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Coombe Hill. TQ5702
Coomb or Coombe Hill is situated between Willingdon and Jevington, on the South Downs, with the archaeological remains occupying a saddle on the top of the hill. It is a particularly important archaeological location because of its uniqueness as a site where Neolithic, Bronze Age and Roman finds have been made. Prime among the features is that of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure which is thought to be older than Stonehenge. Coombe Hill causewayed enclosure consists of two or possibly three, concentric, segmented ditches with an internal area measuring around 6,000 m2.
Causewayed enclosures are of great importance in European and British prehistory because they represent the earliest known examples of the enclosure of open space. Recent re-dating work suggests that the earliest enclosures were constructed around 3650 BC which is slightly later than the earliest mining of flint but contemporary with the introduction of agriculture and the domestication of animals, the manufacture of pottery, the quarrying of stone for the production of axes, and the construction of longhouses and ceremonial or ritual monuments including cursus monuments and long barrows.
The construction of an artificial boundary around an area, creating a distinction between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, private and public, human and wild, and perhaps sacred and profane, was a profound social and architectural development. Indeed, some scholars believe that the act of enclosure was the primary function of the monument with the process of construction more important than the activities that took place in the interior.
What the exact function or functions of causewayed enclosures were and what they meant to their builders may never be known with absolute certainty. They do not appear to be places where people lived permanently and so it is likely that they were visited by local groups on a sporadic basis. They may have been important as social or ceremonial places. As only 80 or so causewayed enclosures have been found in the British Isles, their rarity means that they are always protected. Coombe Hill first became a scheduled ancient monument in 1932 when it was first excavated. The enclosure survives in very good condition. Shards of Peterborough ware pottery, Roman pottery and coins have all been excavated from the ditch fills and this indicates that the site has long been a place of human activity.
In addition to the Neolithic causewayed enclosure, Coombe Hill has two bowl barrows and a disc barrow built around it. Disc or saucer shaped barrows are a rare form of barrow with only about 50 such examples in Britain and because of their rarity they are always given protected status. The Coombe Hill site is well preserved one and it has the potential for further research.
Coombe Hill has a management plan whereby the land is kept under pasture with ploughing prohibited. Farmers cooperate to remove scrub so that any damage by roots is minimized. However, Coombe Hill can be fairly easily accessed by dog walkers and others from the car park on nearby Butt’s Brow and as the Wealdway runs from the car park through the middle of the causewayed enclosure the daily flow of people has become the main threat to the site. In my view, there is a land use conflict relating to the route of the Wealdway on Coombe Hill which calls for changes to be made.
Adrian Diack M.A. (Hons)

TQ5702 : Coombe Hill viewed in a west-northwest direction, East SussexTQ5702 : Bronze-Age bowl barrow on Combe Hill, East SussexTQ5702 : Saucer or disc barrow on Combe Hill, East SussexTQ5702 : Ring and ditch of the causewayed enclosure on Combe HillTQ5702 : Westward view of the most westerly bowl barrow on Combe Hill