>...invasive root action from the trees growing on East Kennet Long Barrow must be causing havoc to the interior; if something is not done to counter that damage <i>now</i> there might not be a barrow to investigate in a hundred years time.<

Interestingly, Julian Richards writing on his homepage (thanks moss) about the King Barrows between Stonehenge and the Cursus has the following to say -

"Not quite as dramatic as what happened to the King Barrows (on the ridge to the east of the Avenue Field). The area of derelict beech woodland just to the north of the A303 were bought by the National Trust in the mid 1980's and there was immediately huge debate about what to do with the ancient trees, long past their sell by date, that stood on and around the huge Bronze Age burial mounds. Some people have a misconception about trees. They are living things that get old and die and have to be replaced. Old trees are wonderful but they don't last for ever and the ones on the King Barrow Ridge were very old. Anyway, while the debate was still going on about whether to clear trees or not, nature intervened in the form of the great 'Hurricane' (the one that the weather men failed to predict). The result can be seen in photo 4. The majority of the trees were blown over and huge holes were torn in the barrow mounds by their great root balls. Fortunately the opportunity was taken to use these gashes to help understand the structure of the barrows (photo 5) and the area was then restored as an area of more open woodland."