Bow Hill is an elongated hill ridge, high, and running roughly from north to south in the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the ...

, in the county of

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

1:25,000 ''Explorer'' map series, No. 120 It has a prominence of 74 metres.

Location

Bow Hill is the highest point of Stoughton Down which lies to the east of the village of Stoughton in

. The summit itself is 2 kilometres due east of Stoughton and about 7 kilometres northwest of the nearest large town,

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

. To the south are Stoke Down and the village of

West Stoke West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

; to the east and southeast are the villages of West Dean and Mid Lavant in the valley of the River Lavant, to the north are East Marden and Chilgrove.

Description

Bow Hill is the highest point on a north-to-south running and steep-sided ridge and there is a trig point at the top. Its crest and upper slopes are densely wooded, but the lower slopes are open downland. Various tracks and bridleways run pass close to the summit and there is a ridgeway that divides just northeast of the summit heading to Stoughton in one direction and West Stoke in the other.

Points of interest

Much of Bow Hill lies with a nature reserve, although the summit itself is not. The ridge has much evidence of ancient settlement, including a

cross dyke A cross dyke or cross-dyke (also referred to as a cross-ridge dyke, covered way, linear ditch, linear earthwork or spur dyke) is a linear earthwork believed to be a prehistoric land boundary that usually measures between in length. A typical cr ...

tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

, earthworks and

long barrow Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repres ...

s. Of particular note are

Goosehill Camp Goosehill Camp is a prehistoric earthwork that dates back to the Iron Age. It consists of two concentric banks and ditches. The inner enclosure has one entrance and surround two levelled hut sites. Goosehill Camp is within the Kingley Vale Nation ...

, an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

about 1,500 metres north-northeast of Bow Hill on the east side of the ridge, and the Devil's Humps, a cluster of four

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

barrows.

References

{{Authority control Hills of West Sussex Hill forts in West Sussex