More information : (Area TQ 54480340) Close to the 'platform barrow' (TQ 50 SW 37) is a group of pits, hollows and mounds exactly resembling in appearance the well-known groups of flint-mines at Harrow Hill and elsewhere, and there is a very little doubt that these pits also represent shafts of similar mines. (See plan) (1)
About 12 irregularly-shaped depressions with spoil around their rims occur on the steep N facing slopes just below the summit of a ridge.
They are up to 20.0m across and 3.0m deep. They resemble surface quarries for flint or chalk rather than silted-up flint mines, for the following reasons
1. There is less spoil around them in relation to their size than is apparent in proven flint mines.
2. The pits, covering an area about 80.0m by 40.0m, are more widely spread than flint mines previously investigated.
3. Their irregular shape is not commensurate with a silted-up shaft (See St Joseph AP BU/84 with TQ 50 SW 32). (2)
Excavation of one of the depressions was undertaken c1971 in response to a request from the BM for material to use in connection with research into characterisation of flint sources by trace element analysis. A single trench was dug across one of the hollows to a depth of 3ft. The filling below topsoil was described as consisting of loose chalk blocks of varying size which the excavators felt was comparable to the fill of other flint mines in Sussex. A few struck flakes were found among the flint in the fill as well as a flint hammerstone. (3).
Windover Hill- `a group of about nine hollows and associated upcast dumps has been proved by excavation to be Neolithic flint mines'(4).
(TQ 5448 0340) In March 1995, RCHME carried out a Field Observation on the alleged flint mines (see also TQ 50 SW 77) as part of the project to record Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Period.
Source 2's description and interpretation are correct. Contrary to Source 1, only a few of the pits are superficially similar to known Neolithic mines. Their form is very variable, but they are generally sub-circular or adit-like, with spoil on the downhill side. The dimensions vary: the majority are 8m-12m in diameter and up to 2m deep, but a few are 15m-20m diameter and up to 4m deep. The majority, including all those in the main concentration, are steep-sided, well-defined and in many cases appear to have linear hollows entering them, suggesting cart access.
Although flint exists in considerable quantities in the chalk, Source 2's conclusion is probably correct. There is no struck flint visible on the surface and eroded patches in the vicinity of the pits, and the finds mentioned by Sources 3 and 4 may well be residual. In addition, the Neolithic possibility was rejected on the grounds that although some pits are respected (possibly served by) the trackway alleged by Source 1 to be Roman, spoil from others clearly overlies it. There is also a hint that the track may be associated with the so-called 'Roman terraceway', which is more likely to be part of the Post Medieval lime kiln complex. It is possible that the pits were dug as marl pits, for building stone, or to provide chalk for the Post Medieval lime kiln, but may be of various dates, including Roman and Medieval. Given that the mines do not appear to be of Neolithic date, no further survey was undertaken. (5)
Examination of aerial photographs of various dates (from 1925 to 2008) shows traces of quarrying and extraction to be far more widespread across the hilltop than implied by Curwen's account of two apparently discrete areas of 'flint mining'. A close relationship with the various trackways ascending the hill from various directions is also evident. (6)
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