Location: South of. Avebury and not far from Silbury Hill,
Signposted off the. A4. (SU 104677)
W est Kennet lies on the crest of a hill with a fine view across fields to Silbury Hill and. Avebury beyond. The barrow is more than 320 feet long and 8 feet high, the actual stone passage running only 33 feet into the mound at its eastern end. 'fhere are five small chambers inside, two either side and one at the end of the passage, all of which were found to contain burials when excavated, b'orty-six burials have been found, and there is evidence that many more remains were removed in the seventeenth century, some of them by Dr Toope of Marlborough who used the bones to make medicines. .Also found were flints, beads, animal bones and pottery, the dating of which indicates that the tomb was in use for about 1,000 years. .At the end of this period, the tomb was filled up with chalk rubble, the entrance forecourt was filled with boulders, and three large slabs were used to seal it all off. These are still in place, but the interior has been cleared out and restored, and can be entered.
.Although the tomb layout described here is the one usually found, a few tombs had ‘false entrances’, such as the long barrow known as Belas Knap (Gloucestershire). The impressive entrance leads nowhere; the stone-built burial chambers
The entrance to liVs/ Kennet long harroK teas sealed off with huge slabs of stone, but a new way in has been made to allow access.
Were dug into the sides of the 175-foot mound. This is likely to have been done to mislead would-be tomb robbers. Another example is Capel Garmon chambered long barrow (Gwynedd), described elsewhere in this chapter.
World History
