Combe Hill Neolithic Camp

This is a 5,400 year-​old Neolithic causewayed camp or enclosure, situated on Combe Hill between the Eastbourne suburb of Willingdon and the village of Jevington. Although there isn’t a great deal to see unless you’re an aficionado, it’s a lovely place for a walk, with great views, and it is older than Stonehenge!
History and what to see
The camp consists of two (possibly three) sets of concentric ditches and ring is the most complete of the three, measuring 90 by 70 metres and enclosing an area of 0.53 hectares, and rising to 1.2m. That may not sound much, but archaeological finds of flints, animal bones, an unusual small carved chalk block and Ebbsfleet Ware pottery have dated the site to around 3,400BC — earlier than the first phase of Stonehenge. It’s not surprising that erosion over the millennia have reduced its physical impact. Evidence also suggests that, when built, it would have been constructed in newly cleared forest.
Finds from the ditches indicate the site was used up to the fourth century AD, possibly for votive offerings, but its use is unlikely to have continuous. The material includes Bronze Age Beaker Ware pottery, bronze rings and Roman coins.
It’s not exactly known what such enclosures were used for, but it is unlikely to have been continuously inhabited. It has been speculated that they were religious or social meeting places, cattle enclosures or trade centres, and were rare clearings in otherwise dense forest.
There are three bronze Age barrows adjacent, one to the west and two to the east, and date from around 2,000BC. The western ‘Bowl’ barrow rises to nearly 2m, and is 20m in diameter. In 1908 four Bronze Age axe heads were found within the mound. The other two mounds to the east are slightly smaller, but all three may have been damaged by early and unrecorded amateur antiquarian investigations which have reduced their height.
Practicalities
The site lies a mile from Willingdon and 1.5 miles from Jevington on the 1066 Country Path, Ordnance Survey reference TQ 5702. It’s 600ft up, so allow a good half hour to reach it from either starting point, and take a map and good shoes — the paths can be very steep, and the grass can be slippery in wet weather.