More information : 'A' (TQ 0664 0981) Large bowl barrow 20 paces
diameter, 3ft high.
'B' (TQ 0665 0978) Bowl barrow 12 paces diam. 1 1/2ft high.
'C' (TQ 0669 0979) ? Platform barrow 12 paces diam. 1ft high.
Opened, and remains of (?Saxon) skeleton found; now in
Littlehampton Museum.
Several Anglo-Saxon barrows opened near a spot called Friday's
Church 1893-4. Besides skeletons the only finds were two iron
knives and a small bronze pin (TQ 00 NE 15). (1-2)
The barrow known locally as Friday's Church (B) was excavated in
1963 by the Brighton and Hove Arch Soc under Barr-Hamilton
who found remains of a primary interment and a secondary
cremation in the SE quadrant.
Pottery found in the ditch and elsewhere indicate a middle
Bronze Age date. Worked flints and 7 Roman coins were also found.
(3-4)
Only two barrows (A and B) survive.
'A' at TQ 0662 0983 is turf-covered, measuring 20.0m in diameter
and 0.8m in height. The E quadrant is stripped of turf, and is
in process of excavation by the Brighton and Hove Arch Soc
directed by Mr Barr-Hamilton, who has found a fragment of a
"collared urn" therein. Immediately outside the barrow a child
inhumation has been found but not yet excavated.
'B' at TQ 0666 0980, also turf-covered, is ploughed down and
survives as a faint rise, 0.15m high and about 10.0m in diameter.
This was the ditched barrow excavated by Barr-Hamilton in 1963.
It cannot be ascertained whether the name "Friday's Church"
refers to the area of scrub NW of the barrow or to the barrow
or barrows themselves.
An excavation report is pending.
Surveyed at 1:2500. (5)
Barrow "B" excavated 1963. The mound apparently contained over 600 sherds of RB pottery plus 7 RB coins, perhaps representing cremations inserted during the RB period? Unfortunately the excavation leaves this question unresolved. The RB pottery is not discussed in the final report. The barrow was surrounded by a ditch for a little over half of its circumference. Within this and beneath the mound was a circle of flints. The primary burial pit had been disturbed by previous excavation, though some bone remained. Another small pit contained remains of a cremation. A pre-1500BC date is assigned to the barrow by the excavator but the basis of this dating is unclear.
Barrow "A", excavated 1971-77, had no surrounding ditch. 4 cremation deposits were found beneath the mound, 2 in collared urns, one in a bipartite urn and one unurned. One of the collared urns is assigned by Longworth to his secondary series, with a suggested post-1400 date. The other is neither described nor illustrated within the excavation report. An unaccompanied inhumation was found 4.5m east of the barrow. A third unidentified `barrow' was also excavated but turned out to be a natural clay knoll. All finds are in Worthing Museum. (6,7)
Discussion and description of finds from Saxon barrows in the Friday's Church area. (8) |