Tucked into the ancient landscape of Wiltshire sits the West Kennet Long Barrow, a vast, chalk-white tomb that has stood for over 5,500 years. More than just a mound of earth and stone, this is a place steeped in history, archaeology, and a wealth of unnerving folklore.
An Ancient Resting Place
Built in the early Neolithic period as a communal burial site, the barrow once housed a mixture of men, women, and children. Archaeological digs in the 1950s uncovered disarticulated bones, leading to theories of "sky burial"—where bodies were left to be picked clean by birds—or a more ritualistic practice of rearranging bones. Evidence of feasts and celebrations, with scattered animal bones and fire pits, suggests the barrow was a place of ancestral veneration, not just a tomb. One particularly chilling discovery was the remains of a man from the barrow's early days, found with a broken arm and a flint arrowhead near his throat. Centuries later, the tomb was sealed, only for a second phase of burials to take place before it was ultimately abandoned.
A Wealthy Saxon Princess
The history of burial mounds in Wessex doesn't end in the Neolithic. Not far from West Kennet, a Saxon barrow near Bromham was found to hold the high-status remains of a woman, possibly a princess or abbess. The grave goods were exceptionally rich, including a gold necklace studded with garnets and amethyst. Even more unique was the fact that she was buried on a bed, with the charred remains of a dog, a cat, a horse, a fox, and a deer at each corner—a bizarre and mysterious mix of pagan and Christian practices.
Folklore and the Otherworld
The tales surrounding the West Kennet Long Barrow are as old as the tomb itself. One of the most persistent legends says that on the longest day of the year, a figure in a ghostly white robe, accompanied by a spectral hound with fiery eyes, emerges from the barrow at dawn. Some believe it's a guardian, while others swear it's a restless spirit. Another chilling tale, from the book Wiltshire Stories of the Supernatural, tells of a woman who entered the tomb and felt a silent, suffocating presence and an unseen force, which she described as a "portal to a hidden realm."
This idea of barrows as portals is common across Europe. Legends from Sussex, for instance, say the spirits of Viking leaders buried in the "Devil's Humps" wander the landscape. The tales of "fairy hills" across the UK warn against entering the barrows, and most importantly, against partaking of the food and drink of the Fae. The folklore is filled with stories of enchanted individuals, from a man who found gambling elves at Clay Hill to a man from Yorkshire who escaped a fairy feast with a mystical cup—a story so famous it was recorded by the chronicler William of Newborough.