Kit's Coty House, Aylesford, Kent
Kit’s Coty House is the remains of a neolithic long barrow. Long barrows were built during the early Neolithic period. They were the burial places of the earliest farming communities in Britain, and are among the oldest surviving prehistoric monuments. These stones were originally buried at the eastern end of a long earthen mound, of which only traces survive. Long barrows appear to have been used for communal burial – often with only parts of the human remains being selected for interment – and it is probable that they acted as important ritual sites for local communities over a considerable period of time. In the 1880s, as concern mounted about damage to ancient monuments, Kit’s Coty House and Little Kit’s Coty House were among the first to be protected by the state, on the advice of General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments. Railings were put around the stones to prevent vandalism. This site is now in the care of English Heritage (2011). Find out more.
Location
Kent AylesfordPeriod
Prehistoric (to AD42)Themes
