Barkhale Camp

Barkhale Camp

Shown within West Sussex
Location	near Bignor, West Sussex
Coordinates	50°54′17″N 0°36′49″W / 50.90472°N 0.61361°W / 50.90472; -0.61361Coordinates: 50°54′17″N 0°36′49″W / 50.90472°N 0.61361°W / 50.90472; -0.61361
OS grid reference	SU 976 126
Type	Causewayed enclosure
History
Periods	Neolithic
Scheduled monument
Designated	7 April 1967
Reference no.	1007880

Barkhale Camp is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure, an archaeological site on the South Downs in West Sussex, England. It is about 1 mile (1.6 km) south-west of the village of Bignor.

The site is a scheduled monument.^[1] It is on the Slindon Estate, which is a National Trust property.^[2][3]

Description[]

Causewayed enclosures are found mostly in southern and eastern England; they have an area of 1–28 hectares (2–69 acres), and were constructed in the middle part of the Neolithic period, about 3000–2400 BC.^[1]

Barkhale Camp is on a gentle south-facing slope of Bignor Hill. It is an oval enclosure, 220 metres (720 ft) north to south and 150 metres (490 ft) west to east, defined by a bank of width 10 metres (33 ft) and height up to 0.5 metres (1 ft 8 in). There is an external ditch, up to 4 metres (13 ft) wide; it is in sections of length 10–30 metres (33–98 ft), with causeways between them. The area within the enclosure is about 3 hectares (7.4 acres).^[1][4]

There were small-scale excavations in 1958–1961 by Veronica Seton-Williams, and in 1978 by the Sussex Archaeological Field Unit; pottery sherds and flint tools of the Neolithic period, and pottery sherds of later periods, were found.^[1][4]

References[]