Details

The monument includes a group of six, closely spaced bowl barrows situated on
a chalk ridge which forms part of the Sussex Downs. The barrows are part of a
group of 13 constructed along this part of the ridge, forming a dispersed,
linear round barrow cemetery.
The barrows have roughly circular mounds measuring between 6m-11m in diameter
and surviving to heights of up to 1m. The mounds have central hollows,
indicating antiquarian investigation during the 18th or 19th centuries, and
will be surrounded by ditches from which material used to construct the
barrows was excavated. These have become infilled over the years, but survive
as buried features up to 2m wide. The land between the barrows is likely to
contain unmarked contemporary or later burials, although these areas have been
partly disturbed by World War II army training activities.

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.

Bowl barrows are the most numerous form of round barrow and comprise
hemispherical, sometimes ditched earthen or rubble mounds covering single or
multiple burials. Most examples were constructed during the Early Bronze Age,
between 2400-1500 BC. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded
nationally (many more have been destroyed), occurring across most of lowland
Britain.
The six bowl barrows 790m south west of Grey Friars Farm survive comparatively
well, despite some disturbance by unrecorded antiquarian excavation, and will
retain important 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 during the later prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England