Details

The monument includes a deserted medieval settlement situated on the south
western slope of a chalk hill which forms part of the Sussex Downs. The
settlement, known as Bargham during the medieval period, lies within a
field known as Chapel Croft. It survives in the form of low earthworks,
representing a trackway flanked on each side by the levelled terraces and
boundaries of the tofts, or houses, outbuildings and associated yards, of the
settlement.

The north eastern corner of the monument underwent archaeological
investigation between 1952-56, revealing the buried foundations of the parish
church. The excavation established that the small church was constructed
during the Anglo-Saxon period, when brick removed from an earlier, Roman
building was incorporated within its foundations. During the following
centuries the church underwent at least six phases of substantial alteration
or redevelopment, including a complete rebuild after a serious fire in c.1300.
Burials found within the associated graveyard were dated to the 14th and 15th
centuries.

Historical records suggest that the church was demolished during the
mid-16th century, after the village had become depopulated following the
Black Death of 1348-49 and the social and economic changes of the 15th
century. Masonry from the church was reused in the construction of the
buildings of Upper Barpham Farm, situated immediately to the south east of the
monument.

A further settlement, 500m to the north east, believed to have been
separate but broadly contemporary, is the subject of a separate scheduling.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Medieval rural settlement in England is marked by considerable regional
diversity in form, size and type, and the protection of archaeological remains
of such settlements needs to take that diversity into account. In order to do
this, England has been divided into three broad provinces on the basis of each
area's distinctive combination of nucleated and dispersed settlements. The
provinces have been further divided into sub-provinces and small local
regions. This monument lies within the East Wessex sub-province of the eastern
province which is characterised by nucleated settlements, both surviving and
deserted, in an area of chalk downland with smoothly contoured valleys and
winter streamflow. The settlements typically appear in chains along the
valleys where water supply was assured. It is also an area in which moated
sites and settlements with greens are uncommon, the latter contrasting
markedly with sub-provinces to the east and north east.

The deserted medieval settlement at Upper Barpham Farm represents the
predominant, nucleated form of medieval rural settlement within the East
Wessex sub-province. The settlement survives well in the form of earthworks
and buried remains, and part excavation has shown that it contains
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to its c.900 year
history.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Barr-Hamilton, A, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in The Excavation of Barpham Church Site, Upper Barpham, Sussex, , Vol. 99, (1961), 38-65

Source: Historic England