The ancient trail continued with a visit to West Kennet Long Barrow, we have many strewn about the country and this is one of the better preserved intact ones. Apparently the largest in Britain, measuring approx 100 meters in length – there are two other equally impressive ones not too far away in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire and will feature shortly.

This barrow is high on the hill overlooking Silbury Hill and very close to Avebury stone circle. Not seen from the bottom it is a small hike up the hill but when you reach the brow, the amazing structure comes into view.

From the front – with myself for a bit of scale.

Here you can see the length and where, again, over the years it has been looted and excavated, with a number of skeletons being found in the various chambers. There is no evidence to suggest this was built for burials, although it’s obvious people over the millennia have used this as somewhere to place your dead or the remains of.

There are extremely large internal stones and small chambers (none of which would really fit a full size body by the way), leading into the barrow. This is only a small portion at the front of the structure, most of the rest of it having caved in and has been left covered.

But what you can see and get to, gives us an idea of how solid they are and need I say it, built to last. We would have trouble today trying to build something like this at the top of this hill, so it really does beg the question as with all the other sites. Why and how?

The mystery continues…

(c) K Wicks word and photography & M Wicks Photography

The ancient trail continued with a visit to West Kennet Long Barrow, we have many strewn about the country and this is one of the better preserved intact ones. Apparently the largest in Britain, measuring approx 100 meters in length – there are two other equally impressive ones not too far away in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire and will feature shortly.

This barrow is high on the hill overlooking Silbury Hill and very close to Avebury stone circle. Not seen from the bottom it is a small hike up the hill but when you reach the brow, the amazing structure comes into view.

From the front – with myself for a bit of scale.

Here you can see the length and where, again, over the years it has been looted and excavated, with a number of skeletons being found in the various chambers. There is no evidence to suggest this was built for burials, although it’s obvious people over the millennia have used this as somewhere to place your dead or the remains of.

There are extremely large internal stones and small chambers (none of which would really fit a full size body by the way), leading into the barrow. This is only a small portion at the front of the structure, most of the rest of it having caved in and has been left covered.

But what you can see and get to, gives us an idea of how solid they are and need I say it, built to last. We would have trouble today trying to build something like this at the top of this hill, so it really does beg the question as with all the other sites. Why and how?

The mystery continues…

(c) K Wicks word and photography & M Wicks Photography