A totem pole has suddenly appeared on the coast of south east England. No one seems to know who put it there or why. But speculation abounds and the unanswered questions surrounding him only add to his enigma.
“The fact that no one has appropriated it makes it a mystery,” says a hiker. “That’s what’s exciting, isn’t it? It’s like our local Banksy, isn’t it?” says another.
The 2.4 meter pole is carved from the wood of a single tree. It bears the inscription Perknas 2023, referring to the Baltic god of lightning and thunder.
Ceri Houlbrook, Professor of Folklore and History at the University of Hertfordshire, says: “I love the amount of folklore and stories it’s already spawned.”
People “already describe it as a kind of guardian of that particular area. Whatever the reasons why it was placed there, people have already assigned it their own purposes,” he adds.
Many residents have already adopted it as a new landmark on their shoreline.
Now, the Kent Wildlife Trust, which owns the land, is going to apply for a retroactive building permit to guarantee its permanence.
“It’s that we’re at the edge of the world, right? So if you look, the cliff stops, falls and you’re facing the sea and the ocean. So if a storm god is going to protect anywhere, this It seems to be the place to do it. It protects our coastline, our seabirds, our wildlife and potentially the people who cross the channel,” says Ian Rickards, area manager for the Kent Wildlife Trust.
Whatever your purpose or future, on the North Downs Way cliff walk, it certainly makes people stop and look up.
