AVEBURY—MAIN SITE

ABOUT THE AREA

(Grid reference SU103699). Avebury is situated near to the Marlborough Downs in the County of Wiltshire, England, approximately 10 miles (16.1km) South West of the town of Swindon and 6 miles (9.6km) West of Marlborough. The area has been occupied since at least Neolithic times with most of the monuments dating between 4,000 and 2,000 BC. The ground on which Avebury is built has a high chalk content, and one can imagine that when the main earthwork was constructed that it would have looked quite spectacular with its white banks and ditches. The Sarsen stones from which the circles and avenues were constructed came from the Marlborough Downs. The area has undergone many changes over the years, with many of the stones being broken up for building material, mainly in the 17th and 18th Centuries. All this activity combines to create the Avebury of today.

A SELECTION OF PICTURES FROM THE MAIN SITE

A. Taken on a cool April morning, this picture shows the bank and ditch which encircles the main site. The person in black just left of centre helps to give you an idea of the size of the bank and ditch. Excavations have revealed that the ditch reached an average depth of 30ft (9.1m) below ground level with the displaced material being used for the raising of the bank visible on the right of the photograph. (See Image Map ).

B. A picture showing the outer circle in the South Western quadrant of Avebury. Quite erroneously, people often refer to Avebury as being a stone circle. This is not true as it is made up of several circles (dated at around 2,400 BC) surrounded by a ditch and bank. There are four entrances/exits through the bank roughly orientated North, South, East and West. Extending from the Southern exit/entrance is the Avenue—a double row of stones which snakes off into the distance for approximately 1½ miles (2.4km), terminating at the Sanctuary. Most of the stones forming the Avenue are no longer present. A further avenue of stones extended from the Western entrance, although only a couple-or-so of these stones remain intact. (See Image Map).

C. The position and shape of this stone accounts for its two names. Firstly its position in the outer circle near the Northern entrance gives it the name “Swindon Stone” (being closer to Swindon) and because of its prominent shape, the “Diamond Stone”. It weighs about 60 tons and is reputed to cross to the other side of the road when the church clock strikes midnight. Its counterpart was broken up in the 18th Century and was situated on the opposite side of the road. (See Image Map).

D. The North Cove. This arrangement of stones lies at the centre of the Northern Circle which is now almost completely destroyed apart from the odd stone here and there. In recent years it has been fenced off because of fears that the stones may be slowly falling over. (See Image Map).

E. These stones form part of the Southern Circle. Although not clear from the picture, the stones (and concrete plinths marking the position of missing stones) form the shape of a half-moon and in his drawing of Avebury the famous antiquarian William Stukeley (1687-1765) named the Northern and Southern Circles the “Solar Temple” and the “Lunar Temple”, respectively. The prominent plinth right of centre marks the position of what was a colossal stone known as the “Obelisk”, which again like many of the other stones, fell victim in the 18th Century to the mindless vandals who saw Avebury not as a rare site of antiquity which should be preserved, but as a quarry from which they could acquire an abundant supply of stone for their building needs. (See Image Map).

F. The “Devil’s Chair”, one of the larger stones of the outer circle in the South East quadrant, close to the Southern Circle. The strange grotto-like hollow in the centre of the stone has a ledge which appears to be at the right height above ground for someone to sit upon. This stone is also said to possess magical powers. One superstition claims that the devil may be summoned if one were to run around the stone one-hundred times in an anti-clockwise direction. (See Image Map).