Details

The monument includes a saucer barrow and a bowl barrow, of Late Neolithic to
Bronze Age date, situated on the northern slope of a slight, east-west
oriented ridge, crossing Crawley Down. The two barrows are confluent, aligned
along the slope, with the saucer barrow to the east and the bowl barrow
overlying it slightly to the west. Both have been lowered as a result of
modern ploughing. The saucer barrow now survives as a low and indistinct
circular mound, approximately 15m in diameter and raised up to 1m on the
downslope northern side. It was formerly recorded in 1938 as being enclosed by
a wide ditch, 7m wide and 0.3m deep, and a low outer bank of the same width.
Both the ditch and bank, however, have now been almost completely obscured as
surface features, although the ditch survives as a slight depression to the
south east and both remain visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs. The
bowl barrow survives comparatively well as a slightly oval shaped mound
oriented north-south down the slope, reaching a maximum diameter of 30m and
standing up to 1.8m high on the downslope side. There is now no trace of a
surrounding ditch although this was formerly visible as a band of darkened
loam surrounding the mound when inspected by the Ordnance Survey in 1956 and
will survive as a buried feature, infilled by the later ploughing. Further
archaeological remains associated with the original construction and use of
the monument, including burials, grave pits, burial goods and the original
ground surface can also be expected to survive as buried features beneath the
mounds.

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

Saucer barrows are funerary monuments of the Early Bronze Age, most examples
dating to between 1800 and l200 BC. They occur either in isolation or in
barrow cemeteries (closely-spaced groups of round barrows). They were
constructed as a circular area of level ground defined by a bank and internal
ditch and largely occupied by a single low, squat mound covering one or more
burials, usually in a pit. The burials, either inhumations or cremations, are
sometimes accompanied by pottery vessels, tools and personal ornaments. Saucer
barrows are one of the rarest recognised forms of round barrow, with about 60
known examples nationally, most of which are in Wessex. The presence of grave
goods within the barrows provides important evidence for chronological and
cultural links amongst prehistoric communities over a wide area of southern
England as well as providing an insight into their beliefs and social
organisation. As a rare and fragile form of round barrow, all identified
saucer barrows would normally be considered to be of national importance.

Bowl barrows are a similar, but much more numerous, form of funerary monument
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most
examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as
earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple
burials. Like saucer barrows, they occur either in isolation or, as in this
case, grouped with one or more other barrows. Unlike saucer barrows, they tend
not to contain grave goods, but often occupy prominent locations and are a
more conspicuous element in the modern landscape. There are over 10,000
surviving bowl barrows nationally, occurring across most of lowland Britain
and exhibiting regional variations in form and a diversity of burial
practices. They are particularly representative of their period, providing
important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations
amongst early prehistoric communities, and a substantial proportion of
surviving examples are therefore considered worthy of protection.
The two round barrows on Crawley Down, 830m NNE of Warren House survive well
and can be expected to retain archaeological remains and environmental
evidence relating to the monument and the environment in which it was
constructed. The monument is closely associated with a group of three
additional round barrows, including a disc barrow and a saucer barrow, 340m to
the east. This unusual concentration of the rarer types of barrow establishes
Crawley Down as a significant ritual landscape.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club' in Hampshire Barrows, , Vol. 14, (1938), 226,351

Source: Historic England