Belas Knap is a chambered long barrow built during the Neolithic era, lying on Cleeve Hill in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. Although it resembles other long barrows at first glance this one is quite unique in its design with the "horns" at the front as well as a false main entrance.
An interesting thing about this feature is the way the stones are laid to make the walling, if you take a dry stick and run one end gently up and down the "brickwork" it sounds like a xylophone and you can actually make a kind of music. I wonder if this was a deliberate design feature?
Belas Knap also stands out as being one of our haunted ancient sites, with a line of hooded fellows seen marching towards the barrow while one family had quite the shock when the picnic they had set up there was ruined by an unseen hand wrenching the blanket away!
I take an exhaustive look at the ancient sites of the Cotswolds in The Mystery of Mercia II - available now.
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