Having best part of a day to travel back to Bristol from Essex, I thought I'd go the long way round the M25, and stop off at the half a dozen or so megalithic sites in this part of Kent. I had tried to find this many years ago while travelling to Dover, but with no detailed map of the area, had failed to find it. This time, I thought I'd spend the £6 on an OS map, but getting hold of one proved problematical in the local area! Having got the map, I set about visiting the sites, on a very humid and showery August monday afternoon. It turns out I was in exactly the right place all those years ago, and I parked in exactly the same spot, and walked down the same footpath as before, but which now has a sign on it.
Perhaps the undergrowth was too much before, perhaps I gave up too easily, but this time round, it was easy to find the remains of Kits Coty House. But it was all very disappointing. The stones themselves are a lovely dolmen still with its capstone in place, but nothing else seems to remain of the barrow or any other surrounding stones. And the poor thing is all caged in, yet despite this, the stones are covered in graffiti, both ancient and modern, and bits of the stoned have been broken off, and lie scattered on the ground below.
But the worst thing is the feeling of the place. Its seems very unloved and uncared for, and the noise and vibrations from countless heavy lorries thundering past, struggling to get up the hill just a few yards away, destroy any atmosphere the place should have. I suppose we just have to be grateful theres anything left at all, with all the roads, quarrying, housing and industry there is in the surrounding area.
visited Monday August 23rd 2004
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road