A22 New Route, Dittons to Willingdon Drove, Eastbourne, East Sussex
Planning scenario(s)
Heritage assets affected
Scheduled Monument Non-designated heritage assets with archaeological and historic interest, of national importance
Type of application & broad category
Road scheme
Local planning authority
Authority: East Sussex County Council
References: EB/1227/CC 1990, permission granted March 1991
Development proposal
Local authority road scheme
Archaeological information known about the site before the planning application was made, or before the development commenced, as appropriate
Nothing on the HER, and at the time of the development the potential of route (which included areas of wetland) was thought to be low.
Archaeological/planning processes
No provision for evaluation, or mitigation by planning condition. Important archaeology was identified through a watching brief.
A subsequent programme of investigation funded by the developer (County Council) led to the partial destruction, partial recording and partial preservation in situ of an internationally important Late Bronze Age site comprising a ‘causeway and platform’, rich in evidence for buildings, burials and artefacts. Some of the surviving elements of the site have subsequently been scheduled.
The archaeological condition of the wetland areas continues to be monitored.
Outcomes: archaeological
See above. A planning condition (no. 4) includes provision for the protection of the burial mounds when the solar farm is due to revert to its former agricultural use 25 years after the commencement of the solar farm’s operation.
References and links/bibliography
- National Heritage List reference for Scheduled Monument: no. 1400780: Shinewater Bronze Age settlement.
- Archaeology South-East 1998, The Shinewater track : An excavation of a late Bronze Age waterlogged structure on the Willingdon Levels, Near Eastbourne, East Sussex. Unpublished report, no. 408.