The Warren Farm Chamber: a Reconsideration
THE WARREN FARM CHAMBER:
A RECONSIDERATION
PAUL ASHBEE
At least seven ruined but recognisable stone-chambered long
barrows, Kit's Coty House being the best known, still remain in the
Medway valley where that river cuts through the chalk of the North
Downs. They had exceptionally high rectangular chambers,
proportional faades, and stone kerbs. In plan they recall the southern
English earthen long barrows, originally of timber, such as Fussell's
Lodge in Wiltshire (Ashbee 1966). They are distinct from other
groups and are likely to have been versions of the stone-built long
barrows of Holland and Northern Germany (Ashbee 1999).
The Medway's megalithic long barrows (Fig. 1), like others of their
kind, were surrogate long houses (Ashbee 1999, 270) and also
repositories for human remains rather than mere tombs. There may
have been centuries of recourse to them, before they were finally
sealed with occupation debris (Piggott 1962, 26; Woodward 1993 ).
Their construction with sarsen stones, some of almost Stonehenge
calibre, required considerable labour, while they cannot but have
fulfilled a central role for the Neolithic communities of the terrain
that was to become Kent.
Early in 1822 the great stones of a long barrow chamber's remnant
part were encountered, just within the 300ft contour, and close by
Warren Farm, on Blue Bell Hill (NGR TQ 753 606). An obstruction
to ploughing had led to digging which disclosed large sarsen stones
just below the surface. George Fowle, of Cobtree Manor, the
landowner, ordered their removal, but when three uprights emerged
he determined that they should be uncovered. He invited Thomas
Charles, of Chillington Manor, in Faith Street, Maidstone (Roach
Smith 1883, 141), and Clement Taylor Smythe, the Maidstone
historian (Russell 1881, passim; Roach Smith 1883, 147) to be
present. The stones, when for the most part bared, formed an
ostensible stone chamber and after their removal human bones and
pottery were found. Thomas Charles made a lively isometric sketch
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PAULASHBEE
Fig. 1 A plan of a Medway megalithic long barrow, based upon the Warren
Farm chamber remnant. It illustrates the considerable number of stones
required for the chamber, fai;ade and kerb, in the form common
to the series.
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THE WARREN FARM CHAMBER: A RECONSIDERATION
Fig. 2 Drawing by Thomas Charles of the chamber as it would have
appeared had the stones been completely unearthed.
(Fig. 2) of the stones, and probably a plan, and as a medical practitioner,
examined the bones and wrote a short report upon those
recovered. About a year later, short accounts of the discovery were
written, which included the stones' dimensions (C. T. Smythe Coll.
MSS, V, 28-30, Maidstone Museum).
A brief article appeared in the Maidstone Journal on 4 July 1822,
and the discovery appears to have been but a short time before.
Ploughing is likely to have been much earlier in that year and the
stones seem to have been dug out later, during the summer. There was
a short report in the Gentleman's Magazine (1822, Pt II, 84) while, a
decade later, S. C. L(ampreys) ( 1834, 59), termed it a 'British Tomb'.
These sources said that a skeleton had been found, a statement which
barely accords with the bones noted by Charles.
The Maidstone Journal reported that:
On Friday last, as some workmen were ploughing a field belonging to
Mr George Fowler [sic], situated about a quarter of a mile from Kit's
Coty House. the ploughing was impeded by something, which repeatedly
had been the case before. The men in order to ascertain the
3
PAULASHBEE
cause of the obstruction, commenced digging, and a little below the
surface found two stones about 61/z feet long, lying lengthwise upright,
but rather slanting, between which was a skeleton, in nearly a
perfect state. The skull, the teeth, and two of the vertebrae of the neck,
were quite perfect. On being exposed to the air, they soon crumbled
into dust. The body lay directly east and west, and at the bottom was
a stone, which lay flat. This was supposed to have been occasioned by
the pressure of the earth above. The other stones appear to be exactly
similar to those of Kit's Coty House, and, it is conjectured, were
placed there about the same time.
Apart from a sentence saying that the chalky soil had brought about the
excellent preservation of the bones, and references to Kits Conti (sic)
House, the report in the Gentleman's Magazine is a reiteration of the
Maidstone Journal, although there is speculation upon the structure's
occupant, 'some chief slain in the battle fought here between Vortimer,
King of Britain, and the Saxons .. ' being suggested. A later contribution
to the Gentleman's Magazine (1833, Pt I, 12-13) was again
the account from the Maidstone Journal, with a paragraph on the other
monuments of the locality, invoking Stukeley, Thorpe and Rudge
(Ashbee 1993, passim). S. C. L. (1834, 59), however, moved into
embryo prehistory. He wrote:
About six years ago a BRITISH TOMB was found in the middle of a
large field, at about three hundred yards to the north-east of the
crossing of the roads just mentioned (the Pilgrim's Way and the
Maidstone-Rochester road]. The sides were formed by two large
stones leaning a little inwards, but having a stone bar placed so as to
prevent their falling together, under which a rude arch of chalk and
flints covered the skeleton. A large stone formed the floor of the
tomb, and each end was closed, to nearly the height of the cross bar,
with smaller blocks. The body had evidently been buried with the
knees bent, according to the custom of the ancient Britons, for the leg
bones were lying on those of the thighs; the length of the grave was
about six feet. This highly interesting relic met the same fate as the
White Horse Stone [Lower White Horse Stone, Ashbee 1993, 86], the
field in which it was found being in the occupation of the same person.
These brief accounts emphasise the good state of preservation of the
human bones from within the confines of the stones, contentions
which scarcely accord with the observations of Dr Charles; indeed,
S. C. L. describes what might be considered as a contracted burial.
Nonetheless, his comments lead one to believe that he witnessed the
disinterment of the stones and bones. The coalesced chalk and flints,
which covered the skeleton, were possibly remains from the chamber
infill, inserted when it was sealed. Smaller blocks (of sarsen stone),
4
THEW ARREN FARM CHAMBER: A RECONSIDERATION
seen by S. C. L., at each end of the area between the massive stone
slabs, could have been either discarded packing stones, heaped after
the monument's slighting (Ash bee 1993, 63-7), the remains of
smashed blocks or even walling which had given height to the
chamber. Further substantial stones were found in 1955 (McCrerie
1956, 254 ), while fragments can still be seen scattered upon the fields.
Although preserved in Maidstone Museum (Hewett (ed.) 1949,
102; Clarke and Murfin 1995, 170), the basic accounts of the Warren
Farm megalithic structure, likely to be those of Dr Charles (Daniel
1950, 234 ), besides his report on the bones, were lost sight of for a
century. 0. G. S. Crawford (1955), the first Archaeological Officer of
the Ordnance Survey was, with the cordial assistance of Hubert Elgar,
then Curator of Maidstone Museum, able to incorporate the location
of the Warren Farm site, together with details of the manuscript
sources in the museum, plus references to such particulars as had
been published (1924, 7). Presumably from the manuscript accounts,
J. H. Evans (1928, 90, fig. opp. 77, viii) presents a plan of the stones,
terming them a dolmen, while at a later juncture (1948), after negotiations
with A. J. Golding (Curator until 1948) he was able to publish
the basic observations. With these he included redrawings of the
original plan and isometric presentation, while comparison was made
with other alleged chambers, as, at the time, appreciation of the methodical
slighting of the series (Ashbee 1993, 63-7) lay in the future.
The basic notes (C. T. Smythe, MS Collections, folio 30; Nat. Mon.
Record) are as follows:
In the summer of 1823 [this date indicates that the note was written
some time after the discovery, as the Maidstone Journal notice was on
4 July 1822] a British Tomb or Druidical Monument was discovered
in the parish of Aylesford on the Warren Farm belonging to Geo.
Fowle, Esq., of Cobtree, in the same parish. The workmen having
repeatedly met with obstruction in ploughing from large stones about
4 inches below the surface, Mr. Fowle directed them to remove the
obstructions. Upon digging for that purpose they found that there
were three stones of large size, and as this excited some curiosity, Mr.
Fowle determined to uncover the whole prior to destruction.
I received an invitation from Mr. Fowle to be present at the investigation
and was there during the progress of 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 Kits Coty House:
That on the N. side
That on the S. side
That on the W. side
7ft 6in. x 4ft 9in. x 1ft 2in.
7ft Oin. x 5ft 9in. x 2ft 3in.
3ft Oin. x 4ft Oin. x l ft 6in.
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PAULASHBEE
Small stone 3ft Qin. x 2ft Qin. x 1ft Qin. 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 feet long, 3
feet broad, upon which several human bones were found lying E.-W.,
but they were thrown out carelessly by the workmen, and no one 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, who
gave the following description of them. With the bones were found a
small fragment of an unglazed urn.
Dr Charles commented upon such bones as were collected thus:
The bones had been broken by the workmen who opened the tomb into
very small fragments; some of the metatarsal bones and two of the
Cervical Vertebrae were the only ones entire. Many small pieces of
the skull, ribs, thigh, leg and arm bones were found. They were of
ordinary size. From the state of the teeth we may conclude they belonged
to persons of, or past, middle age, as they were in some places
carious, and the points of the molars were worn down and flattened. It
is evident that 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 two portions of the ulna, with the Olcranon, one of
which was much larger make than the other.
With the two basic narratives, there is a further note which, besides
repeating the basic dimensions, gives some more details:
Middle Stone, wide 1 foot, depth 2 feet. The stones on the N. and S.
sides incline to S. From the appearance of the stones it is to be supposed
that the N. when put in leaned to the S. and the middle stone was
put in to support it, but its weight pressing against the N. stone forced
that into a similar position. The space between the two stones is about
3 feet at the E. end. About 4ft below the surface of the N. stone was a
flat stone about 4ft long 3ft wide, on which lay the skull of a mole, the
rest of the bones lay in a direct line with the E. end. A Jaw bone with
several perfect teeth was found; some of the teeth were slightly decayed,
apparently previous to death. The tomb is of the same stones as
those of Kits Coty House, about ¼ mile away from it.
It was discovered by the plough hitting against the highest stone
which was about 4in. below the surface. Nothing but bones was discovered
except a small piece of pottery.
These brief but valuable records, in many ways in advance of their
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THE WARREN FARM CHAMBER: A RECONSIDERATION
age, are augmented by the isometric drawing, by Thomas Charles, of
the apparent chamber, as it may have appeared when the stones had
been unearthed (Fig. 2), and a plan. This drawing, photographed early
in the twentieth century by Hubert Elgar, when he recorded the
remains of the Medway Valley's megalithic long barrows (Ashbee
1993, 85 Pl. IV), is proportional, drawn from a SE stance, and gives
a not unsatisfactory impression of the bared sarsen stone blocks. The
second, the plan (Fig. 3), does not, however, reflect the recorded
dimensions of the stones, for that on the S side is almost twice as thick
as its counterpart on the N side, and one has the general impression
that it may have been an attempt to depict the character of the
apparent chamber, or perhaps, cist.
The isometric drawing by Thomas Charles is a valuable record of the
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Fig. 3 A copy of a sketch plan made at the time of the unearthing of the
chamber remnant. It does not reflect the recorded dimensions of the stones.
7
PAULASHBEE
general appearance of chamber remnant, but, as has been observed, it
does not accord with the dimensions recorded. The stones were
removed, presumably dragged out by horses, and the bones on the
floor-stone were found only when the soil infilling the space between
them was subsequently dug away. Thus the drawing is a portrayal of
how the chamber remnant might have appeared had it been completely
unearthed and emptied, with the stones remaining in situ. Nonetheless,
to remove the massive stones effectively their outer faces and ends
would need to have been bared. In the circumstances there is a good
measure of reality in the record.
0. G. S. Crawford (1924, 6) noted the location of the apparent
'chamber' in terms of degrees, minutes and seconds of latitude and
longitude, the usage of those distant days. In determining this he
employed W. H. Bensted's map (Maidstone Museum) which he had
used to indicate destroyed monuments upon the occasion of the Archaeological
Institute' s (Royal in 1866) 1863 visit to the area (Arch.
Journ., XX (1863), 384). As was his inveterate methodology, the site
was checked on the ground and it is more than probable that scattered
sarsen stone chippings determined its siting. Nonetheless, the correct
location did not appear upon appropriate Ordnance Survey maps until
the post-war period. Robin Holgate, in his assessment of the
Medway's stone-built long barrow remnants for the then Dept. of the
Environment, illustrated this siting with a localised map, which
included the White Horse Stone and a view of the field, from the
south-east (198 I, fig. I 5, Pl. 15), which show that the erstwhile long
barrow had been upon near-level ground.
The location (Fig. 4) of the erstwhile Warren Farm long barrow,
just within the 300ft contour, and thus in a position commensurate
with Kit's Coty House, and about a quarter-mile eastwards therefrom,
may well be of significance. This long barrow, with the Lower Kit's
Coty House and the Coffin Stone, both of which are close to the 125ft
contour, and thus some 170ft lower, are a trio sited upon and at the
foot of a south-western facing bastion of Blue Bell Hill. The Warren
Farm long barrow was, however, within a south-facing combe. Were
the White Horse Stones (Ashbee 1993, 86) also the remains of long
barrows, each more or less on the 250ft contour, there would have
been two adjacent, and near identically disposed, trios of megalithic
long barrows on Blue Bell Hill. As far as can be seen, the southwestern
facing group, with Kit's Coty House in the prime position, is
likely to have been the principal because of their position and
considerable size.
Direct evidence of the mode of slighting of the Medway Valley's
megalithic long barrows in the Middle Ages emerged from the careful
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THE WARREN FARM CHAMBER: A RECONSIDERATION
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