Harting Beacon: a hilltop enclosure, Anglo-Saxon burial mound and telegraph station on Beacon and Pen Hills, Archaeological site on Beacon Hill, West Sussex, England
Harting Beacon is a fortified hilltop site in West Sussex featuring visible defensive ramparts and ditches spread across several hectares. The location contains remains of an 18th-century telegraph station and evidence of earlier structures that may have served as storage buildings.
Excavations from 1948 to 1952 uncovered evidence of Late Bronze Age fortifications at the site, while it was later reused as a telegraph station during the Georgian period. These layers show how the location was reoccupied and repurposed over thousands of years.
The Anglo-Saxon burial mound shows how burial practices and settlement patterns evolved in early medieval times. Visitors can observe how different periods are layered at this location.
The site is accessible through multiple walking paths from surrounding areas and provides good views across the landscape. Wear sturdy footwear as paths are uneven and the terrain spreads across hillsides.
In February 1936, a Royal Air Force aircraft crashed on the site, killing three crew members. This event is now little known to most visitors, though it marks a silent memorial from that era.
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