Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows, aligned east-west, and set above the
floor of a dry valley immediately south of Sugar Hill. The eastern barrow
mound is 36m in diameter and stands to a maximum height of 1.5m. A ditch,
originally dug to provide material for the barrow mound, is no longer visible
at ground level but survives as a buried feature c.5m wide surrounding the
mound. The western barrow is not visible as an earthwork but survives as a
buried feature.
The eastern barrow mound was partially excavated by Canon Greenwell, a
prolific excavator of barrows, in the late 19th century. Finds included a
cremation burial set on a wooden plank within a cairn, a bronze dagger, awls,
faience and amber beads and a cup, later to become known as the "Aldbourne
Cup".

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

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 superficially similar,
although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form
and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl
barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring
across most of lowland Britain. 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
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.

Despite partial excavation of the eastern barrow mound and cultivation of the
western barrow mound, much of the Whitecomb Plantation monument, particularly
ditch deposits and the buried land surface, remains intact and has significant
archaeological potential.
The importance of the site is further enhanced by the fact that numerous other
barrow mounds and additional evidence for contemporary settlement survives in
the area. This gives a clear indication of the extent to which the area was
settled during the Bronze Age period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
'Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society' in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, , Vol. 25, (1959)
'Archaeologia' in Archaeologia, , Vol. 52, ()

Source: Historic England