Ancient Monuments

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The Mill Ball: a bowl barrow south of Bury Hill

A Scheduled Monument in Houghton, West Sussex

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.894 / 50°53'38"N

Longitude: -0.5769 / 0°34'36"W

OS Eastings: 500181.941397

OS Northings: 111467.035398

OS Grid: TQ001114

Mapcode National: GBR FHL.YT2

Mapcode Global: FRA 96PR.12B

Entry Name: The Mill Ball: a bowl barrow south of Bury Hill

Scheduled Date: 30 January 1967

Last Amended: 31 March 1994

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1008213

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20109

County: West Sussex

Civil Parish: Houghton

Traditional County: Sussex

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): West Sussex

Church of England Parish: Bury St John the Evangelist with Houghton St Nicholas

Church of England Diocese: Chichester

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the crest of a ridge of chalk
downland. The barrow comprises a central mound 24m in diameter and 0.8m
high, surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the
construction of the monument. This is no longer visable having become
infilled over the years and now survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. The
barrow was later re-used as the base of a windmill and sherds of Bronze Age,
Roman and medieval pottery have been found on the mound.

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 some damage from ploughing, the bowl barrow south of Bury Hill
survives as a substantial earthwork and contains archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was constructed. The monument is unusual in that it was later re-used as a
windmill mound.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows (Volume 75), , Vol. 75, (1934)
Other
Ordnance Survey, TQ 01 SW 14, (1952)
Title: 1:2500 TQ00/11
Source Date:
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:

Source: Historic England

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