Grid reference SU100685. Situated about 1 mile (1.6km) due South of Avebury, Silbury Hill is the largest man-made pre-historic mound in Europe. It has been dated to around 2,750 BC using radio carbon dating methods on organic material found in the mound.
Evidence shows that the hill was built in four definite stages and is composed of chalk, clay and flint. Excavations also revealed Sarsen bolders in the base, and the exterior surface of the mound consists of turf and peat. Some have assumed it to be a very large burial mound although so far excavations have failed to unearth any mortal remains.
Dimenions: Height 131ft (40m). Diameter 541ft (165m). Area 68,906ft2 (21,000m2). A well defined terrace is situated 15ft (4.5m) below the top of the mound.
There are a few myths associated with Silbury Hill. One states that the devil constructed it in a single night, whereas another myth supposes it to be the burial mound of King Sil (or Zil), who was buried upright on his steed at the heart of the structure. More recently, some have postulated that the hill represents the mother godess of an old religion and have linked the site (along with other monuments in the area) with elaborate rites and rituals. It is interesting to note that Silbury Hill has no significant astronomical alignments.
Grid reference SU104677. Not without its own share of mutilation, this barrow has suffered much in its long history. Plundered for its flint, chalk and rubble and also stripped of its turf in the 19th Century. At one point it even had a road for waggons cut through its centre by local farmers.
It was built around 3,250 BC and one estimation suggests that it was used for the burial of the dead for over 1,000 years. The mound itself measures 330ft (100.6m) in length, although the internal stone-chambering is only about 20ft (6.1m) long. It has a near perfect East-West alignment, with the entrance to the barrow at its Eastern end.
As far as long barrows go, it is extremely spacious and excavations have revealed the bones of at least forty-six people. Internally it is divided into five smaller chambers, two each on the Northern and Southern sides of the central passageway and a somewhat larger chamber at the Western end. The Sarsen stone façade (pictured above) runs in a North-South direction and is about 45ft (13.7m) long.
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