Church Hill, West Sussex

Church Hill is a Neolithic and Bronze Age flint mining site on the South Downs near Findon, West Sussex, about 4.8 km northwest of Worthing. The scheduled monument contains approximately 36 infilled mine shafts, visible on aerial photographs though levelled by modern cultivation. Shafts ranged from 0.9 to 1.8 m deep with horizontal galleries following flint seams, and traces of working areas including a circular timber building have been identified between the shafts. Excavated by John Pull during 1932-1949, the mines have been dated to c. 4340-4250 BC, making them among the earliest centres of industrial activity in Britain. Notable finds include Late Neolithic pictograms engraved above gallery entrances.