Harrow Hill

From Traditional Witchcraft Wiki Project

Harrow Hill

This triangular hill is situated on the Sussex Downs, just north of Patching. It is speculated the name comes from the word Hearg, referring to a hilltop heathen temple. The earliest remains on this hill are those of Neolithic flint mines, which are a part of a chain of such mines that includes Cissbury Ring and Blackpatch Hill, although radio carbon dating has dated some of those at Harrow Hill as being from the end of the 4th Century BC, making them some of the oldest known. The galleries of the flint mines are very deep (one of them being 22½ feet deep with six galleries) and have been excavated, in them were found remains of animal bones & teeth, oyster shells (found also at Cissbury Ring & Chanctonbury Ring), and various antler and bone based tools. Upon some of the walls were found etched parallel and perpendicular lines, some of which are of a careful design, but their purpose has remained obscure, although some have posited that they are of ritual origin. On the south-east of the triangular hill have been found remains of a settlement that appears to have been the dwelling place of the flint miners.

On top of the hill is a late Bronze Age square hill-fort of a ditch & bank structure, with an entrance to the west and one in the north-east corner. No trace of occupation has been found in excavations of this earthwork, but a huge quantity of animal bones & teeth were (especially ox, pigs, and sheep), which has led some to speculate a ritual usage of this site. Some believe that this enclosure was also later used by the Saxons as a shrine.

Remains of a Roman-British settlement have been found on the south side of the hill, and a pair of Saxon barrows reside on the South-east of the hill. Of these barrows, the earliest contained a skeleton with knife (dated to the 7th or 8th Century)buried with the head to the west, the other has been victim to barrow-robbers who left the skeleton strewn about.

Akin to other hill-forts, Harrow Hill is considered to be a home of the Fair Folk, indeed in folklore it is known as 'the last home of the fairies in England'. Folklore holds that they were annoyed by the ways & goings on of modern people, and eventually upped and left the hill when the archaeologists came poking about, disturbing their hill and questioning their existence.