Summary

Two bowl barrows near Bostal Bottom, 1.69km south-west of Bopeep Farm.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 4 September 2014. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes two bowl barrows on a ridge of chalk downland overlooking Bostal Bottom in the South Downs. The barrows have been reduced in height by ploughing and survive as slight earthworks and buried archaeological remains. The northernmost barrow survives as a roughly circular-shaped mound about 17m in diameter and no more than 0.3m high. A surrounding quarry ditch from which material to construct the mound was derived is likely to survive as a buried feature. The second bowl barrow is about 60m to the south. It is an oval-shaped mound about 17m in diameter and no more than 0.3m high. The surrounding quarry ditch was visible in the past but has since become in-filled and survives as a buried feature.

Further archaeological remains, such as a Roman road, survive in the vicinity of this monument but are not included because they have not been formally assessed.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments 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. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period.

Although reduced in height by ploughing, the two bowl barrows near Bostal Bottom survive comparatively well and will contain archaeological information and environmental evidence relating to the barrows and the landscape in which they were constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
East Sussex HER MES2639. NMR TQ40SE28. PastScape 406140.,

Source: Historic England