The Medway's Megalithic Long Barrows

THE MEOW A Y' S MEGALITHIC LONG BARROWS PAUL ASHBEE Kent's megalithic long barrows flank the Medway, where it cuts through the North Downs to form the Maidstone Gap (Fig. 1). On the eastern side there is Kit's Coty House, the best known, the Lower Kit's Coty House, the Coffin Stone and the Warren Farm chamber, as well as uncertain sites. Coldrum, the Chestnuts and Addington lie to the west of the river, some five miles distant. Their chambers, fai;:ades and kerbs were built with sarsen stones, silicified sand from the Eocene, a dense, hard, heavy durable rock, found close by (Bowen & Smith 1977; Ash bee 1993a, 109). Some of the chambers were of considerable size, even larger, more grandiose and impressive, than all but a few of their counterparts in Berkshire and northern Wiltshire (Piggott 1962; Barker 1984; Whittle 199 I). As a result of their accessibility, they have been visited and commented upon by antiquarian and archaeological writers since the sixteenth century (Ashbee 1993a). Of particular note are William Stukeley's drawings ( I 776, Tabs. 31-4) made in the early eighteenth century. Because of their ruined state, their nature has been recurrently misunderstood and even misrepresented. Despite comprehensive slighting of unexampled ferocity during the thirteenth century (Alexander 1961, 7, Plan 2; Ash bee 1993a, 64 ), their characteristics are still discernible. The largest, with a chamber about 12ft in height, from which the Coffin Stone remains, was, however, all but obliterated. At the eastern ends of stone-bounded trapezoidal barrows, sometimes more than 200ft in length, there were massive chambers, rectangular in plan, and about 9ft in height. These were 14-20ft in length and sometimes more than 7ft in breadth. They contained deposits of human bones finally sealed by occupation debris, a formula encountered elsewhere in southern England (P iggott 1962, 2 l-30, fig. 9). The remnant of the contents of Coldrum' s chamber (Keith 1913; 1925; Filkins 1924; Ashbee 1998, 34) indicate that the erstwhile deposits of human bones may have been considerable, and it is likely that their function was other than as mausolea (Woodward 1993; Ashbee 1999, 278). They are a close-knit group, 319 , . .. ·.· .· ..... ·.· ...... .. · . .... · .· ... · . .. ·.-: ...... .... ....... ... ... . . .. .. ......... .... . )00 ( ! . 􀀍·:11;;J :lirn / II/il{6;, . 1 c:io r r . \._ • 1•• • ••: •1 •;:•:zt 't􀀔>S:ie••••·'. , .. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : _: .:·· .. _:--.::: . 􀄍 .. ) .UL L\-!-:-!):{:. :.;---t·􀀢 :· /._·. .::.:) • . . . • .r"'\!.: ·:,:,: · :-f C. 0 l D .R V M .. ...... : . .-·--· ·':;· .. . ';••··· .... ... . .':.,jo􀀌 n. . . } ,:"· •• . : '.;i:: .. >·, 􀀆\>·· : !':::·.:·:} r l(IV[R_ MEDWAY AODIN<.TON ..100 r I/:.·.·.·.: ,JC! o n. ·,oorr.·.·.·. \ .. ·./-:<-: ♦:-:-:♦_􀀌 ••• . .. . . . . . -· ... . . . : > 􀀍=-.:·􀀎·:)_ ·····:: .. : ... :. '• °): : .' \-:-:-:wA􀄎I::£ N l(IT.5 COTY H0°U5 l :::fA􀄏M:: {􀀐􀀑 􀀒; 􀀓. 􀀔􀀕: (t<'.'·/·􀀖􀀗􀀘}U.\ 5 T O __ N __ 􀀰 /·.. 71 •• • e •··.:.:.· . .- '. LOW(􀄐 ' )(In . . : . . 'J .. '-. .. co r y '} a u s [ · · ··w H ·, r £ : TOTIINGTO/ HO􀀶S [ . }Tft(AM .-·:··STON[5: --.--;/ .......... ,;./·•• .... :_ .. j OO Ff · o. _____ ., ______ ,_ ______ _. ______ . _____ ;:;5 MI LE S O 5 ' 􀀐---􀀑----.... ___ . ____ .... ___ .:., K I LO M £ T I( E 􀀇 P.A Fig. 1. Map showing the Medway's opposing groups of megalithic long barrows, sarsen stone spreads, and the nature of the Maidstone Gap through the North Downs. Eminences of more than 600ft line the heights of the steep, southern, foreslopes THE MEOW A Y' S MEGALITHIC LONG BARROWS conforming to Northern European mainland TRB conventions (Ashbee 1999). Close by the eastern long barrows was an ostensible long house (Glass 1999, 192, fig. 2; Ashbee 1999, 270). Post-holes and beddingtrenches indicate a timber structure some 65ft (20m) in length and 32ft (7m) in breadth, with a use-sequence from earlier into later Neolithic times. In the absence of others, it could be thought that this, if not an exemplar for the long barrows (Ashbee 1999, 277), was a cult-house, comparable with those of Jutland (Midgley I 992, 441-3, fig. 127). Such structures, with regional variations, are likely to have been a regular TRB usage. Indeed, some of the ephemeral, roughly rectangular, earlier Neolithic house remains encountered elsewhere in England (Darvill 1996) may have had a similar non-domestic function. There are three sites east of the Medway which are palpably long barrows, with traces of stone kerbs and ruined chambers. Kit's Coty House is a chamber component at the end of a substantial ditched and initially kerbed long barrow remnant, while the Lower Kit's Coty House is an overthrown chamber at the eastern end of the traces of a razed mound. Its present condition recalls the Chestnuts before restoration (Alexander 1961) and they may have suffered at the same hands. Only the outline of the Coffin Stone's near-effaced mound can be seen. Recently a substantial sarsen stone has been placed upon it, while, in times past, a number were pitched into the Tottington spring-head (Coles Finch 1927, 266, opp). The great slab, patently from the overthrown chamber, attests an affinity with Coldrum. At Warren Farm (Ashbee 1993a, 84) a smaller, not dissimilar chamberend was uncovered in 1823. No barrow can be seen and hillwash mantles the area. Other sites on the eastern side of the Medway must also be taken into consideration. The Upper White Horse Stone (Ashbee 1993a, 87), which stands beside the Pilgrim's Way, may survive from a long barrow. It is at no great distance from the site of the Warren Farm 􀁸hamber and, down the years, pieces of sarsen stone, some substantial, have come to light in its vicinity. The Lower White Horse Stone (Ashbee 1993a, 86), recorded as a single standing stone, may also have been left from a dismantled chamber. Two of the three long barrows west of the Medway are close to each other, with Coldrum, the most intact, at a distance. However, it is possible that it had a companion, now without trace of sarsen stones. Addington's chamber was wrecked almost beyond recognition but much of the massive stone-bounded mound survives. After careful excavation (Alexander 1961) the surviving stones of the fa9ade and 321 PAULASHBEE chamber of the Chestnuts were re-erected. The barrow's vestiges had been truncated and its original length could not be determined. Coldrum, which had been dug into, and its chamber secured, during the nineteenth century (Ashbee 1993a, 96-100; 1998), was partially excavated in 1910 (Bennett 1913; Keith 1913) and subsequently in 1922, 1923 and 1926 (Filkins 1924; 1928). A substantial deposit remnant was dug from the chamber and the barrow's prostrate kerbstone bared. At Kit's Coty House the kerbstones had been dragged away or buried in the ditches by the slighting party (McCrerie 1956, 251 ). Those at Addington had been thrown down and, despite sporadic removals, sufficient remain to indicate the erstwhile trapezoidal nature of the barrow. At Coldrum the massive stones of the kerb largely remain, although thrown down and partially buried. They may be only a surviving phase of a larger, longer, structure. Stones dug up close by the Lower Kit's Coty House and the Coffin Stone are clearly from their kerbs and others remain to be found. The larger stones in the Tottington spring-head are probably from the Coffin Stone's fac;ade. Although only two positive trapezoidal kerbstone arrangements are present, the general uniformity of barrows, size and orientation, and of chambers and fa9ades, makes for an homogenous group. Clear traces of ditches, now in danger of destruction by deep ploughing, have for long been visible flanking the ever diminishing long barrow remains at Kit's Coty House. Similarly, indications of ditches, clearer in the nineteenth century (Petrie 1880, 16), were until recently to be seen at a distance, pointing to a broad berm, on the southern side of the Addington long barrow. Traces of ditches appropriate to the Lower Kit's Coty House long barrow, deep beneath plough soil and hillwash, were seen in a pipe-trench which, in 1994, cut across it. Similar ditches may remain to be found flanking the great razed barrow, from which the Coffin Stone remains, also deep beneath plough soil, hillwash and barrow remnant. At the Chestnuts, because of the broad berms, a feature of the series, the excavation trenches may not have been pursued to a sufficient length to have located the ditches. Coldrum's ditches, because of hillwash and agriculture, are likely to remain at a considerable depth. That on the northern side may have been impinged upon by the slighting incut and subsequent chalk removal. Before the slighting and stone-robbing, the series would have been not unlike Wayland's Smithy II (Whittle 1991, 65, fig. 2), trapezoidal, stone-retained, structures. Human remains, those of some twenty-two people, have been dug from Coldrum's chamber, besides pottery and a serrated flint-flake (Bennett 1913; Keith 1913; Filkins 1924; 1928; Ashbee 1998, 34). 322 THE MEDWAY'S MEGALITHIC LONG BARROWS The skulls and bones found from 1804 onwards (Evans 1950, 70) are likely to have been from the chamber's partial clearance when the monument was slighted, and it should not be overlooked that Kemble and Larking removed pottery (Way 1856, 404 ). A quantity of pieces of burned bone and potsherds, with various flint artifacts, came from the Chestnuts chamber (Alexander 1961, 36). The burned bones may result from its slighting rather than a Neolithic rite. Indeed, two unburned teeth were found. Cremation is no more than occasional in long barrows (Daniel 1950, 98-100; Kinnes 1992, 10 l) and would thus have an especial significance. Charcoal and skulls have been found close by the Coffin Stone (Dunkin 1871, 74) while potsherds were encountered when the ruined chamber of the Addington long barrow was dug into (Wright 1854, 180). It has been said that human bones also came to light (Philp and Dutto 1985, 3). The account of the disinterment of the Warren Farm chamber remains (Evans 1948) allows the possibility of the bones and pottery having been beneath an infill. At Kit's Coty House, James Douglas (1793, 181) set a man to dig on the west side of the monument and recalled that' ... the spot had been, by the appearance of the soil, previously explored'. Thomas Wright (1854, 17 5) observed that 'fragments of rude pottery have I believe been discovered under Kit's Coty House itself .. .' while small worn sherds have been picked up from the surface of the all but razed long barrow (Cook I 936). Apart from the accounts of the excavations at Coldrum and the Chestnuts, the evidence regarding the deposits in these chambers is meagre. Nonetheless, consideration should be given to the likelihood of their contents, human bones, disinterred or from an ossuary (Ashbee 1966, 37-42), having been, as at West Kennet and elsewhere, beneath infills which contained occupation debris, much of which could have been broken pottery (Piggott 1962, 68-71 ). Some chambers may have had in them no more than soil and settlement debris, a widespread phenomenon (Henshall 1972, 87-90; Ash bee I 976, 21 ). Thus t􀂠e use-life of the Medway's massive stone-built long barrows is likely to have been considerable before they were finally sealed. When first built the Medway long barrows had high rectangular chambers. These, their entrances blocked by a focal portal stone and :"ith a fa9ade, were at the eastern end of considerable, in surviving l􀂡stances more than 200ft in length, long barrows. Flanked by quarry ditches or scoops, they were contained by sarsen stone kerbs, the surviving boulders being mostly of modest size. Kit's Coty House, at the eastern end of its substantial long barrow, and the seemingly almost intact remains of Coldrum, have detracted attention from other, ruined and near-destroyed, sites, which were at their outset more 323 PAULASHBEE grandiose and imposing. On the eastern bank of the Medway there is the Lower Kit's Coty House where, when scrutinised from the east, it can be seen that the chamber's side stones have fallen to the north. Were they, as were those of the Chestnuts (Alexander 1961, 8), merely pulled back into a vertical position, there would be a chamber about 17ft long and 8ft wide (a recent estimate), with an astounding internal height, at least at the entrance, of 9ft. At the Chestnuts this procedure showed that the stones demarcated a chamber some 12ft long, 7½ft wide, and !Oft in height. The Coffin Stone's chamber would have been at least 12ft high and of commensurate length. The chamber of which Kit's Coty House is a remnant would have been, for the most part, more than 6ft high, while from the dimensions given for the Warren Farm chamber remnant, an internal height of about 5ft is possible. On account of their largely ruined state (Daniel 1950, passim) it is difficult to tabulate, even approximately, the chamber heights of our long barrows. In southern England, only West Kennet, with a barrow 330ft long, and an elaborate transepted chamber, the passage of which is 8ft high (Piggott 1962, I 7), is comparable. The internal height of the chamber at Wayland's Smithy (Whittle 1991, 83) was no more than 5ft. Further afield in Wales, Pentre Ifan (Grimes 1948) was 7ft 6in. high at its entrance while, in western Scotland, Carn Ban, on Arran, has a long rectangular chamber with a roof 9ft above its floor (Henshall 1963, 222). Such chamber heights are exceptional and thus the Medway's megalithic long barrows were undisputedly a unique group of the largest and most grandiose of their kind. On the eastern side of the Medway the long barrows, Kit's Coty House, the Coffin Stone, the Lower Kit's Coty House, Warren Farm, and the indeterminate sites, are characterised by a short distance one from another. In the absence of trees they would have been intervisible. On the western side, the Addington long barrow and the Chestnuts are a pair, while Coldrum, about a mile to the north, may also have had a companion. As a group they are comparable, in a general sense, with other groups of long barrows, earthen and stone-built (Ash bee 1984, 8-32; Barker 1984 ). It is their concentration and inter-proximity, within less than a square mile, which distinguishes them and, with their exceptional chamber magnitude, makes them unique. Evans (1950) mustered the Medway's long barrows into two groups, A the longer, and B, the shorter. The group B, the short series, comprised Coldrum and its apparently constrained kerb and Stukeley's reconstruction of the Lower Kit's Coty House (Stuke!ey 1776, Pl. 32, lower), thought to be a garbled recollection of a kerbed, 324 THE MEDWAY'S MEGALITHIC LONG BARROWS chambered, barrow (Evans 1950, 66, fig. 2). Because at the Chestnuts the detectable remnant of the sandy barrow was only about 50ft in length, it has been considered as substantiating the apparent barrow magnitude dichotomy. Coldrum's kerb may be no more than a setting, akin, for example, to the enclosure beneath the Nutbane earthen long barrow (Morgan I 959, fig. 6, 32, Pl. 1), and thus only a phase of a structure of greater length. This is a problem that can only be resolved by careful excavation. Many long barrows and cairns are composite, a factor rarely realised (Henshall I 972, 236; Masters I 98 I, 168-73; Darvill 1987, 66). It has emerged that Stukeley' s published reconstruction of the Lower Kit's Coty House (1776, Pls. 31; 32, lower) were versions of the coves, which had a great fascination for him, and of which he prepared a comparative diagram (Ashbee I 993b, 18, fig. l). Indeed, as Stukeley shows in one of his drawings (1776, Pl. 34) the Lower Kit's Coty House is a massive toppled chamber, while traces of a considerable barrow may remain to the west of it. At the Chestnuts it was found that ploughing had destroyed much of the erstwhile razed mound. Only a memory, the name Stony or Long Warren, which had preceded the Chestnuts appellation, taken from a nearby wood, presumably indicates an erstwhile long mound. In these circumstances the establishment of the lengths of the series is imperative. A small group of earthen long barrows flanks the Stour, the principal river of east Kent (Holgate 1981 b, 226, fig. 3 ). Julliberrie' s Grave, the subject of careful, comprehensive, excavations (Jessup I 937; 1939; Ashbee 1996) has been known since the sixteenth century. Presciently, Ronald Jessup (1970, 86) said that fieldwork might reveal further long barrows. Since then long mounds have been found at Boughton Aluph and Elmsted (Bradshaw I 970, 180). Sarsen stone was available at no great distance (Ashbee 1993a, 180) but there are no overt signs of its employment. Sarsen Stone in Kent The Kentish stone-built barrows are the only major use of sarsen stone other than in the Avebury area (Bowen & Smith 1977, 190, fig. 2; Barker 1984). Huge slabs and boulders allowed the construction of the lofty, grandiose chambers, the nature of which would have been appreciated in Neolithic southern England . . 􀂑arsen stone is a dense, hard, heavy, durable rock of sand bound by Sihca cement, in effect silicified sandstone. Stones can be tabular, polygonal or even close-knit concentrations that may have been an entity in the distant past. Considerable quantities can still be found in northern Wiltshire, on the Marlborough Downs (Bowen & Smith 325 PAULASHBEE 1977), where a stone-splitting industry was established during the eighteenth century (King 1968). Although small scatters of sarsen stone are known in Dorset and Hampshire (Bowen & Smith 1977, 190, fig. 2), the spreads in Kent, mostly upon the North Downs, where the Medway cuts through, are the largest beyond Wessex. As on the Marlborough Downs, the sarsen stone trails in valley bottoms, or at the foot of the North Downs, are ultimately due to solifluction, the downhill movement of periglacial sludge. Nonetheless, certain concentrations may reflect clearance from land close by, or even ingathering for splitting. In Kent, there are four principal spreads of sarsen stones of which traces have survived. On the upper reaches of Blue Bell Hill, and the North Downs' backslopes, the stones, which provided those for Kit's Coty House and its fellows, may at one time have been in numbers comparable with those on Overton Down, near Marlborough (Bowen & Smith 1977, Pl. XXIII, b ). A considerable spread, some 300 stones, lies adjacent to Great Tottington's springs and pools. In the general Addington-Trottiscliffe area scattered stones are stiJl to be seen, although the great boulders in the clayey fields south of Coldrum can no longer be found. These had given rise to the notion of a connecting link with the Addington monuments (Bennett 1907, 47). Sarsen stones appear to have been particularly numerous in the vicinity of Cobham. Indeed, numbers cleared from the fields have been thought of as collapsed megalithic structures (Jessup 1930, 83 ). A row of sarsen stones at Acton Farm, near Charing (Tester 1956), has been set up as a field boundary, while boulders can still be seen on the Downs in that area (Ash bee 1993a, I 09). Apart from Wiltshire's long barrows and henges (Piggott 1962; Bowen & Smith 1977, 190, fig. 2; Barker 1982), Kent's megalithic long barrows are the only other major use of sarsen stone. Their size would have been known and thus, when Stonehenge's grand design came to be realised, and Wiltshire's resources failed (Cleal, et al. 1995, 205), some suitable sarsen stones may have been found in Kent. Indeed, a study of the heavy mineralogy of some sarsen fragments from Stonehenge found that they differed from samples collected on the Marlborough Downs (Howard 1982, 119-23). DETAILS OF THE MEDWAY'S LONG BARROWS Only sites with patent mound and chamber remains are listed and the references are to sources which provide substantive information. 326 \.>) N -J PLATE I Kit's Coty House from the north-east. Photograph taken in I 946, showing the rectangular sidestones. The northern sidestone leans inwards probably as a result of the erstwhile chamber's partial demolition -l ::i:: m ;s: tn 0 􀀅 ► -<; en ;s: 2l ► r :::i :I: n 5 z 0 OJ ► ;,, ::0 0 􀀅 en PAUL ASHBEE EASTERN GROUP Kit's Coty House, Aylesford. NGR TQ 745609 (Plates I and II; Figs 2, 3) The stone structure remains from a rectangular chamber likely to have been about 15- l 8ft in length, 6ft 6in. in breadth and, perhaps, 7ft in height. Its H-shaped plan points to it having been the erstwhile chamber's end. The side slabs, especially that on the northern side, are no longer vertical and are likely to have been displaced when the other parts of the chamber were overthrown. When slighted, stones from the chamber, fayade and kerb were buried in the ditches or scattered. The General's Tomb, a great stone close by the barrow, sketched by Stukeley, may have come from the demolished chamber. Stones lie in the copse below the hillslope, having been moved to facilitate agriculture. Still prominent in the middle of the twentieth century, the long barrow has been progressively reduced since 1946. Ploughing is currently biting into the upstanding natural chalk formerly covered by the barrow. Indeed, its remaining bulk, loam core and ancient soil, has moved downhill where it is now visible as a dark spread, flanking the exposed chalk of the onetime site. The flanking quarry ditches and trapezoidal barrow, defined by the naked chalk beneath the now vanished ancient soil, were visible on aerial photographs until 1976, and it may have been more than 270ft in length. A measure of the mound's plough-reduction is that the soil surface, around the stones, within the mutilated iron railings, is almost 2ft higher than its cultivated surround. (Stukeley 1776, Pls 3 l, 33, 34; Dunkin l 871, 70; Petrie 1880, 14; Clinch 1908, 318; Crawford 1924, 3, 5; Jessup 1930, 67, fig. 11, Pl. III; Cook 1936; Evans 1948, 140, fn. 2; Daniel 1950, 81, fig. 22, 2; McCrerie 1956, 251; Jessup 1970, 98, fig. 30, Pl. 22; Holgate 1981 a, 12, figs S, 6, Pls 7-10; 1981 b, 232, fig. 2; Philp & Dutto, 1985, 8, fig. 7; Ashbee 1993a, 69-79) lower Kit's Coty House, Aylesford. NGR TQ 744604 (Plate III; Figs 4, 5) Sometimes known as the Countless Stones, this is a fallen rectangular chamber which was about 17ft in length, 8ft in breadth and probably 9ft in height. Stukeley depicted its character and indicated a remnant of the Jong barrow. His reconstructions, however, reflect his preoccupation with coves. Early plans also show the nature of this overthrown chamber. Excavation, the detection of the stoneholes and the re-erection of the principal stones, would, as at the Chestnuts, restore its original form. A recent pipe-trench, parallel _ to the road, indicated a long barrow about 70ft in breadth at its proximal end; its length would have been commensurate. The ditches are likely to be beneath deep hill wash and thus would only appear to aerial photography in conditions of extreme drought. It is likely to have been one of the more massive of the series. 328 THE MEOW A Y'S MEGALITHIC LONG BARROWS PLATE II The Kit's Coty House long barrow from the air. Its trapezoidal form is s􀁈r􀁉ly denuded by ploughing, although the flanking ditches are still v1s1ble. Photograph taken in J 976 by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. (Crown Copyright, NMR) 329 Fig. 2 William Stukeley's prospect of Kit's Coty House and its long barrow, 1722 w w 0 I /(ITS COTY /-J.C..􀀅 TQ J4.500'J HO V SE c· .. .. . . ............ · ···· . ·:. 1' . . . . . . . . . . . ' 5AR.S £ IJ . oe.LIT.ER.,ATED . . . . . · · sro􀀕r· DITCH El-IDS ..1-- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 􀀕 R.EDVC.,ED !)A R.1<.0W ➔ o._ ______ ._ ______ ,o 1 o F Fig. 3 Kit's Coty House and its long barrow, the remains visible in 1970 : r4)·t ·-:1 ._... _____ 1 • • • • • Ii:; . . l(Ul>JED ... C..HAMBE.􀀊 P.A. PLATE III The Lower Kit's Coty House from the south. Photograph by N. C. Cook, August 1929. After the barrow's removal the chamber"s sidestones were collapsed inwards and the portal stone outwards. Comparison should be made with William Stukeley·s Prospect. Fig. 4 THE MEDWAY'S MEGALITHIC LONG BARROWS Fig. 4 Lower Kit's Coty House, the slighted chamber as seen by William Stukeley in 1722 LOW£ I( K.I r·5 COTY HOUSE N.G.􀀍 TQ. ]4.1,.604 "P􀀧Q..OXIMAT[ blM[t,.,iSION 􀀨 t' OF 􀀍AZl D 􀀎A. 􀀏ft.OW -. FLAltJIC..INC.. blTC. HC􀀠 -4, r : A pr,. 0 U l' z., r r, 0 I S TA M T 5LIGHT(I>: rit.OM 1',/\1::.􀀩VW MA􀀪GltrJ.S C.HAMB.[􀀇 =· .. .. ···-········· .STONE .. ___ , ___ ..=;.2.0 F '• ', PA. Fig. S Lower Kit's Coty House, the slighted chamber at the proximal end of its near-obliterated long barrow 333 PAULASHBEE (Stukeley 1776, Pl. 34; Rudge I 824; Dunkin 1871, 74; Clinch 1908, 319; Bennett l 907, 48; Crawford 1924, 6; Daniel 1950, 234; Philp & Dutta 1985, 6, fig. 6; Ashbee 1993a, 79-82; 1993b) The Coffin Stone Aylesford. NGR TQ 740606 (Fig. 6) This great slab, 14ft 6in. in length, 8ft 6in. in breadth at one end and 5ft 6in. at the other, is 2ft in thickness. It lies within an ancient lynchet, now a reduced hedge-bank, about 4ft in height. A smaller, massive, plough-battered sarsen stone slab, presumably unearthed close-by, has been placed upon it. During the earlier nineteenth century, bones, skulls, and charcoal, were found in the near vicinity, as were various sarsen stones. A kink in the line of the lynchet may reflect digging to topple fa􀂑ade and chamber. The charcoal could have remained from heating certain stones to facilitate breaking. The substantial sarsen blocks in and around the Tottington spring-head, 300 yards distant, may be from the long barrow. Others, as at Kit's Coty House, may lie buried in the ditches. The Coffin Stone is the surviving side-slab of an immense chamber, perhaps as much as 9ft in width, at least 25ft in length, and 12ft in height, at the eastern end of a large, proportionate, long barrow. Still traceable, despite destruction and spreading, it was more than 300ft long, of appropriate width and, like its fellows, would have had a kerb. (Stukeley 1776, Pls 31, 33; Dunkin 1871, 74; Clinch 1908, 319; Crawford 1924, 6; Jessup I 930, 83; Evans 1949, 135; Daniel 1950, 234; Jessup 1970, JOO; Holgate 1981a, 13; 1981b, 233; Philp & Dutto 1985, 6, fig. 8; Ashbee 1993a, 82-3) Warren Farm, Aylesford. NGR TQ 754606 (Fig. 7) The end of a slab-built chamber, which was some l2-!4ft in length, more than 5ft in breadth and, perhaps, about 6ft high. A medial stone, dividing the interior, was recorded. The orientation was east-west and it presumably had been at the proximal end of a long barrow, thrown down at the same time as its fellows. Bones, considered to have been at least those of two adults ('many small pieces of the skull, ribs, thigh, leg and arm bones ... '), and a piece of pottery were found in it. This is likely to have been the residue of a larger deposit, removed when the chamber was partially destroyed. The long barrow had then been razed and spread and stones, some of which have recently come to light, buried in the ditches. The vertical stones were removed and the site became mantled in hill wash and ploughsoil. An extreme drought might render the ditches visible to aerial photography. (Crawford 1924, 6; Jessup 1930, 81; Evans 1948; Jessup 1970, 101; Holgate 1981a, 13; 1981b, 233; Philp & Dutto 1985, 11; Ashbee 1993a, 84, Pl. IV) 334 M E T i.:. E .!> 0 JO .2.0 10 f t £ T 0 ' . .. } . . . . : . : . f \ : I.(' . 􀀍 . ; :('·'i :;:::::.􀀌 ·: •J§ . T"t COH\» 􀀬TOJ.J t ➔ E 􀀭EC T '1'· r AC A I> E 0 BA􀀇t 􀀈 WHL N 􀀮TAN 01 J.JG TH [ COFFIN .STONE N.G R. TQ ]40606 0 S F E I: T ,o Fig. 6 The Coffin Stone, the stone and the character of the chamber of which it formed a part ·:• /. _:_:- 5 P.A. THE YJAR.REN FAQ/v\ C..HAM l>E R REMN􀀇N T A 􀁺£C.ONSTR.UC.TION 􀁻.G.􀁼. TQ JJJ6o6 APl"ROX. AFTER. Clf.MENT TAYL01<. .SM y TH [ I'\. £ l T I 1􀀌\ A r E: E> • LIM I r OF' T RA I' E Z: 0 I O A L LO t,JC, 8ARltOW I(' [AL􀁽O OPP.) o􀀘 ____ :5.. ____ _,_, o ____ .'5 F 8ONl􀁾 At,J0 POTTEl(Y rovNC>. 􀁿IN P.AVEI> . C.HAM&ER. R..EMNANT . ' ' ' ., o,. __ 􀀍----'------'---􀀎------"f M 􀀄A. Fig. 7 A tentative portrayal of the original chamber at the proximal end of the erstwhile Warren Farm long barrow, based upon the dimensions of the remnant. Its estimated size and general character are depicted THE MEDWAY'S MEGALITHIC LONG BARROWS WESTERN GROUP Addington Long Barrow, Addington. NGR TQ 653591 (Fig. 8) A slighted, spread out, chamber remains at the eastern end of a thrown-down trapezoidal mound which had been contained by a sarsen stone kerb. Its stones are now prone and many have been removed or buried. One of these, at the proximal end, is clearly a portal stone. The mound, divided by a road, is about 230ft in length and 3ft high. Its flanking ditches of which traces were visible a century ago, are concealed by the margins of the reduced, spread, mound. (Dunkin 1871, 76-7, Pl. X, 4; Lewis 1875-6, 512; Petrie 1870, 16, opp.; Clinch 1908, 3 I 9; Crawford 1924, 5 Pl. I, I; Jessup I 930, 71, fig. 12, Pl. IV, lower; 1970, I 03, Pl. 29, fig. 32; Daniel I 950, 74, 81, fig. 22; Evans l 950. 74; Holgate 1981 a, I 0, I, 2; 1981 b, 231; Philp & Dutto 1985, 3, fig. 7, upper; Ashbee 1993a, 89-93) The Chestnuts, Addington. NGR TQ 652592 (Plate IV; Fig. 9) Formerly on open grassland, this site was, in 1957, no more than a concentration of great sarsen stones, which horticulture had left stranded upon an island of turf. Excavations, which involved the re-erection of fallen stones into their discerned sockets, allowed the restoration of a considerable chamber remnant and part of the fa􀂸ade, at the eastern end of a sandy long b􀂹rrow residuum. The excavation trenches, designed to detect flanking ditches. may not have been pursued far enough as the barrow remnant suggests an erstwhile structure larger than Addington. Fragments of burned bone, and two unburned teeth, were found in and 􀂹ro?nd the chamber, besides pottery. There had been Romano-British activity 1n the lee of the long barrow's northern flank. Medieval pits, designed to fell the stones, as part of a slighting process, were found. (Dunkin 1871, Pl. X, 3; Bennett 1907, 48; Clinch 1908, 320; Crawford 1924. 6; Jessup 1930, 72, Pl. IV, centre; 1970, 104, figs 33, 34, Pls 3, 4; Daniel I 950, 233; Alexander 1961 (excavation report); Holgate, I 981 a, I 0, fig. 5, Pls 3, 4; 198 I b, 23 I, fig. 2; Philp & Dutto I 985, 4-5; Ashbee 1993a, 93-5) Coldrum, Trottiscliffe. NGR TQ 654606 (Fig. 10) The chamber and prostrate kerb, perhaps the remainder of a larger 􀂺ul!i-period monument, stand upon the scarp-edge of a massive lynchet, at Its Junction with a lesser. Two kerb-stones bear patent axe-sharpening patches. Excavation revealed that the chamber housed the remnant of a su􀂻stantial deposit of human bones, representing some twenty-two people, which is likely to have been sealed with occupation debris. A greater part of 337 ADDINGTON LONG N.G.R TQ 65JJJ1 BA R􀀆OW . . .. . . .. ........... •• • ••• ••• • •• ••• • •1• :·:·: • ••• ••••• :: ....... ,. ;.• :·:. :·: . . ... ... . . ... . . . . . . . . . . ·. ... ·:· . .. . . . . . . : . : . : . ; . '. . : . : ' 􀁀 . : .. ; .... . . ' ... :. : -􀀍 􀀎 ..;.,.;. ·- -􀁁 ·--· · ..... - 􀁂 / - -- ···•·······················. . . . · 􀀓LIGHitO . . . . . .. ,. . . . 􀀲EDV(EI) . · ·􀀳 ,\\OVND . • . . . • LIA\IT􀀴 <.HAMBER... . ':,I .. C 0 : .... , . . . . ·······:..····•········l ....... ,.,.· .. · ........... . . ·· ... :. . ....... . . . . . .. : . : . 􀁃 ...... . 􀀄0AD 1)1 VI DING oA􀀵R.,OW · - •- •- •-• · - • -•.: .. • - .: ,00􀀡••:•• ••-•-•-•-•!t􀀍􀀎?􀀏􀀐􀀑i􀀒􀀓:􀀔r􀀕, 􀀃O M "- , ___ .􀀋--------- P.A Fig. 8 The Addington Jong barrow. its original form and flanking ditches THE. CHESTNU TS. N. G. R T Q 6 5 2.. f' 2. ADDINGTON T 􀀳 •.J tt (.AT t t, 􀀈􀀉 •·•-•-.., (. h􀀴/.\ C., £ 􀀵- _ : . ". ::.f, ;􀀉,: . . . 􀀇 · .. • .... ... • · r·.-.::::::::·,-:-::: 1CJ \: o ••c:·.:'.·:::.·j · - C C, VEP.T1CA L 􀀶 1 C JJ E !. ;>O 􀀍 􀀎 I 8 􀀏 [. 􀀐O􀀑iTIDN􀀒 ;c. f"" -----􀀊----􀀋 · ourc11-1t or :.P'(tAt. -.£ Btdt_ltOV.I '<£1,\JlAt,T .,/ ALE A􀀕 ,., 􀀖 t '-:. 0_ ____􀀗 ;_ ____􀀘 10 lv1 Fig. 9 The Chestnut􀀼. its restored chamber and long barrow remnant. with likely ditches (after John Alexander) PLATEJV View from the south-west of the collapsed Chestnuts chamber before restoration, showing the northward toppled sidestones. Photograph by H. Elgar, c. 1925 THE MEDWAY'S MEGALITHIC LONG BARROWS COLDR.VM .. •,"'• : . . :- .. • l, . ! .. . . . . :· . . .. q)-1 ()aoP, .... Q?.􀀖QQ .. Qe· ,;:-.. : ... ·-------- a:·' 'AX(-􀀥HA􀀦P£>Jt,..G '\• ---:'-.\ /)' • PAT<..H£:. • ... ·l, ,..,. ... 􀀌 ... : f) :·. ·.::::. ·. : : : : ·. :·• ,, ,, !. :􀀙:L􀀚i􀀛iiN:A:L: :􀀜: :􀀝r-( :' : ... ' ' 0 VT L I M t ,;W 􀀼 · .. , ..\􀀶 &ER_M ·' . . . : . . . . ........ ·:Y 􀀌 ,· .• ·= " . . . ·/D :. . BE.R..M 􀀏 : · · · TOP or ➔ /􀀐 o · • · '> : : : : . l 􀀷 C.. U T :/: 􀀸 .. , . . :: {'\ 1H1􀀆p􀀇􀀈,􀀉􀀊 -􀀄i· _-1,,· /':. :·. t􀀋",r[<.LY,,􀀌 \.􀀍:􀀎--r ../ ::: \.J I / .... , F. : ;' ;;:􀀢:'-􀀣-:-, 0 . _:_/ : . / \.. : . . . , . . . ----v:c:::7: : : .. 0 : : : : . , , ✓ • • , ',• • • :/ _,, ' • • • '\ s,; • • • I '•,, .• I I • .. ' ' •. ·• ,,' ·:·•"'''"'•'"'''''''""'"'"' .. •· .... 0/'' 1' ····· L􀀏;;t: / 􀀃Q. !!"" ,9o•'' 'F- 􀀇:/􀀈.,<.Jr ! / ()-0􀀇-i "0 I I 􀀃 0.. _.. _ ,_...__ . _...:..,05 F o􀀎_ _, __ _. _ _􀀏 J1 M .._ __________________________• A Fig. 10 Coldrum, its slighted kerb, chamber remnant, barrow and likely ditches the . chamber still stands although the kerb-stones were thrown down and buried. The ditches may be deep beneath the tail of the spread barrow, aug1!1ented by ploughsoil and hillwash. Medieval slighting also entailed a parllal demolition of the chamber as well as the digging away of the lynchet to bring down the fa9ade and chamber entrance. Several large sarsen stones, at the scarp-foot, have had pieces detached from them. Today's Coldrum is the product of excavation and restoration. (Bennett 1913; Keith 1913; 1925; Filkins 1924; 1928; Crawford 1924, 5; Jessup 1930, 73; 1970, I 08, figs 35, 36, Pls 35, 36; Holgate 1981 a, 11, fig. 5, Pls 5, 6; 198 I b, 231, fig. 2; Masters 1983, 106, fig. 5; Philp & Dutto 1985, 1; Ashbee 1993a, 96-100; 1998) 341 PAULASHBEE INDETERMINATE SITES - EASTERN GROUP Upper White Horse Stone, Aylesford. NGR TQ 753603 An irregular block of sarsen stone, about 8ft in length, 5ft in height, and 2 ft in thickness, with fragments of others in the vicinity. It may remain from a long barrow chamber. No trace of a long mound was detectable in 1946, or subsequently. (Jessup 1930, 81; 1970, 101; Daniel 1950, 234; Holgate 1981a, 13; 1981b, 233; Philp & Dutta 1985, 11; Ashbee 1993a, 87-8) Lower White Horse Stone, Aylesford. NCR TQ 752602, approx. A single standing stone which was destroyed in about 1823. It may have remained from a long barrow, the stones of which have been mostly buried or broken up. (Daniel 1950, 235; Ashbee 1993a, 86-7) INDETERMINATE SITES - WESTERN GROUP Co/drum North, Trottiscliffe. NCR TQ 653610, approx. A huge spread long mound of chalk, more than 300ft in length and 90ft in breadth, of east-west orientation, has an eastern end upon a lynchet scarpedge. There are no signs of associated sarsen stones. Co/drum South, Trottiscliffe. NGR TQ 655605, approx. Five prostrate sarsen stones are recorded as in a line, running north and south, in a field south of Coldrum Lodge Farm, now demolished. Three of these were found in 1946. (Grinsell 1936, 177; 1953, 194) BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, J. H., 1961, 'The excavations of the Chestnuts megalithic tomb, at Addington, Kent', Archaeologia Cantiana, Jxxvi, 1-57. Ash bee, P., 1966, 'The Fussell's Lodge long barrow excavations, I 957', Archaeologia, 100, 1-80. Ashbee, P., 1976, 'Bant's Carn, St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly, an entrance grave restored and reconsidered', Cornish Arch., xv, 11-26. 342 THE MEDWAY'S MEGALITHIC LONG BARROWS Ashbee, P., 1984, The Earthen Long Barrow in Britain (2nd ed.), Norwich. Ashbee, P., 1993a, 'The Medway megaliths in perspective', Archaeologia Cantiana, ex i, 57-111. Ashbee, P., 1993b, 'William Stukeley, The Kit's Coty House and his coves: a note', Archaeologia Cantiana, cxii, 17-24. Ash bee, P., 1996, 'Julliberrie 's Grave, Chi I ham: retrospection and perception', Archaeologia Cantiana, ex vi, 1-33. Ashbee, P., 1998, 'Coldrum revisited and reviewed', Archaeologia Cantiana, cxviii, 1-43. Ashbee, P., 1999, 'The Medway megaliths in a European context', Archaeologia Cantiana, cxix, 269-84. Barker, C. T., 1984, 'The long mounds of the Avebury region', Wilts. Arch. & Nat. Hist. Mag., 79, 7-38. Bennett, F. J ., I 907, lghtham: the Story of a Kentish Village and its Surroundings, London. Bennett, F. J ., 1913, 'Coldrum monument and exploration, 191 O', Journ. Royal Anthrop. Inst., xliii, 76-85. Bowen, H. C. & Smith, I. F., 1977, 'Sarsen stone in Wessex: the Society's first investigation into the evolution of landscape project', Antiq. Journ., !vii, 185-96. Bradshaw, J., I 970, 'Reports from local secretaries and groups, Ashford area', Archaeologia Cantiana, lxxxv, 177-80. Cleal, R. M. J., Walker, K. E. & Montague, R., 1995, Stonehenge in its Landscape: Twentieth Century Excavations, London, English Heritage. Clinch, G., 1908, 'Kentish megalithic structures', Victoria County History, Kent, i, 318-20. Coles Finch, W ., 1927, Jn Kentish Pilgrimland, its Ancient Roads and Shrines, London. Cook, N. C., 1936, 'Archaeology in Kent, 1936', Archaeologia Cantiana, xlviii, 234. Crawford, 0. G. S., 1924, Ordnance Survey Professional Papers - New Series, No. 8, Southampton. Daniel, G. E., 1950, The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, Cambridge. Darvill, T., 1987, The Megalithic Chambered Tombs of the Cotswold-Severn Region, Highworth. Darvill, T., 1996, 'Neolithic buildings in England, Wales and the Isle of Man' in Neolithic Houses in Neolithic Europe and Beyond, ed. by T. Darviii & J. Thomas, Oxbow Mon., 57, 77-111. Douglas, J ., 1793, Nenia Britannica: or a Sepulchral History of Great Britain, London. Dunkin, E. H. W., 1871, 'On the megalithic remains in mid-Kent', The Reliquary, 12, 67-80. Evans, J. H., 1948, 'Smythe's megalith', Archaeologia Cantiana, lxi, I 35-40. Evans, J. H., 1949, 'A disciple of the Druids, the Beale Poste MSS', Archaeologia Cantiana, lxii, 130-39. Evans, J. H., 1950, 'Kentish megalithic types', Archaeologia Cantiana, Ix iii, 63-81. 343 PAULASHBEE Filkins, E.W., 1924, 'Coldrum exploration, 1923', Antiq. Journ., iv, 265. Filkins, E.W., 1928, 'Excavations at Coldrum', Antiq. Journ., viii, 356-7. Glass, H.J., 1999, 'Archaeology of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link', Archaeologia Cantiana, cxix, 189-220. Grimes, W. F., 1948, 'Pentre-Ifan burial chamber', Arch. Camb., C (Pt I), 3-23. Grinsell, L. V., 1936, The Ancient Burial Mounds of England, London (2nd rev. ed. 1953). Henshall, A. S., 1963, The Chambered Tombs of Scotland, I, Edinburgh. Henshall, A. S., 1972, The Chambered Tombs of Scotland, II, Edinburgh. Holgate, R., 1981 a, A Management and Research Design for the Kent Megaliths, Dept. Environment, London. Holgate, R., 1981 b, 'The Medway megaliths and Neolithic Kent', Archaeologia Cantiana, xcvii, 221-34. Howard, H., 1982, 'A petrological study of the rock specimens from excavations at Stonehenge, 1979-80', in Pitts, M. W., 1982, 104-24. Jessup, R. F., 1930, The Archaeology of Kent, London. Jessup, R. F., 1937, 'Excavations at Ju!liberrie's Grave, Chilham', Antiq. Journ., xv iii, 122-37. Jessup, R. F., 1939, 'Further excavations at Julliberrie's Grave, Chilham •. Antiq. Journ., xix, 200-81. Jessup, R. F., 1970, South-East England, London. Keith, Sir Arthur, 19 I 3. ' Report on the human remains found by F. J. Bennett, Esq., FGS in the central chamber of a megalithic monument at Coldrum, Kent'. Jo urn. Royal Anthrop. Inst., xii ii, 86- IOO. Keith, Sir Arthur, 1925, The Antiquity of Man (2nd ed.), London. King, N. E., 1968, 'The Kennet valley sarsen industry', Wilts. Arch. & Nat. Hist. Mag., 63. 83-93. Kinnes, I., 1992, Non-Megalithic Long Barrows and Allied Structures in tlze British Neolithic, British Mus. 0cc. Paper, 52, London. Lewis, A. L., 1873-6, 'The Kentish group of rude stone monuments', Anthropologia, 511-16. McCrerie, A., J 956, 'Kit's Coty House', Archaeologia Cantiana, lxx, 249- 50. Masters, L., 1981, 'Chambered tombs and non-megalithic long barrows' in Antiquity and Man, Essays in Honour of Glyn Daniel, ed. by Evans, J. D., Cunliffe, B. & Renfrew, C., London, 161-76. Midgley, M., 1992, The TRB Culture, the first farmers of the North European Plain, Edinburgh. Morgan, F de M., 1959, 'The excavation of a long barrow at Nutbane, Hants', Proc. Prehist. Soc., xxv, 15-51. Petrie, W. M. Flinders, 1880, 'Notes on Kentish earthworks', Archaeologia Cantiana, xiii, 8-16. Philp, B. & Dutto, M., 1985, The Medway Megaliths, Dover. Piggott, S., 1962, The West Kennet Long Barrow, Excavations 1955-56, London, HMSO. Pitts, M. W ., 1982, 'On the road to Stonehenge: report on investigations beside the A344 in 1968, 1979 and 1980', Proc. Prehist. Soc., 48, 75-132. 344 THE MEDWAY'S MEGALITHIC LONG BARROWS Rudge, E., I 824, 'Cromlechs at Enstone and Kit's Coty House', Gentleman's Mag ., Feb. I 824, 125-6. Stukeley, W ., 1776, ltinerarium Curiosum, Centuria II, London (post.). Tester, P. J., 1956, 'Sarzen group near Acton Farm, Charing', Archaeologia Cantiana, lxx, 256. Way, A., 1856, 'Report to the Central Committee of the British Archaeological Association', Arch. Journ., xiii, 404. Whittle, A., 1991, 'W ayland's Smithy, Oxfordshire, excavations at the Neolithic tomb in 1962-3, by R. J.C. Atkinson & S. Piggott', Proc. Prehist. Soc., 57 (Pt 2), 61-101. Woodward, A., 1993, 'The cult of relics in Prehistoric Britain' in In Search of Cult, ed. by M. Carver, London, 1-7. Wright , T., 1854, Wanderings of an Antiquary, London. 345