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[1]Chris Witcombe - [2]Sweet Briar College - [3]witcombe at sbc.edu
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Avebury

The village of Avebury in Wiltshire has given its name to one of the
greatest stone circles in the British Isles. Located in the midst of a
rich prehistoric landscape, the village lies a few miles away from the
Ridgeway and in close proximity to [4]Silbury Hill, the [5]Sanctuary,
the [6]West Kennet Long Barrow, and the long barrows of East Kennet
and Beckhampton.

The story goes that while returning from a day's hunting one winter's
evening in 1648, [7]John Aubrey, on passing through the village of
Avebury, recognized in the earthworks and standing stones around him
an ancient temple, which he attributed to the [8]Druids.

In the early 18th century, [9]William Stukeley visited the site on
several occasions and witnessed, to his great distress, the
destruction of numerous stones by farmers intent on clearing the land
for fields. Stukeley agreed with Aubrey's identification of the site
and in 1743 published his book Abury, a Temple of the British Druids.

Mostly dating to around 2,600-2,500 B.C.E., the Avebury complex, which
covers about 28 acres and is partially overlapped by the village,
comprises a huge circular earthwork ditch, originally about 30 feet
deep, and bank about a quarter of a mile in diameter which encloses an
outer circle of standing stones. Within this outer circle are two
inner circles, both about 340 feet in diameter. The northern inner
circle, of which only a few stones remain, apparently consisted of two
concentric circles; an inner one of 12 stones and an outer one of 27
stones. At the centre of the northern circle stood a trio of very
large stones, two of which survive, called "the Cove." At the centre
of the southern circle stood a tall stone over 20 feet in length
called "the obelisk." It had already fallen when [10]William Stukeley
saw, and drew it, in the 18th century, and is now gone altogether (its
site, as with the other missing stones at Avebury, is now marked by a
concrete pillar).

Avebury 'restored'

The northern and southern inner stone circles are believed to have
been built first, around 2,600 B.C.E., and the outer circle and the
earthworks added about a hundred years later, around 2,500 B.C.E.

The outer circle is breached at four points - roughly at points north,
south, east, and west - to form entrances. From two of these
originally ran two great avenues of which only the one, leading from
the south entrance, the so-called West Kennet Avenue, survives for a
short way in reconstructed form with stones lining its course on both
sides.

West Kennet Avenue

Originally, according to [11]Stukeley, the West Kennet Avenue
stretched all the way to the [12]Sanctuary on Overton Hill, while the
other, the Beckhampton Avenue, of which very little survives,
terminated near the Beckhampton Long Barrow. Stukeley interpreted the
avenues as representing a great stone serpent passing through a ring
formed by the Avebury circle.

William Stukeley's "great stone serpent"

A plan of 'Abiri' (19th century)
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MORE TO COME! still under construction
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References

1. http://witcombe.sbc.edu/Witcombe.table.html