Re: Belas Knap - S.E. Chamber | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

Belas Knap 6

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Belas Knap — S.E. Chamber

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FourWinds Apr 15, 2007 23:01:05

Replying to scubi63

That looks terrible. It's hard to believe that it's just crumbled. Looks like it's been attacked, doesn't it.

scubi63 Apr 16, 2007 07:16:53

Replying to FourWinds

FourWinds wrote:

That looks terrible. It's hard to believe that it's just crumbled. Looks like it's been attacked, doesn't it.

Well yes, looking at it closely it does look like vandalism. It may be just people walking/playing over and around it . Whichever, it needs attention quickly before it gets worse.

scubi63 Apr 19, 2007 16:26:42

Replying to FourWinds

Reply to my email...

Many thanks for letting us know about this. Damage usually starts with the school summer holidays but it seems the fine weather has brought out the vandals a term earlier this year. One of my jobs is to visit all the Guardianship (English Heritage) long barrows in the county four times a year and this has certainly occurred since my last visit. I can't tell from the photo whether this is just stones from the nearby drystone walls that have been thrown in or damage to the structure of the chamber. I doubt they are from the roof of the chamber as those are set in finest Ministry of Works concrete but I'll get out there later today to see what has happened and let you know the result.
Regards
Toby Catchpole
Senior Project Officer
Archaeology Service
Gloucestershire County Council
Shire Hall
Gloucester
GL1 2TH

Tel: (01452) 425681
Fax: (01452) 425356
www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archaeology

I will let you know the result of Toby's visit when he updates me.
Probably a useul contact to keep for future reference.

scubi63 Apr 21, 2007 16:33:43

Replying to FourWinds

Thankfully it looks as if things are not as bad as I feared.

Here is Toby's update I received yesterday....

Just to let you know the result of our visit to Belas Knap. The stones in the chamber had indeed been lifted from the drystone boundary wall and thrown into the chamber. They have been tidied up and the wall will be reconstructed by our maintenance team when they visit to cut the grass in the next couple of weeks.
Again many thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Regards
Toby Catchpole.