| Summary : A group of funerary and related monuments closely associated with the Neolithic flint mines (TQ 00 NE 5) at Blackpatch. The surviving earthworks were surveyed by RCHME in 1995 as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. See the archive report for full details and a detailed site bibliography. The site was largely levelled by bulldozing circa 1950, and few earthwork traces survive, although of the surface features recorded by RCHME, one mound may represent one of the former barrows. The Blackpatch site was discovered by John Pull in 1922, and he excavated there until 1930. He recorded 12 features which he described as Bronze Age round barrows, although examination of his unpublished archive and published notes suggest a more complex situation. Most of these features were grouped to the north-east of the mines. One, Pull's number 12 (TQ 00 NE 71) appears to be Saxon. Another, number 9, is not a burial monument at all, but a circular enclosure comprising a ditch with external bank surrounding a featureless central area. The primary silts of the ditch were sealed by a continuous layer of flint nodules, and contained human bones plus Beaker and Collared Urn sherds. Three of the barrows were placed over mineshafts, and the physical relationships of the mounds to the mine spoil, shafts and working floors provide hints of flint extraction at a later date than otherwise is apparent. However, while some of the barrows feature inhumations or cremations associated with Early Bronze Age pottery, others displaying similar burial practices are more likely to be of Neolithic date. A notable feature of several of the mounds is a capping layer of flint nodules. Two of the mounds feature secondary inhumations of Saxon date, including one instance of a headless skeleton. Note that several of these barrows and the ditched enclosure fall outside the scheduled monument area, which focuses solely on the mined area. |
More information : (TQ 0970 0923) Barrow (Not included in Grinsell's list of Sussex barrows). (1)
No trace was found of a barrow in this area, which, S of a fence, is ploughed land. The above-given siting falls approximately upon the line of the fence, to the N of which is uncultivated downland. (2)
At TQ 0963 0919 is an indefinite ground disturbance, no more than 0.1m high and 8.0m across into which rabbits have burrowed, revealing a high chalk content. It is situated on a prominent ridge under pasture. Undoubtedly the remains of a barrow. It may be barrow 10 or 11 mis-sited by Pull.
Surveyed at 1:2500; q.v. TQ 00 NE 5. (3)
(Centred TQ 094088 (5)) A group of about 100 flint mines on the S spur of Blackpatch Hill (see TQ 00 NE 5), associated with 11 barrows, "dwelling sites" (see NMR no TQ 00 NE 66) and flaking floors (TQ 00 NE 5).(4)
Barrow 1 centred TQ 095090 (5)
The area was cleared by bulldozing some years ago, and all that remains are vague unsurveyable undulations in the area of the flint mines and the amorphous remains of a barrow, possibly no. 10 or 11 at TQ 09630919. The area is now under pasture. Barrow 9 is visible on RAF AP CPE/UK1751.3155 at TQ 09650908 but not on the ground.
Barrow (TQ 09630919) surveyed at 1/2500, site of barrow 9 supplied on 1:2500 AM from RAF APs. (6,7)
Note: authorities 1-3 form part of the original OS record TQ 00 NE 43. Authorities 4-6 are taken from the original OS record TQ 00 NE 5. The former originally consisted of a single round barrow, the latter of the whole complex of flint mines, dwelling sites and barrows recorded by JH Pull (see below). TQ 00 NE 5 now consists of the flint mines only; all barrows on Blackpatch Hill are detailed under the present record, TQ 00 NE 43. Individual barrow locations are not at present known with sufficient accuracy to enable the compilation of individual site records for each barrow. (8)
The flint mining complex and associated monuments at Blackpatch were surveyed by RCHME in February 1995 as part of a project to record industry and enclosure in the Neolithic. Investigation of the Blackpatch site has included field survey, AP transcription and documentary research. In order to simplify presentation of this information within MONARCH, only the prehistoric funerary/ceremonial features are dealt with within this record. Separate records have been created for the flint mines, the 'dwelling sites', and the probable Saxon barrow.
JH Pull recorded and excavated 12 features described by him as round barrows during his 1922-30 campaign at the Blackpatch flint mines. Most of these were grouped to the north-east of the mined area, with a majority separated from the mines by the Patching/Clapham parish boundary. Of these 12 barrows one, Pull's barrow 10, appears to be of Saxon origin, and is described separately (see TQ 00 NE 71). Another, Pull's barrow 9, was not a barrow at all, but a circular enclosure some 40ft in diameter and comprising a ditch with external bank surrounding a featureless central area. The primary silts of the ditch were sealed by a continuous layer of flint nodules. This primary fill also contained human and animal bones, flint artefacts, and sherds of collared urn and beaker.
Three of the barrows had been constructed over shafts within the main mined area, and the physical relationships of these mounds to the mines, spoil and working floors hint at flint extraction at a date later than that indicated by the sole early Neolithic radiocarbon date from the mines. Other barrows away from the mines also tend to comprise chalk rubble and flint, some constructed over shallow pits which in a number of cases also seem to have been dug to reach shallow flint seams. The regular occurrence of collared urn and beaker sherds accompanying the various inhumations and cremations concealed by these mounds also point to a similar conclusion. However, occurrences of leaf arrowheads in a couple of instances hint that some of the burials may be of a clearly Neolithic date. A notable feature of many of the mounds, particularly those with collared urn associations, is the presence of a capping layer of flint nodules. Two of the mounds also feature secondary inhumations of probable Saxon date, including one instance of a headless skeleton.
Bulldozing in the early 1950s and subsequent ploughing, particularly of the field to the east of the mines, has left little surface trace of these features. The suggestion that the cropmark at TQ 09650908 is plausible, given its location on Pull's sketch plan and the fact that it was the only one of Pull's 'barrows' to feature a ditch. Survey in February 1995 identified a low mound on the eastern side of the mined area which may represent the remains of Pull's barrow 3. For full details, discussion and bibliography of the barrows, particularly with regard to their relationship with the mines, see the archive report. (9)
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