The summary material provided on this website is intended for general public use only and will be updated periodically. Those undertaking planning, management or research must continue to contact the Historic Environment Record directly for up to date information, events records and accurate locations.

Please note that the inclusion of a heritage asset on this website does not mean it is accessible to the public.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Designations - none recorded

Summary

The Downs from Above project is the aerial survey component of the National Trust-led and National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported Changing Chalk partnership. The project focussed on an area of 192 sq.km of the South Downs National Park to the north of Brighton and Hove. The archaeological remains identified from lidar and aerial photographs on the South Downs ranged in date from the Neolithic to the Cold War. The lidar was particularly valuable in showing the low earthworks that define extensive later prehistoric and Roman field systems across the Downs. Medieval and post medieval archaeological features mainly comprised enclosures and dewponds related to sheep farming as well as the chalk pits and quarries of the local lime industry. 1940s aerial photographs provided a useful overview of the 20th-century military activity on the Downs, as well as a unique snapshot of the open grassland before conversion to arable. The project results contribute a lasting legacy in terms of better understanding of the form and extent of this archaeological landscape.

Monument Types

• BARROW (In Use, Early Neolithic to Early Medieval/Dark Age - 4000 BC (between) to 1065 AD (between))
• CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE (In Use, Neolithic - 4000 BC (between) to 2351 BC (between))
• CROSS DYKE (In Use, Early Bronze Age to Late Iron Age - 2350 BC (between) to 42 AD (between))
• ENCLOSURE (In Use, Early Bronze Age to Late Iron Age - 2350 BC (between) to 42 AD (between))
• FIELD SYSTEM (In Use, Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2350 BC (between) to 409 AD (between))
• HILLFORT (In Use, Iron Age - 800 BC (between) to 42 AD (between))
• HOLLOW WAY (In Use, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD (between) to 1900 AD (between))
• MANORIAL FARM (In Use, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD (between) to 1900 AD (between))
• RIDGE AND FURROW (In Use, Medieval - 1066 AD (between) to 1539 AD (between))
• WINDMILL MOUND (In Use, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD (between) to 1900 AD (between))
• EXTRACTIVE PIT (In Use, Post Medieval - 1540 AD (between) to 1900 AD (between))
• MILITARY SITE (In Use, Post Medieval to WW II - 1900 AD? (between) to 1945 AD (between))

Sources

Associated Events

• Changing Chalk: Downs From Above (Ref: Research Report Series 16/2023)

Associated Monuments

• MWS15808 - Parent of: A Medieval Fieldsystem on Wellcombe Botton, Pyecombe (Monument)
• MWS15811 - Parent of: A Possible Medieval/Post-Medieval Hollow Way, Hassocks (Monument)
• MWS15810 - Parent of: A Post-Medieval Field Boundary, Hassocks (Monument)
• MWS15832 - Parent of: A Second World War defended locality, Shoreham-by-Sea and Southwick (Monument)
• MWS6498 - Parent of: Anglo-Saxon Cemetery on Summer Down, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS3786 - Parent of: Barcombe Mills to Hardham Roman Road (Monument)
• MWS537 - Parent of: Barrow on Devil's Dyke, Poyinings (Monument)
• MWS6193 - Parent of: Barrow on Devil's Dyke, Poynings (Monument)
• MWS5780 - Parent of: Barrow on Fulking Hill, Fulking (Monument)
• MWS910 - Parent of: Barrow on North Hill, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS851 - Parent of: Barrow on Tenant Hill, Fulking and Upper Beeding (Monument)
• MWS3350 - Parent of: Barrow on Truleigh Hill, Upper Beeding (Monument)
• MWS909 - Parent of: Barrow on Wolstonbury Hill, Pyecombe (Monument)
• MWS826 - Parent of: Black Burgh Round Barrow, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS871 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow on Beeding Hill, Upper Beeding (Monument)
• MWS6669 - Parent of: Bowl barrow on Edburton Hill, Upper Beeding (Monument)
• MWS6471 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow on Edburton Hill, Upper Beeding (Monument)
• MWS5560 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow on Fulking Hill, Fulking (Monument)
• MWS902 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow on Fulking Hill, Fulking (Monument)
• MWS903 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow on Fulking Hill, Fulking (Monument)
• MWS5118 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow on North Hill, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS5079 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow on Summer Down, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS5080 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow on Summer Down, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS5081 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow on Summer Down, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS751 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow, Part of a Round Barrow Cemetery on Clayton Hill, Hassocks (Monument)
• MWS758 - Parent of: Bowl Barrow, Part of a Round Barrow Cemetery on Clayton Hill, Hassocks (Monument)
• MWS6476 - Parent of: Cross Dyke on Newtimber Hill, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS901 - Parent of: Cross Dyke on Tottington Mount, Upper Beeding (Monument)
• MWS5183 - Parent of: Cross Dyke on Wolstonbury Hill (Monument)
• MWS5074 - Parent of: Devil's Dyke Iron Age Hillfort, Poynings (Monument)
• MWS15828 - Parent of: Dewpond on South Hill, Pyecombe (Monument)
• MWS15829 - Parent of: Elements of a later prehistoric and/or Roman field system are visible as earthworks outside and within Devil's Dyke Hillfort, Poynings (Monument)
• MWS15750 - Parent of: Extensive Earthworks associated with Newtimber Place, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS15824 - Parent of: Faint Earthwork Remains of a Later Prehistoric or Roman Field System on Tegdown Hill, Ewe Bottom and Ladies Mile, Pyecombe/Brighton and Hove (Monument)
• MWS7120 - Parent of: Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery Newhaven H22, Mill Hill, Shoreham (Monument)
• MWS590 - Parent of: Iron Age - Romano British Field System on Varncombe Hill, Newtimber/Brighton and Hove (Monument)
• MWS865 - Parent of: Iron Age Burial and pottery, Thundersbarrow Hill, Shoreham and Southwick (Monument)
• MWS6466 - Parent of: Iron Age Hillfort on Thundersbarrow Hill (Monument)
• MWS15801 - Parent of: Later Prehistoric and/or Roman field system are visible as earthworks on Newtimber Hill/North Hill, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS15802 - Parent of: Later Prehistoric to Roman Field System, Poynings (Monument)
• MWS1360 - Parent of: Limekilns, Newer Copse, Pyecombe (Monument)
• MWS627 - Parent of: Limekilns/Chalk Pit, North Hill, Saddlescombe, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS8505 - Parent of: Martin Down Style Enclosure on Thundersbarrow Hill (Monument)
• MWS1345 - Parent of: Medieval Cultivation Terraces on Beeding Hill, Upper Beeding (Monument)
• MWS3180 - Parent of: Medieval Field System on Newtimber Hill, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS3520 - Parent of: Motte and Bailey Castle on Edburton Hill, Fulking (Monument)
• MWS912 - Parent of: Pastoral Enclosure on Pond Brow, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS6472 - Parent of: Perching Deserted Medieval Settlement, Fulking (Monument)
• MWS893 - Parent of: Perching Manor House and Moat, Fulking (Monument)
• MWS5542 - Parent of: Possible Anglo-Saxon Burial on Slonk Hill, Shoreham and Southwick (Monument)
• MWS3339 - Parent of: Possible later Prehistoric -Romano British Settlement and Field System on Beeding Hill, Upper Beeding (Monument)
• MWS10272 - Parent of: Possible World War One Weapons Testing Site, Devils Dyke, Poynings (Building)
• MWS15814 - Parent of: Post-Medieval Chalk Pits south of Claytoncourt Farm, Hassocks (Monument)
• MWS5076 - Parent of: Post-medieval Stock Enclosure at Devil's Dyke (Monument)
• MWS15818 - Parent of: Probable Later Prehistoric or Romano British Field System on Scare Hill, Pyecombe/Brighton and Hove (Monument)
• MWS877 - Parent of: Roman Burial and pottery, Thundersbarrow Hill, Shoreham and Southwick (Monument)
• MWS834 - Parent of: Romano-British Field System on Wolstonbury Hill (Monument)
• MWS5449 - Parent of: Romano-British Terrace Way on Wolstonbury Hill (Monument)
• MWS6467 - Parent of: Romano-British Village on Thundersbarrow Hill (Monument)
• MWS7693 - Parent of: Saddlescombe Farm Historic Farmstead, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS7286 - Parent of: Saddlescombe Farm, Newtimber - Medieval Earthworks (Monument)
• MWS876 - Parent of: Saxon Burial and pottery, Thundersbarrow Hill, Shoreham and Southwick (Monument)
• MWS15830 - Parent of: Site of a 'Bicycle railway' within Devil's Dyke Hillfort, Poynings (Monument)
• MWS628 - Parent of: Site of a Funicular railway associated with Devil's Dyke hillfort, Poynings (Monument)
• MWS15831 - Parent of: Site of an Aerial Flight associated with Devil's Dyke hillfort, Poynings (Monument)
• MWS6468 - Parent of: Thunders Barrow, Shoreham and Southwick (Monument)
• MWS1352 - Parent of: Windmill Site on Summer Down, Newtimber (Monument)
• MWS5779 - Related to: Bowl Barrow on Wolstonbury Hill, Pyecombe (Monument)

Associated Finds - none recorded

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.