidence
for the relationship between burial practices, settlement and land division in
this area of downland during the later prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England