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West Kennet Long Barrow
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West Kennet Long Barrow
A short distance away from the spectacular stone circle of Avebury lies the mysterious West Kennet Long Barrow.
The magnificent standing stones at the entrance to West Kennet Long Barrow.
This impressive Neolithic - neo meaning new, lithic meaning stone - tomb can be found on a prominent chalk ridge near Silbury Hill. West Kennet is one of the largest chambered long barrows in Britain and is more than 100m (320 ft) long and 2.4m (8ft) high, with a row of large, upright sarsen stones at the left end marking the entrance.
Behind these stones is the passage-grave, which occupies only one eighth of the barrow's length and runs back into the mound about 10m (33ft). Entering the tomb beyond the forecourt there are two burial chambers either side and a larger polygonal one, 2.3m (7.5ft) high, at the end of the passage.
West Kennet was constructed about 3,600 BC, some 400 years before the first stage of Stonehenge. In the past, the mound has been damaged by indiscriminate digging - the first archaeologists were not so delicate in their excavations - but scientific excavations in 1859 and 1955-56 found evidence for a total of 46 burials, ranging from babies to old people of both sexes. These explorations also revealed that the side chambers are constructed within an exact isosceles triangle, whose height is twice the length of the base.
It is believed that this tomb was in use for as long as 1,000 years and at the end of this period it seems the passage and chamber were filled to the roof by the local inhabitants - known as the Beaker People - with earth and stones. Why they should do this is still open to speculation but other finds among the buried individuals include pieces of pottery, bone tools and beads.
Local legend surrounding West Kennet tells of a ghostly priest visiting the tomb on Midsummer Day accompanied by a large, white hound.
While small burial mounds or barrows are numerous in Britain, there are only 260 long barrows like that at West Kennet in Britain and the county of Wiltshire alone contains 148 of them.
Getting there…
The long barrow is on the A4 between Marlborough and Calne in Wiltshire. Park at the car park next to Silbury Hill and follow the signs that will take you across the main road and the field towards West Kennet Long Barrow. Admission is free and unrestricted
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