West Kennet Long Barrow 14
Image by thesweetcheat
West Kennet Long Barrow

West Kennet Long Barrow

Sanctuary S
Sanctuary Oct 12, 2011 10:38:50
Replying to moss

moss wrote:
Could be that there is a hollow chamber somewhere and the water from the last downpour is percolating from there. After all the badgers have been living in East Kennet long barrow for a long time, presumably in a chambered area also...
That could be possible Moss. The orthostat itself, although I didn't measure it, is about 5' 6" high so there is about another 18" of corballed stonework above it followed by the capstone and minimal soil above it. The 18" 'gap' could be holding back a reservoir of water behind it. Water does always seep down this stone in wet weather so no mystery there, it was just the dry conditions that puzzled me. See, after all these years there are still more things unexplained :-)

A AngieLake
AngieLake Nov 3, 2011 00:23:03
Replying to Sanctuary

On a visit in July 2007 I noticed that stone was wet, and it was when looking at the photos later, I had this thought:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146413218

When Peter Knight was looking for comments for his latest book on WKLB I sent him the link, and apparently he's used it in this first edition. I've not seen the book yet.

Be fascinating if the ancients had placed it on some kind of water source.
(Weren't all the stones re-erected though? Surely archaeologists would have noted that?)

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