Harrow Hill, Sussex
| Harrow Hill | |||
| Sussex | |||
|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) The earthworks on the crown of Harrow Hill | |||
| Range: | South Downs | ||
| Summit: | 548 feet TQ081098 50°52’41"N, 0°27’52"W | ||
Harrow Hill is a hill of 548 feet in the South Downs, in Sussex, and which is crowned with the pre-historic earthworks of a flint mine and enclosure.
The hill is inland, about three miles north of Angmering and five miles north-west of Worthing, a seaside resort.
The top of the hill is an important archaeological site, with a Neolithic flint mine, and a ‘Martin Down-style’ enclosure of the Bronze Age. The site is a scheduled monument.[1]
Description
Flint mine
The flint mine is on the crown of the hill, occupying about twenty acres, in which are about 245 mine shafts and pits. The shafts survive as circular hollows of diameter up to 64 feet and depth six feet; there are spoil heaps of height up to three feet. The southern part of the area, where there is hummocky ground, is thought to show a slightly different period of mining.[1]
A shaft was excavated in 1924–25: its width was 20 feet and it was found to be 22 feet deep. There had been some exploitation of upper levels of flint, and there were six radiating galleries at the bottom of the pit.[2] Some galleries had engraved designs above the entrances, which may have been miners' tallies. An antler pick from a shaft has been radio-carbon dated to about 3710 BC.[1]
Flint was mined probably for trading elsewhere. The flint mine at Cissbury, about three and a half miles to the south-east, dates from about the same time. There are also flint mines near Harrow Hill, at Church Hill, about two miles south-east of here, and at Blackpatch, about a mile to the south-east.[2]
Martin Down style enclosure
The Martin Down style enclosure, interpreted as a domestic settlement, is named after the Bronze Age enclosure on Martin Down in Hampshire. It is a rectangle aligned west–east, and at the north-east corner it partly overlies mine shafts on the southern side of the mining area. There is a bank up to 20 feet wide and 2 feet high, with an external ditch, enclosing an area of about three-quarters of an acre; there is an entrance on the west side.[1][2]
The enclosure was partly excavated in 1936. Pottery sherds from about 600 BC were found, and skulls of 50 to 100 oxen. There was once a timber gateway at the entrance, and the bank had a timber palisade.[1][2]
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 National Heritage List 1015239: Prehistoric flint mine and a Martin Down style enclosure on Harrow Hill (Scheduled ancient monument entry)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Richard Wainwright. A guide to the Prehistoric Remains in Britain. Volume One: South and East. Constable and Co, 1978. Page 242.