Heaped in History
Long barrows and round barrows are ancient
Neolithic burial mounds. The Kent countryside has a high density of
barrows, although for the most part you wouldn’t even know they are
there. After all, much has changed in the landscape over the last 5000
years! Even sites in open fields are difficult to spot, because they have
often been levelled out by years of ploughing and cultivation. The only
sign of their existence is on aerial photographs and ordnance survey maps.
The term ‘barrow’ is derived from the Old English beorg,
which means a mound of earth or stones. Barrows represent the burial
places of Britain’s early farming communities, and as such are among the
oldest field monuments surviving today. Three to five thousand years ago,
the Stour Valley landscape would have been much more open, less wooded and
considerably less populated. Burial mounds were deliberately sited on
prominent sites with a commanding view over the surrounding area - along
the North Downs, for example. These sites were carefully chosen to have
maximum visual impact - to be seen by both the local community and those
passing through the area. Back then, a sure sign of your wealth, status
and power would be the size and position of your mound!
There are ways in which we can all help to preserve
these impressive structures. Landowners, via the Countryside Stewardship
Scheme, can manage areas where pre-historic sites are known to exist. The
cessation of ploughing greatly reduces the rate of destruction.
