Ancient Monuments

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Bowl barrow on Willingdon Hill

A Scheduled Monument in Old Town, East Sussex

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.7827 / 50°46'57"N

Longitude: 0.2289 / 0°13'43"E

OS Eastings: 557219.357001

OS Northings: 100493.19775

OS Grid: TQ572004

Mapcode National: GBR MTZ.YGL

Mapcode Global: FRA C7C0.NZL

Entry Name: Bowl barrow on Willingdon Hill

Scheduled Date: 19 June 1967

Last Amended: 23 October 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1009081

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20133

County: East Sussex

Electoral Ward/Division: Old Town

Built-Up Area: Eastbourne

Traditional County: Sussex

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): East Sussex

Church of England Parish: Willingdon St Mary the Virgin

Church of England Diocese: Chichester

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the crest of a chalk ridge.
The barrow is visible as a mound 16m in diameter and 1.6m high with a central
hollow suggesting that it 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 at 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 some disturbance by badgers, the bowl barrow on Willingdon Hill
survives comparatively well and contains archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating both to the monument and the landscape in
which the barrow was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows (Volume 75), , Vol. 75, (1934), 273
Other
Crake, Reverend E E, (1909)

Source: Historic England

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