Nothing is certain – but death and taxes

IT is a headache our ancestors who created long barrow tombs across the West Country would never have dreamed of having to face.

But for Tim Daw, creator of the first burial mound since the Neotlithic period, the taxman has appeared - and he wants £5,000-a-year in business rates.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) says he must pay the cash because the long barrow in All Cannings in Wiltshire is a commercial storage facility.

Because it is above the rateable value on a business property of £12,000, the Government agency says Mr Daw must pay tax.

Mr Daw has hit back, claiming the body was discriminating against non-Christian forms of worship and has written an appeal, saying the long barrow is place of worship, and should be exempt from rates.

He said: “I got an email from the business valuation office saying they considered my long barrow as a place for storage, like a warehouse you would store car parts in.

“Describing it as ‘storage’ is demeaning to the families whose loved ones are buried here.

“I couldn’t believe it. It’s not right and it should be treated the same as a Christian church. It feels like dis- crimination. We are being told we must pay to pray. There is one rule for the established Christian religions and another for ancient pagans.”

The Long Barrow, built three years ago at a cost of £200,000, features stone chambers which hold a total of 340 niches. Each niche can hold two or three urns for a one-off fee of £1,000. All are now reserved, though only 40 are currently occupied.

The barrow, located on Mr Daw’s 220-acre family farm, is also open to druids to come and worship.

Mr Daw makes an average of £1,000 a year from the burial site, but he says he will have to charge visitors more if he is forced to pay the rates.

Mr Daw said: “The long barrow is built like an ancient druid temple and we’ve had druids come here to worship. It has also become used for a loose kind of pagan worship, so I just always assumed it was a place of worship and that was that, like a church.”

Mr Daw has received written confirmation from another Government agency, the registrar, accepting that the long barrow was a place of worship. He has sent this to the VOA as part of his appeal.

He added: “Getting that confirmation was a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, but until they respond and accept it as a place of worship I’m still really worried.”

Traditional long barrows are prehistoric monuments, dating to the early Neolithic period. They are rectangular earth mounds traditionally interpreted as collective tombs.

Long barrows are also typical for several Celtic, Slavic and Baltic cultures of northern Europe of 2,000 years ago.

A spokesman for the VOA said that it could not comment on specific cases.

Describing it as ‘storage’ is demeaning to the families whose loved ones are buried here TIM DAW

Tourists in the longbarrow which has 340 niches for urns

Tim Daw outside the long barrow which looks like costing him £5,000 ayear in business rates