Holly Barrow Interments

A unique place of rest and remembrance for loved ones' ashes

Nestling in the hillside of a Kentish valley in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Holly Barrow at The Lost Village of Dode provides a peaceful resting place for the interment and safe keeping of ashes.

What is a barrow?

Barrows are one of the oldest funeral traditions in the UK and ancient long barrows are still a recognisable and respected feature of our landscape today.

Modern day barrows including Holly Barrow at Dode echo this ancient burial tradition, where cremated ashes are stored in natural stone structures in the countryside. Barrows are growing in popularity as an alternative to natural burial grounds, graveyards and crematoria for the interment of ashes.

Holly Barrow at Dode

Created in 2021, Holly Barrow is Kent's only modern-day barrow available for the interment of ashes.

It is a unique, subterranean resting place perfectly positioned in the Kent countryside and has been designed to complement its natural setting and blend seamlessly into the landscape.

The sacred space that Holly Barrow occupies in a meadow below an ancient Norman Church is like no other. Once part of the deserted medieval village of Dode, it is a place of stories, focus and reflection, a tiny place but one that is precious in history. Ashes from any faith, or no faith can be laid to rest here.

Inside Holly Barrow, 400 handcrafted niches have been lovingly created for the interment of ashes. Traditionally, niches are left open but they can also be personalised to reflect the interests and life of the deceased. Each niche may either be sealed with an engraved stone memorial tablet, an individual handmade iron grille or a stained glass window, individually prepared with love and care by sympathetic local craftspeople.

Memorials at The Lost Village of Dode

Dode Church lies just across the meadow from Holly Barrow and is available for memorial services to join together to celebrate and remember your loved one within ancient, sacred walls. A small, candle-lit chapel inside Holly Barrow is for final goodbyes with close friends and loved ones.

We are here for you

We believe that each of us is unique and each of us have a story to tell - it is here in the silence and beauty of nature that those stories can be told, and memories revered. Here we may return from whence we came, to the good earth that our distant ancestors knew, that same earth that sustained, nourished and loved both them and us. Time is simply immaterial here.

The Lost Village of Dode is a place where everyone is welcome, a special place of understanding, tolerance and healing.

Dode has been here for centuries and we are honoured to be here for you for life's milestones, as a place of reflection and celebration. It is already a place of literally thousands of individual stories.

Forever at rest

Here at The Lost Village of Dode we believe that the departed should be at rest forever. British Law dictates a length of 99 years for the duration of interments however after a respectful period of 10 years following the last interment, Holly Barrow will be permanently sealed and the external entrance passageway backfilled, leaving only a grassy mound, a simple fitting memorial to past lives well lived.

The simplicity of the barrow together with the silence of its setting and the beauty of encircling nature makes it a place to which you will wish to return, a place to remember, to reflect upon your loved ones, their lives and their legacy.

The Barrow and grounds will be open to loved ones to visit on seven specified days each year, or alternatively private (charged) access may be arranged if required.