Details

The monument includes a closely spaced group of four substantial bowl barrows
and the surviving remains of a probable saucer barrow, inconspicuously
situated on the floor of a shallow chalk valley beside the A32 near West
Tisted. It forms a dog-leg shaped area defined by the road to the south east,
and boundary fences to the north west, north and east. The group forms the
core component of a round barrow cemetery of probable Bronze Age date (2000-
700 BC) that is known alternatively as The Jumps or The Devil's Jumps. Three
additional barrows which also form part of the cemetery, situated 125m-200m to
the west and 125m to the south east, are the subjects of separate schedulings.
The four bowl barrows form a nearly contiguous alignment, oriented north
east-south west alongside the A32, with the two south western barrows linked
unusually by a narrow bank. They all include prominent, steep sided, circular
mounds, ranging from 24m to 28m in diameter and from 1.8m to 3m in height.
There are possible traces of surrounding quarry ditches, although these have
been disturbed and partly destroyed by the verge of the A32, which clips the
monument to the south east, and by modern ploughing to the north west. The
mounds themselves are all flat topped, indicating they may have been disturbed
by later excavation.
The probable saucer barrow, situated to the north, has been partly destroyed
by a series of later chalk extraction pits and, more recently, by the
construction of a modern telephone exchange and mast. It survives, however, as
an irregularly shaped remnant of a squat, saucer shaped or subrectangular
mound, up to 1m high, flanked to the south by a semicircular section of a
surrounding ditch and outer bank. The ditch has now become substantially
infilled, but the bank survives to a height of 0.75m.
Despite the modern disturbance, buried remains associated with the original
use of the monument, including burials, grave pits amd grave goods, can be
expected to survive within or beneath each barrow. The later use of the
monument is represented by a parish boundary bank which crosses the northern
flanks of the north eastern bowl barrow and forms the modern joint boundary
between the parishes of Froxfield and West Tisted. Later use of the monument
is also represented by the chalk extraction pits, probably dating to the
18th century, one of which is included in the scheduling where it lies
within the earlier saucer barrow.
All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath
them is included.

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

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.

Saucer barrows date to the Early Bronze Age, most examples falling between
1800 and 1200 BC. They are one of the rarest recognised forms of round barrow
with about 60 examples known nationally, most of which are in Wessex. Bowl
barrows, by contrast, are the most numerous form of round barrow, and date
from the Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples dating to
between 2400-1500 BC. The presence of a bank linking bowl barrows is an
unusual feature.
The Jumps group of round barrows survives well despite some later disturbance
and, along with the other barrows in the cemetery, can be expected to retain
important archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the
monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Beddington, WG, Christy, EB, It happened in Hampshire, (1937), 149
Godwin, G N, The Civil War in Hampshire, (1904), 177
Williams-Freeman, JP, Introduction to field archaeology as illustrated by Hampshire, (1915), 293-4

Source: Historic England