Ancient Monuments

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Bowl barrow on Woolavington Down

A Scheduled Monument in East Lavington, West Sussex

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.9317 / 50°55'54"N

Longitude: -0.6592 / 0°39'33"W

OS Eastings: 494319.841454

OS Northings: 115549.044981

OS Grid: SU943155

Mapcode National: GBR FH3.G65

Mapcode Global: FRA 96HN.50D

Entry Name: Bowl barrow on Woolavington Down

Scheduled Date: 10 May 1963

Last Amended: 16 November 1993

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1007950

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20106

County: West Sussex

Civil Parish: East Lavington

Traditional County: Sussex

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): West Sussex

Church of England Parish: Graffham St Giles with Woolavington St Peter

Church of England Diocese: Chichester

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a rise in chalk downland. It
comprises a central mound 15m in diameter and 1.2m high with a slight hollow
in the top, suggesting that the barrow was once partially excavated.
Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the
construction of the monument. This is no longer visible from ground level,
having become infilled over the years, but survives as a buried feature c.3m
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 evidence for partial excavation, the bowl barrow on Woolavington Down
survives comparatively well and contains archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows (Volume 75), , Vol. 75, (1934)
Other
Ordnance Survey, SU 91 NW 25, (1971)

Source: Historic England

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