Blackpatch is an archaeological site in
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, about west of the village of
Findon and about north-west of
Worthing
Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...
.
It is the site of a
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
flint mine
Flint mining is the process of extracting flint from underground. Flint mines can be as simple as a pit on the surface or an area of quarrying, or it may refer to a series of shafts and tunnels used to extract flint.
Flint has been mined since t ...
, and
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. The site is a
scheduled 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, visu ...
.
Description
Flint mine
The flint mine, which was levelled about 1950, is on the south-west slope of Blackpatch Hill. There are more than 64 infilled shafts, diameter up to .
[
The shafts and other features at the site were investigated from 1922 to 1932 by John Pull. Seven shafts were excavated. They were up to deep; from them, galleries extended up to , following a single seam of flint. Flint flakes and pottery sherds were found in the infills from the shafts. Around the shafts were working areas where mined flint was processed. An antler pick from a shaft has been ]radiocarbon dated
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was de ...
to about 3000 BC.["Blackpatch, Findon, West Sussex"]
''Sussex Past''. Sussex Archaeological Society. Retrieved 24 October 2020.["Neolithic flint mines"]
Bournemouth University
Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s.
The universi ...
. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
Pull later investigated the flint mines in West Sussex at Church Hill and at Cissbury
Cissbury Ring is an biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Worthing in West Sussex. It is owned by the National Trust and is designated a Scheduled monument for its Neolithic flint mine and Iron Age hillfort.
Cissbury Ring is ...
.[
]
Barrows
The site, now levelled, contained more than 12 round barrows, dating from the 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 ...
. Three of them were over infilled flint mine shafts, with others to the north-east.[
]
References
{{reflist
Scheduled monuments in West Sussex
Prehistoric mines
Bronze Age sites in West Sussex
Worthing