page_title: Medway Megaliths
section_title: Coldrum Long Barrow
hierarchical_section_title: Medway Megaliths / The western stones / Coldrum Long Barrow
caption_attribution_description: English: Part of Coldrum Long Barrow
context_page_description: The Medway Megaliths, sometimes termed the Kentish Megaliths, are a group of Early Neolithic chambered long barrows and other megalithic monuments located in the lower valley of the River Medway in Kent, South-East England. Constructed from local sarsen stone and soil between the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE, they represent the only known prehistoric megalithic group in eastern England and the most south-easterly group in Britain.
  They remain one of several regionally contained chambered long barrow traditions in Britain, although have certain precise architectural characteristics which mark them out as distinct from other groups.
  The purpose of these long barrows remains elusive, although some were used as tombs for the remains of a select group of individuals. It is also widely believed that they were places where religious rituals were performed. Many archaeologists believe that they reflect the process of Neolithisation of Britain, as hunter-gatherer populations were replaced by pastoralists.
  Three chambered tombs have been identified to the west of the river: the Coldrum Stones, Addington Long Barrow, and Chestnuts Long Barrow.
context_section_description: Coldrum Long Barrow, also known as the Coldrum Stones and the Coldrum, sits north-east of the village of Trottiscliffe and about 500 metres from the Pilgrims Way track. The tomb is situated on a small ridge facing east, towards the Medway. About 20 metres in length, the width at the western end is about 15 metres, and 19 metres at the eastern end, thus forming a truncated wedge-shape.
  It is the best preserved of the Medway Megaliths. Nevertheless, it has suffered much damage, particularly to its eastern side, where the sarsen boulders have broken away from the monument and fallen down the ridge.
  The name "Coldrum" dates from at least the mid-19th century, and comes from an adjacent farmhouse, Coldrum Lodge, which has since been demolished. From 1842 to 1844, the antiquarian Beale Post authored an unpublished account of the monument in which he stated that skulls had been found in the terrace, close to the chamber, in 1804 and 1825. The earliest known reference in print to the Coldrum Stones comes from Albert Way 1845, when it was erroneously described as a stone circle with a cromlech.  In 1856, John Mitchell Kemble and the Reverend Lambert Larkin excavated at the site, reporting to the Central Committee of the British Archaeological Association that they had discovered sherds of pottery, some of which they suspected to be Anglo-Saxon in date.
  The first published plan of the monument came from E.H.W. Dunkin in 1871, although a more detailed plan was published by Flinders Petrie in 1878, and the first photograph of the site was published in 1893. In 1910, F.J. Bennett undertook an excavation at the site, revealing the bones of 22 individuals, of both sexes and various ages, along with a pot sherd and a flint saw, which had been buried in the north-western part of the monument. Further bones were excavated in a 1922 excavation by E.W. Filkins, but these were largely lost during the Second World War. In 1926, the monument was given to The National Trust who dedicated it as a memorial to the local historian Benjamin Harrison. In 1946, the folklorist John H. Evans noted that locally, the Coldrum Long Barrows had come to be associated with the folkloric trope of the countless stones. The site is open free of charge to the public throughout the year, and can be accessed by foot along Coldrum Lane.
caption: Coldrum Long Barrow
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