The Devil's Humps (also known as the Kings' Graves) are four

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

barrows situated on Bow Hill on the South Downs near

Stoughton, West Sussex Stoughton is a village and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England located north west of Chichester east of the B2146 road, on a lane leading to East Marden. The parish has a land area of . In the 2001 census 631 peo ...

. They are situated on a

downland Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...

ridgeway crossed by an ancient trackway, above Kingley Vale.Dyer 2001, p.171. The Devil's Humps are counted among the most impressive round barrows surviving on the South Downs. The Devil's Humps are within the Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve. The two bell barrows together with two pond barrows and 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 ...

are listed as

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

1008371,Historic England: The National Heritage List for England: List entry Number 1008371. while the two bowl barrows are listed as Scheduled Ancient Monument 1008372.Historic England: The National Heritage List for England: List entry Number 1008372.

The barrows

The four mounds form a small cemetery group running in a line southwest to northeast. The two southwestern mounds are located close together; they are bell barrows with a banked depression separating them. The two northeastern mounds are

bowl barrow A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include ''cairn circle'', ''cairn ring'', ''howe'', ''ker ...

s. The four barrows forming the Devil's Humps are all aligned and stand high in spite of damage caused by early explorations. No records survive from these early excavations, so the precise date for the construction of the barrows is unknown. However, they are believed to date from the Late

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

or the Early Bronze Age. It is possible that they were reused in the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods.English Heritage. The barrows are designated from A through to D, in order from the southwest to the northeast.Historic England 2015. South-west barrow, Devil's Humps

Barrow A is a bell barrow. It measures across, and is bordered by a wide

berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a border/ separation ...

enclosed by a wide ditch. The ditch is deep, and the barrow stands high. Barrow B is also a bell barrow. It is across, and encircled by a wide berm. The mound stands high. A ditch runs around the berm; it is wide and deep. Barrow C is a ditched bowl barrow standing high. It measures (NS/EW), with the ditch having been filled in on the northwest side by the construction of a boundary bank. The centre of the barrow has been excavated. Barrow D is another ditched bowl barrow. It also stands high and measures across, with damage to the centre from previous excavation. It is partially covered by bramble and scrub. Two further possible barrows have been identified, one between Barrows A and B, and one to the northeast of Barrow B. They are small depressions measuring approximately across and deep. They resemble pond barrows, but are considered to be small in size.

Excavations

The two bowl barrows, C and D, were inspected in 1853, and Barrow C was opened. Upon opening it was evident that it had been disturbed previously, although a number of artefacts were recovered. These included burnt bones situated on top of an area of burnt soil, a whetstone, the tooth of a horse, antlers and a few fragments of Iron Age pottery. The artefacts from Barrow C are now in the collection of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. Barrow B was excavated in 1933. Surface finds from Barrow B included a Bronze Age flint scraper and fragments of Bronze Age or Iron Age pottery. The finds are now held by Lewes Museum.

Other archaeological remains

There are a number of other ancient remains around Bow Hill and in neighbouring Kingley Vale, including a number of

s and other earthworks, settlement sites in the Vale itself, two

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

s, one of which is Goosehill Camp, and several

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 repre ...

s on Stoughton Down to the north.

Folklore

The Devil's Humps are linked to a body of folklore encompassing Kingley Vale on the southern approach to Bow Hill. This folklore records how the men of

Chichester Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...

defeated a

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

war party in the Vale, and the Viking leaders were buried in the Devil's Humps, giving them their alternative name of the Kings' Graves, while many of the Viking dead lie where they fell, under the yew trees on the slopes of the hill. Their ghosts are said to haunt the yew groves, and the trees themselves are said to come alive and move at night. This folklore may have had its origin in a battle between the men of Chichester and the marauding Danes that is recorded in the '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' as having taken place in AD 894:Simpson 2002, p.45.

Notes

References