Ancient Monuments

History on the Ground

This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.

Bowl barrow in Poyntz's Piece, Heyshott Down

A Scheduled Monument in Heyshott, West Sussex

We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?

Upload Photo »

Approximate Location Map
Large Map »

If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.

Coordinates

Latitude: 50.9409 / 50°56'27"N

Longitude: -0.7295 / 0°43'46"W

OS Eastings: 489363.444566

OS Northings: 116481.576659

OS Grid: SU893164

Mapcode National: GBR DFH.VTF

Mapcode Global: FRA 96CM.7NM

Entry Name: Bowl barrow in Poyntz's Piece, Heyshott Down

Scheduled Date: 23 October 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1009334

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20050

County: West Sussex

Civil Parish: Heyshott

Traditional County: Sussex

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): West Sussex

Church of England Parish: Cocking with West Lavington

Church of England Diocese: Chichester

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a chalk ridge running along
the north edge of the South Downs. The barrow consists of a mound 12m in
diameter and 0.5m high with a surrounding ditch from which material was
quarried during the construction of the monument. This has become infilled
over the years and now survives as a buried feature c.2m wide.

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

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 the possibility that some of the mound has been disturbed by tree
roots, the bowl barrow in Poyntz's Piece survives comparatively well in close
association with a broadly contemporary cross-dyke. These two features
combined provide an indication of land management during the Bronze Age
period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows, , Vol. 75, (1934)

Source: Historic England

Other nearby scheduled monuments

AncientMonuments.uk is an independent online resource and is not associated with any government department. All government data published here is used under licence. Please do not contact AncientMonuments.uk for any queries related to any individual ancient or schedued monument, planning permission related to scheduled monuments or the scheduling process itself.

AncientMonuments.uk is a Good Stuff website.