Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Images
The fine eastern summit barrow from the central.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Looking south(ish). I was impressed with this landscape.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
These summit barrows were sited with sweeping views across the heath to east and south-east... the smaller pair can, perhaps, be made out amongst the gorse.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The largest barrow from the central of the summit group.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The eastern of the summit trio from the approx east... the gorse notwithstanding, this seemed the best preserved of the three. A nice monument.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The gorse is formidable this time of year...
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Looking approx north-east(ish)
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Today, I am mostly standing on round barrows.... The largest summit barrow is pretty hefty, albeit somewhat hollowed out as if it was an upland cairn. This is the best profile.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The largest of the ‘summit’ trio of barrows..
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
When we came in February it was freezing cold. This time it was pouring with rain, though you can’t really tell from this! We’ll get it right one day. These barrows were at the highest point on the common near the trig point.
Image credit: A R Cane
Looking South
Image credit: A R Cane
Two (or possibly 3 – the gorse was very thick on the third lump so it was difficult to tell) of the barrows looking South East.
Image credit: A R Cane
Two small barrows which appear to be almost conjoined on Fitzhall Heath, part of Iping Common, looking North near the parking area just off the A272.
Image credit: A R Cane
Looking South.
Image credit: A R Cane
View across a frozen pond on Fitzhall Heath with three of the five linear round barrows almost visible beyond.
Image credit: A R Cane
Close up of the largest barrow on Fitzhall Heath looking West.
Image credit: A R Cane
Two of the three large barrows (there’s one behind to the very left) viewed from the top of the largest.
Image credit: A R Cane
Close up of the largest barrow.
Image credit: A R Cane
Looking back at the largest barrow from the middle of the three main barrows in a vaguely Eastish direction.
Image credit: A R Cane
Looking North.
Image credit: A R Cane
Panorama of the three main barrows on Fitzhall Heath looking North East.
Image credit: A R Cane
Articles
We probably picked the wrong day to visit here as it was damned cold and quite overcast but the thought of possibly finding a cemetery of up to twenty barrows tucked away in the wilderness of mid-Sussex proved too much of a temptation. Parking is relatively easy as there’s a conveniently placed carpark just off the A272 between Midhurst and Petersfield and was very popular with the local dogowners the day we were there, just a shame they couldn’t be bothered to pick up after them. I always tend to think of Sussex as being quite highly populated, and I guess the bit I live in on the coast is, but inland you’ll find large tracts of land with barely any sign of habitation much like this. Here there seem to be endless glorious vistas of open heather with the occasional birch tree, small patches of conifer and the blue-hued hills of the South Downs on the distant horizon. It’s probably looked like this for centuries, possibly millennia. The first barrows you come to after leaving the carpark are a very small pair, possibly conjoined and only just discernible as they’re covered in heather, so it’s almost impossible to gauge just how big they are, or were. Travelling further South you come around a small pond and follow a track to a linear arrangement of five larger barrows which are part of Fitzhall Heath. The tallest of these is about 30-40 feet across and around 10 feet high, again heather covered and at some time in the past severely mauled, and from here you can see two other large barrows, one of which has been cleared of heather. On top of this we found the tattered remains of a sign politely asking the public to refrain from walking on the barrows and to use the cleared pathways around them. Whoops, sorry. Passing through the middle of all this apparently is a Roman road as well, though I couldn’t really work out where it was supposed to be, only surmising that it started in Chichester to the South. We only managed to seek out seven barrows on this visit, but given the size of the common it would take a good day to tramp around the whole area where I know there are at least another eight marked on the OS map. We’ll return when it’s warmed up a tad.
Sites within 20km of Iping Common
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Hammer Wood
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The Devil’s Jumps
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Torberry Hill
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Heyshott Down
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Gallows Hill
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Bevis’s Thumb
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Goose Hill Camp
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Little Bury
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Court Hill
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Petersfield Heath
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Stoughton Down
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Lavington Common
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Stoughton Down
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Bow Hill Camp
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Waltham Down
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The Trundle
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Kingley Vale
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Duncton Down
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Barlavington Down
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Wyke Green Farm
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The Devil’s Ditch
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Butser Hill
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Halnaker Hill
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Glatting Beacon
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Boxgrove
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Lord’s Piece
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Barkhale
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Lower Bordean Farm
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Ivyhouse Farm
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Barkhale Wood barrow
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Warhill Cottage
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Salt Hill Long Barrow
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Frensham Common
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War Dyke
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Rewell Wood Barrow
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The Jumps
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