West Kennet Long Barrow

A short walk from Silbury Hill is the magical West Kennet Long Barrow. It is one of the most impressive long barrows, 330 feet in length and runs east to west. It was built before the stone circles and has been dated at about 3000BC.

When entering from the east end through the large sarsen stones which guard the entrance, it appears to be a dark and gloomy place. When your eyes adjust to the darkness we can see five distinct chambers. When this was excavated in the nineteenth century, it was found to contain the bones of forty six people, twelve of them children. However, strangely there were few, if any complete skeletons. Who were they? Considering the amount of time that many skilled labourers must have toiled for them, we can assume they were very important and powerful people. The actual chambers we can visit represent only a small part of the long barrow, its secrets still buried along its main body.

 

Today, the Long Barrow is visited frequently by tourists. There is no doubt the place has a strange eerie atmosphere around it. At this years Solstice celebration, people who stayed there overnight were greeted in the morning by a wonderful crop formation in the next field depicting the Ying and Yang symbols.

 

We encourage you to include this megalithic burial vault on your tour. It is certainly part of the immense Avebury temple complex and you will not be disappointed.