 Excavation of Chestnuts Long Barrow revealed that it had been systematically destroyed in one event , and Ashbee suggested that the same may have happened to the Coldrum Stones . He believed that the kerb @-@ stones around the barrow were toppled , laid prostrate in the surrounding ditch , and then buried during the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century , by Christians seeking to <unk> non @-@ Christian monuments . Conversely , the archaeologist John Alexander — who excavated Chestnuts — suggested that the Medway tombs were destroyed by robbers seeking to locate treasure within them . As evidence , he pointed to the Close Roll of 1237 , which ordered the opening of barrows on the Isle of Wight in search for treasure , a practice which may have spread to Kent around the same time . Alexander believed that the destruction n Kent may have been brought about by a special commissioner , highlighting that the " <unk> and <unk> of the robbery " at Chestnuts would have necessitated resources beyond that which a local community could likely produce . Ashbee further suggested that in subsequent centuries , locals raided the damaged Coldrum tomb for <unk> chalk and stone , which was then re @-@ used as building material . 
