Visited 29th December 2002: We made the long slog up to West Kennet this afternoon, despite the muddy river that used to be a footpath. The National Trust have put a sign up at the car park warning people about the state of the path and suggesting that appropriate footwear should be worn. I’m guessing that high heeled boots aren’t recommended, but I saw someone struggle to the top despite wearing a chunky pair (all power to them).
When we entered the barrow, and moved down to the chamber at the end I was mightily pissed off to find a plastic tarpaulin on the floor, covered in mud and spent tea lights. The wall of the chamber was also littered with tea lights, and the accompanying soot and wax. There were a couple of biodegradable offerings in the chamber as well, but they both had poisonous berries on them, and I had to keep asking William not to pick them up (or to put them down, depending on how far he’d got). Unfortunately we couldn’t do much clearing up (with the prospect of getting the two boys back down the mud slide to the car). It made me sad to see the place looking like that.
What’s the story with this sort of behaviour? Are the people who do this really Pagans? If they are, how the hell do they justify causing so much damage to a place that is sacred and/or of unique archaeological importance? How stupid can you be? It gives a bad name to the majority of people who use the site for spiritual purposes without leaving it in a mess.
Despite all this, I’m glad we took the boys to see West Kennett. Next time, we take bin bags!