Kentish Megalithic Types

KENTISH MEGALITH TYPES JORN H. EVANS, F.S.A., F.R.G.S. ONLY a small remnant survives of what was once an important Neolithic megalithic necropolis occupying an area in the middle Medway Valley. The necropolis falls into two groups ; that at the western end of the area comprises the Coldrum Monument and the two partly destroyed megaliths in Addington Park, and the other, at the eastern end, is centred around the famous Kits Coty House. As regards the western group we have not e.ven vague hints of other structures, although there are several other collections of sarzen stones in the vicinity of Coldrum. The Harvel (Cockadamshaw) group of sarzens may safely be disregarded for they were dragged off the adjoining fields and dumped into the hollow in which they now lie. The farmer here described to Mr. R. F. Jessup and the writer how this was done, and is sometimes done to-day. The case is far different in the eastern group, for although only one structure now stands, that of Kits Coty House, we know that at least two other megaliths once existed, those of Smythe's Megalith and The Lower Kits Coty, while we have many hints of other structures to the remains of which names and legends have become attached. In 1868 Fergusson talked with a stonemason at Aylesford who had spent a long life cutting up sa,rzen stones in this area, and this, with reports of huge stones blown up to clear the fields should emphasize the destruction which has gone on a.round Kits Coty House ; indeed, the House itself barely escaped this fate. Outside the Medway Valley proper we only have two alleged megaliths to consider, those of Cobham and Horsted; the latter may be dismissed at once, for there never was a scintilla of evidence that the "tomb of Horsa" was a megalithic structure. This brief catalogue will serve to introduce the more detailed consideration of the state and type of each megalith. K:cTs CoTY HousE Kits Coty House is a burial chamber which once stood at the end of a Long BaITow, the remains of which were in evidence at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and whose outline, according to Mr. R. F. Jessup, can still be seen from the air; we also have an account of this monument which suggests the existence of the enclosure of stones or 63 KENTISH MEGALITH TYPES A THE LONG BARROW. OF ADDINGTON. cO CO!.DRW MONUMENT AS RECONSTRUCTED \SEE TEXT) ME:TAEs 0.􀀊- 􀀋 •0 B TWO RECONSTRUCTIONS OF THE KITS COTY LONG BARROW. (SEE TEXT\ to' '\ D L _, THE LOWE R KITS COTY AS RECONSTRUCTED. (SEE TEXT) THE BROKEN LINE IS THE OUTLINE OF THE PERISTALITH OF GOWENS. OUTLINES OF MEDWAY MEGALITHS FIG. I. »<£.IU.O FIG. l. Outlines of Medway Megaliths 64 KENTISH MEGALITH TYPES peristalith.1 Douglas2 dug within the interior but found nothing, which is not surprising when we consider that the chamber had been open at least since the time of Elizabeth, and probably for long before. Its prominent position and visibility at the end of its mound would invite interference. The length of the Kits Coty barrow is somewhat difficult to determine. So far as one can judge from Stukeley's sketch8 he represents it to be about 100 feet long, and this is shown as the shorter of the two outlines in Fig. lB. Now there lay at the N.W. end of the mound a huge monolith called "The General's Tombstone," and in several accounts it is said to have been 70 to 80 yards from the chamber, and since Stukeley, in the same sketch, shows it to be quite near the W. end of the mound, it is difficult to estimate the length of the barrow by this method at less than 60 yards, and this is shown also on Fig. lB as the larger outline. A low level aerial photograph could decide this point. THE GlllNERAL'S TOMBSTONE This was the huge sarzen near Kits Coty House, as mentioned above. The literary legend, started by Lambarde, that Kits Coty House was the tomb of Categern, has given this stone its name, for the "General" is undoubtedly the British prince. It was destroyed in 1867 by being blown to pieces by powder. THE COFFIN STONES A little N. of Tottington Spring-head, by the side of a lane, there exists to-day a huge monolith, called the " Coffin Stone " but in Fergusson's time it had a companion whose dimensions could only be ascertained by probing, as it was then half buried. In 1836 a considerable quantity of human bones were found near these stones, including at least two skulls; Beale Poste speaks of a sackful of bones being removed. This circumstance, together with the name which had become attached to the stones, strongly suggests a destroyed megalithic structure, but that is all that can be said. THE ORIGINAL WHITE HORSlll STONE This lay in the N.W. angle of the Pilgrims' Road and the RochesterMaidstone Road, and waa broken up sometime before 1834. The literary legend connects it with the Battle of Aylesford of c. 455. TKE SuooEsson. WHITE HoRsE STONE This is a. large upright sarzen standing in the opposite angle of the two roads mentioned above, and it has inherited both the name and 1 HerculesAyleway to Stukeley Dr. Stulceley's Diaries, Surtoos Soc. 76. p. 226. 2 James Douglas, Nenia Britannica, 1793. 181. a Stukeley, Iter. Our,, 2nd ed., 1776. Plate 32. 65 10 A. B. F1G. 2. KENTISH MEGALITH TYPES Sc.ukele/s Plan oF the lower Kits Co􀀙 Reconslruclion oF lhe Lower Kits Coly as sus9ested in lhe Texl !0 5 0 10 20 i:i:;k􀀑j..li1JtI;'"'..,'"'ffiWE:::::::=ll􀀒􀀓􀀔l -.,e􀀄 FIG. 2. The Lower Kita Coty 66 KENTISH MEGALITH TYPES tradition of the original White Horse Stone, a fact which is not generally recognized. As it stands upright it is very reminiscent of a chamber wallstone, like those of Kits Coty House a-nd Ooldrum. There are many other stones in the immediate vicinity. THE LOWER KITS COTY In a field about 500 yards S. of Kits Coty House lie a group of 19 or 20 sarzen stones generally called "The Countless Stones" or "The Numbers; " these represent (or partly represent) a megalithic structure destroyed about 1690. In 1722 Hercules Ayleway of Mereworth Castle wrote a letter to Stukeley1 in which he describes the form of this monument as given him by one who remembered it standing. From this description Stukeley made the reconstruction, the plan of which is reproduced here as Fig. 2a.2 The structure is that of a portal chamber with a small peristalith behind it. The sketch which accompanied Stukeley's plan shows a chamber with a sort of courtyard behind it made up of square stones standing on edge ; if it really was like this it would have con1:1tituted an unique megalith of original form, but we may doubt if this was really the case, for the existing stones do not provide such a group of matched rectangular wall stones. Generally the wall-stones of a chamber were carefully chosen by the builders so that they would stand upright and bear cap-stones in a reasonably safe, horizontal manner,. but the stones of the peristalith were of all shapes and sizes since they only had to lean inwards against the mound. But if the very formal and uniform appearance of Stukeley's plan and sketch must be modified we need not accept the same view about the chamber. For while the peristalith as shown is quite unlike anything else known, the chamber is very similar to others in this area, especially that of Smythe's Megalith to which it bears a marked resemblance as regards proportions. Now the wall-stones of Kits Coty House are between 6 feet and 7 feet long, those of Smythe between 7 feet and 7 feet 6 inches long, while the shorter wall-stone at Coldrum is 8 feet long. We have some confidence therefore in assuming that the two. wall-stones in Stukeley's plan are 7 feet and 8 feet long respectively, and these figures have been adopted to bring Fig. 2 to scale, and also to show the comparative· size of the reconstructions in Fig. 1. By this estimate the size of the whole monument was about 18 feet by 18 feet. However, another consideration arises when dealing with Stukeley's peristalith, and that is that only 11 stones are used in his reconstruction, 4 comprising the chamber and 7 only the enclosure of stones ; yet the group of stones remaining to-day number about 20, and there are hints that more once existed for it was proposed at one time to out them up to 1 A.ylewa.y-Stukeley, op. oit., 226. a Stukeley, op. cit., Plate 32. 67 KENTISH MEGALITH TYPES pave Sheerness Dockyard, and only the growth of a local legend that successive tenants of the land were ruined through interfering with such stones prevented their further destruction. But if at least 20 stones made up the monument then a larger peristalith must be envisaged. Indeed, Ayleway himself states in his letter to Stukeley that the length of the ruined monument was 28 feet and that it nearly approached a square in shape. Stukeley's reconstruction cannot represent a monument of this size for it would call for stones up to 12 feet long, and we know that stones of this extraordinary size are not available. It is clear that not enough stones were used to reconstruct the peristalith. Now at Coldrum the enclosure of 36 stones fills a circuit of 210 feet, excluding the width of the chamber, and proportionately 16 stones would give a circuit of 95 feet ; such a reconstructed Lower Kits Coty is shown as Fig. 2B. The shape of the peristalith has been followed and also the size and position of the chamber, but a larger monument emerges occupying a space just over 30 feet square ; even so it is much below Coldrum in magnitude, and may well have been larger. Stukeley has thus produced. a reconstruction at third hand, and from a thirty years recollection, which is reminiscent of Coldrum, of which they knew nothing, but was very unlike the monument which they did know, that is, Kits Coty House standing at the end of the remains of its long barrow. Moreover, the proportions of the chamber are different from those of the upper monument, but are very similar to those of a chamber uncovered 100 years later. These considerations lend authority to Stukeley's reconstruction, and all the revised reconstruction involves is an enlargement of the peristalith to use all the stones attributed to this monument. These stones are so confused and half buried that it is impossible to ascertain their sizes and shapes. Hence in Fig. 2B stones from Coldrum have been used to form the peristalitb ; they have been tilted to lean inwards against a low mound, which was probably the original condition. There have been the usual vague rumours that human remains were found at this site, but they lack definite confirmation. SMYTHE'$ MEGALITH As the discovery of this chamber was dealt with in Arch. Gant., LXI, p. 135, there is no need to repeat the matter here, except to remark that it consisted of a single chamber, without capstone, and below ground. From it was taken the remains of two individuals and a small fragment of pottery. SARZEN GROUPS Groups of sarzen stones occur in several places around the lower slopes of Bluebell Hill, and according to all accounts they were once 68 K.ENTISH MEGALITH TYPES much more plentiful. There is a large group in Westfield Wood, and another behind the Lower Bell Inn. A large number of stones, many of them of huge size, are scattered around Tottington spring-head; two in particular lying side by side look like a collapsed chamber. Another similar group around Cossington spring-head once existed but have been removed. This whole area is very rich in sandstone boulders but as there is no evidence that any particular group once formed a structure they cannot be considered here. They may be in their natural geological positions, and where gathered in a group merely represent the efforts of a local farmer to clear his fields. THE REOONSTRUOTION OF COLDRUM MONUMENT Coldrum Monument, which stands about half a mile to the E. of Trottescliffe Church, is one of the finest, and certainly the most complete of all the Kentish Megaliths, and its original form and typical affinities have been the subject of some debate. It consists to-day of a massive burial chambel'., associated with the remnants of a squareshaped peristalith enclosing a low mound. The chamber measures 13 feet long by 5 feet wide, and is made up of 4 massive sandstone blocks ; it stands in an imposing position on the very edge of a terrace which is 17 feet high immediately in front of the chamber. On the level top of the terrace, behind and to the W. of the chamber, lie in a rough square of 50 feet some 24 stones of the peristalith which are all either in their original positions or very nearly so. Below the chamber and lying at the foot of the slope are a dozen more stones, and on the slope, in the S.E. corner, 5 more remain. The stone bearing the Memorial Tablet to the late Benjamin Harrison does not belong to Coldrum. {Fig. 3.) The Rev. Mark Noble is reported to have been the first to rediscover this monument in the first years of the nineteenth century, but the description and plan which he is supposed to have contributed to the "Gentleman's Magazine" cannot be traced. In 1808 Brayley merely mentions1 that there were stones here, and it was left to Edward Pretty in 1841 to attempt a detailed examination of them. Beale Poste2 made visits in 1842 and 1844 and has left invaluable drawings and plans which still await publication. The discovery of these MS. notes and plans, which we owe to Mr. L. R. A. Grove of Maidstone Museum, has settled at once many questions as to the previous condition of the monument, for they quite clearly show the chamber as it is to-day, without capstones, while the perista1ith is less complete than to-day because the turf covered many of the stones. 1 Brayley, Beautties of England and Wales, VIII., 1339. 2 Beale Poste MSS III., 174. (Maidstone Museum.) 69 KENTISH MEGALITH TYPES Beale Poste's evidence no longer renders it necessary to discuss the plans of Flinders Petrie, 1878,1 and Payne, 18932 nor the numerous visits of antiquaries who loaded these inoffensive stones with their various theories. A rich harvest of human bones has been recovered from Coldrum, for as early as 1804 Beale Post records the unearthing of a skull in the terrace near the chamber, a.nd he has marked the position of another similarly found in 1825. About 1856 L. B. Larking also discovered human remains here, and sometime before 1893 unknown persons took away a complete skeleton which afterwards received burial in Meopham Churchyard, a rare and vaguely pleasing act. But it was in 1910 that the full examination of the chamber at the hands of F. J. Bennett produced the remains of 22 individuals,3 and it is understood that since then further bones have been found. In contrast with this wealth of pala=iontological evidence the archa=iological finds, as usual with all the Kentish megaliths, are meagre in the extreme. Bennett found a flint saw, and a fragment of an urn showing rim and bulge ; the latter is a puzzling intrusion for it seems to be of Iron Age type. With this brief introduction we can now turn to the consideration of the structure itself and in this regard I am deeply indebted to my friend Mr. W. G. Gitsham for the very careful Survey of Coldrum which he has made for this Paper (Fig. 3). Not only is it more complete in plan than any hitherto published but three level sections have been taken through the monument in order to illustrate, and, it is hoped, to illuminate the problem of the terrace. For it is upon this question that not only the original position of the E. wall of the peristalith hangs, but also the affinities of the restored monument for the unusual, perhaps unique, siting of the structure makes it imperative to consider its intimate topography as well as its plan. It must be said at once that the terrace upon which it stands is of natural formation, for it is the edge of a platform of chalk which projects out over the Gault clay from the foot of the chalk North Downs some 600 yards away to the North. The brow of the terrace, here the 300 fe,et contour line, passes in a natural manner through the N. wall of the peri.stalith, through the burial chamber, and so on to its declension to the S. near Ooldrum Lodge; all that we can allow here is that it may have been receded a little through the centuries by natural erosion. But as regards the foot of the terrace there has been an artificial modification, for at some time its lower slope has been dug into at the S.E. section of the site, forming a triangular level space or "arena"; the limits of this "arena" are clearly shown in Fig. 3, and 1 I'etrio, Arch. Gant., XIII, 1878, p. 14. 2 Payne, Coll. Gant., 1893, p. 173. 3 Bennett and Keith, J.R.A.J.,.XLIII, 1913, p. 76. 70 0 , " 10 .. FIG.3. COLDRUM Nalurol Terrace D.4.TUM LIN[ 300 FEET ABOVE ORDNANCE DATUM 10 5 0 1.. 11 1111.I 10 I LEVEL NATURAL 20 I 30 I MEGALITH ·---􀀆- SECTIONS SCALE 40 I IN FEET 50 I 60 I 70 I 80 I -------,----,0 9C I Sffi[\lO A.'iO O􀀋AA'!t 10 20 Yo'.G.(ilT$HAM 1'?49, FIG. 3. Tbe Survey of Coldruro, 1940 KENTISH MEGALITH TYPES it measures some 70 feet wide (N. to S.) and is 28 feet at its deepest penetration (E. to W.). It should also be noted that the effect of this operation has been to maintain the slope of the terrace which otherwise would have been much less steep in the S.E. corner than on the N. side. This will be seen from the Level Sections of Fig. 3. The earlier antiquaries not only believed that the excavation referred to was of recent date but some of them obviously thought that the terrace itself was in part artificial. Beale Poste writes1 " The digging of chalk and earth b y the country people to mix u p with dung heaps and other purposes has made a kind of cliff which immediately faces the spectator on arriving, and the remains of the principal Cromlech, which is of the K.istvien cla.ss, are seen to great advantage," and in 1863 a C. M. Jackson, who accompanied a party led by Roach Smith, writes,2 " They (the Coldrum Remains) are situated on the top of rising ground cut away in part to form the road by which you approach and further excavated for chalk by which one of the finest Celtic monuments in Kent hM been almost destroyed." The first statement seems to limit the modern excavation to the formation of the " arena " but the second definitely indicates a belief that the whole terrace had been artificially cut away, not only at the monument but along the road which passes it. This belief has no basis in fa.et for the artificial work, whether ancient or modern, is confined to that which forms the " arena " and it is clear that it could only have affected a few stones in the S.E. corner of the site. Bea.le Poste does not state the source of his information, and if true the excavation must have taken place long before his time for he shows the site very much overgrown, and with a saw-pit between the road and the" arena." It is at least permissible to suggest that he thought that the " cliff" was artificial, or that his informants thought so. Thus Jackson's evidence is valueless since it is merely a repetition of a story set going by Poste or an unlmown predecessor. However, it has been repeated often since then by persons who have taken no trouble to trace its origin. The belief that the " arena " had been formed in recent times and even that the terrace itself was partly artificial suited the older antiquaries well enough, for they were obsessed with the current views as to" circles" with central chambers and they naturally sought to reconstruct the E. wall of the peristalith at some distance E. of the chamber. But we may fitly ask why eighteenth or nineteenth century farmers should undertake the dangerous task of digging at the foot of a slope upon which were poised several large boulders when chalk in unlimited quantities was available all around and obtainable much eaaier. Consideration of the Level Sections of Fig. 3 will demonstrate that the effect of the digging into the gentler slope has been to 1 Beale Foste MSS., 3, p. 176. 􀀏 Jackson, Gent.􀀕. Mag. Lib. At·ch., I, p. 113. 71 KENTISH MEGALITH TYPES maintain the degree of slope which obtains on the N. side, thus making the terrace a constant shape in the vicinity of the monument. The imposing chamber has also been brought " square " with the visitor approaching from the east. There would thus seem to be some virtue in the view expressed by the late W. H. Cook that the "arena" was prepared by the original builders in order to lend distinction to the central chamber, and to "square" the orientation. It is estimated that some 350 cubic yards of earth had to be removed to form the " arena " and this was well within the capacity of the builders ; while if the excavation is of comparatively recent date it is certainly curious that its effect has been as described above. No modern archreologist would suggest that the terrace itself extended further to the eastwards, and thus recent reconstructions of the structure and comparisons with other megaliths assume that the monument was built at two levels, and that the N. and S. walls of the peristalith marched downhill to meet an eastern wall at the foot of the terrace. Such a monument would have been strange enough anq. without parallel elsewhere, but, even so, other suggestions as to the original form are more remarkable still. For Sir A. Keith,1 Professor V. Gordon Childe2 and John Ward3 all compare Coldrum to a type of tomb where the N. and S. walls of the peristalith are carried past the chamber, and then are swept back to it in the form of two horns, the space between forming a sort of forecourt. It is difficult to imagine such a structure at Coldrum, for the two "horns" would have had to descend steeply some 17 feet and then climb back the same height to the chamber ; it would certainly have been difficult to construct. More recently Professor Stuart Piggott has compared4 Coldrum to two Danish megaliths Valdygaard, in the island of Zealand (Sjreland) and Pederstrup in the island of Lolland (Laa.land). Valdygaard consists of a long rectangular peristalith with two separate burial chambers in the centre, while Pederstrup has a more square peristalith with one compound chamber w:ithin it. Obviously these comparisons with Coldrum are only permissible if we assume that the chamber was well within the enclosing wall of stones. We suggest that this was never the case at Coldrum and that this monument agrees with the Upper and Lower Kits Cotys, and w:ith the Addington Long Barrow in that its chamber formed part of the E. wall of the peristalith. Such an arrangement suits the topography of Coldrum excellently, and confirms the most casual observation on the 1 Keith, The Antiquity of Man, 1925, I, p. 19. 2 V. Gordon Chil