The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Smythe's Megalith

Long Barrow

Fieldnotes

"I received an invitation from Mr Fowle [the landowner] to be present at the investigation and was there during the progress of the work. Upon removing the earth we found that there were three large stones and one smaller stone, all of them of irregular shape, of the same formation and appearance as the monument close by called Kit's Coty.

That on the N side 7'6" x 4'9" x 1'2"
That on the S side 7'0" x 5'9" x 2'3"
That on the W side 3'0" x 4'0" x 1'6"
Small stone 3'0" x 2'0" x 1'0" [this having been placed to prevent the N stone from falling against the S stone, the whole structure had been depressed towards the south].

The stones were removed and next day workmen continued to dig beneath to ascertain if anything had been deposited, and at about 4 feet below the monument, they discovered a flat stone 4' long, 3' broad, upon which several human bones were found lying E-W, but they were thrown out carelessly by the workmen, and noone being on the spot to take notes, particulars could not be ascertained. Some of the bones were collected and shown to Mr Charles of Maidstone [see below], who gave a description of them. With the bones were found a fragment of an unglazed urn."

C.T. Smythe, MS Collections, folio 30; Nat. Mon. Record.

"From the state of the teeth we may conclude they belonged to persons of, or past, middle age...two bodies must have been buried in the tomb as among the fragments of bones collected there were two right-sides of the under-jaws and ulna ...

About 4' below the surface of the N stone was a flat stone...on which lay the skull of a mole, the rest of the bones lay in a direct line with the E end."

Dr Thomas Charles, 1822.
slumpystones Posted by slumpystones
22nd March 2007ce
Edited 22nd March 2007ce

Comments (0)

You must be logged in to add a comment