Details

The monument includes part of an L-shaped linear boundary dating to the later
prehistoric period, constructed across the southern slope of a chalk hill
which forms part of the Sussex Downs. The boundary has a ditch up to 7m wide
and 0.3m deep flanked to the south by a bank up to 10m wide and 1m high.
Records suggest that the boundary continues to the north west beyond the area
of protection, but the earthworks have here been levelled by regular modern
ploughing and this area is therefore not included in the scheduling.

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

Linear boundaries are substantial earthwork features comprising single or
multiple ditches and banks which may extend over distances varying between
less than 1km to over 10km. They survive as earthworks or as linear features
visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs or as a combination of both. The
evidence of excavation and study of associated monuments demonstrate that
their construction spans the millennium from the Middle Bronze Age, although
they may have been re-used later.
The scale of many linear boundaries has been taken to indicate that they were
constructed by large social groups and were used to mark important boundaries
in the landscape; their impressive scale displaying the corporate prestige of
their builders. They would have been powerful symbols, often with religious
associations, used to define and order the territorial holdings of those
groups who constructed them. Linear earthworks are of considerable importance
for the analysis of settlement and land use in the Bronze Age; all well
preserved examples will normally merit statutory protection.

Despite some levelling by modern cultivation, the prehistoric linear boundary
on Barlavington Down survives comparatively well and will retain important
archaeological and environmental information relating to the construction and
original purpose of the monument. The linear boundary forms part of a group of
linear earthworks and round barrows which cluster along this part of the
downland ridge. These monuments are broadly contemporary and their close
association will provide evidence for the relationship between land division
and funerary practices during the later prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England