West Kennet Gong Barrow

First, an introduction to what I do. I am England's only Artisan Gong and Cymbal Smith. One of but a handful in the whole world. I forge metals such as Bronze into musical instruments, percussion instruments. Please check out my website.

Now, the story of the Gong Barrow...

Last Friday - Friday 13th in fact - I went out from my home in Bath, England to Stonehenge (less than 30 miles away). I went with the genius photographer Andy McCreeth to attempt some publicity photos for my Cymbal and Gong business. Due to a confusion between opening times and "last entry time" we arrived too late to gain access to the Ancient Monument. First problem.

Never mind, we thought, there's always another day. But, while we're out, let's try the Avebury Standing Stone Circle instead. It's not far away. Well, we drove through some magnificent snow fields that were still hanging on - like some forgotten land without the Sun - everywhere else had cleared by now. Eventually, we got to Avebury. Too dark by now, the Sun had practically set. Second problem.

Never mind, we thought, what about the West Kennett Long Barrow? The Barrow is an awesome example of a Neolithic Burial Chamber, a cavern constructed by hand from vast stones, overgrown with earth and grass, on the top of a natural ridge. But it's a long way from the road, uphill on a muddy track, we've got lots of heavy equipment to carry and the car says it is 1 degree C outside. Third problem.

So, OK, we weren't properly prepared for this. The temperature - while not quite arctic - was pretty chilly, and only getting lower. We weren't that well equipped with suitable warm clothing. And it was only getting darker. We had 1 Maglite with batteries of unknown remaining life and 1 tiny pen-torch. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, not much really. From that point on the evening was more-or-less a triumph! The long slog up the hill pulling a trolley that wanted to be a plough and carrying shoulder-wrenching bags served to warm us up and kept us warm for a good while afterwards. Andy managed to navigate the various pitch-dark chambers of the Long Barrow to set up his flashes and camera, pen-torch in mouth. And I sat there, trying to hammer a gong. In a puddle. In the dark...

After a while, we thought we'd probably got some good shots, and our fingers were starting to become useless against the energy-sapping, joint-stiffening, cold air, So we called it a night. While packing up, we became aware of a police helicopter observing us, in infra-red, from above. Maybe we have some explaining to do? At the bottom of the hill, we were indeed greeted by a policeman and policewoman. But they weren't too interested in us or why we were dragging a large anvil on a trolley. They had a missing person, had we seen anybody? Well, I hope they found them. While it was a beautiful, clear, starry night, it wasn't a night to be abroad unprepared.

Here's the pick of the crop from our night in the Long Barrow:

This turned out to be an amazing shot. Well I think so anyway. The lighting and shadows make me think of a Rembrandt painting and the composition and textures are oddly reminiscent of Salvador Dali.

We'll try Stonehenge again some time soon, but I'm not sure we're going to eclipse this experience or the photographic result!