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AVEBURY

Specialty Definition: Avebury Henge

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Avebury Henge is an enormous henge or stone circle and one of the finest Neolithic monuments in Europe. It is about 20 miles to the north of Stonehenge, in Wiltshire.

Most of the surviving structure consists of earthworks: A massive ditch and bank 421 meters in diameter encloses an area of 11.5 hectares (28.5 acres). Within this there is a great outer ring of standing stones some weighing in excess of 80 tons and, within this, two other separate stone circles. Many of the original stones were removed in the 19th century by people who considered them to be "pagan": the former locations of those stones are now marked by concrete pylons.

The small village of Avebury, complete with public house, is enclosed within the monument. Two local roads intersect within the monument, and visitors can walk on the earthworks.

There is an avenue of paired stones leading to the circle. The whole area is a World Heritage site and includes The Sanctuary, Windmill Hill, Silbury Hill and the West Kennet Longbarrow.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Avebury Henge."

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Avebury,Wiltshire

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

- Avebury Circle -

Avebury, a village in Wiltshire. It lies entirely within the Avebury Circle, which is a Neolithic circle of upright stones that is larger and older than nearby Stonehenge. This Neolithic circle was first described by John Aubrey in 1648:

These Downes looke as if they were Sown with great Stones, very thicke; and in a dusky evening they looke like a flock of Sheep: from whence it takes its name. One might fancy it to have been the Scene where the Giants fought with stones against the Gods. ... I was wonderfully surprised at the sight of theose vast stones, of which I had never heard before; as also at the mighty Banke and Graffe [ditch] about it. I observed in the Inclosures some segments of rude circles, made with these stones, whence I concluded, they had been in old time complete.

The archeologist Alexander Keiller re-erected many of the fallen stones in the 1930s, partially restoring the circle to its original condition. Since 1943 the village and the circle are the property of the nation, and are currently administered by the National Trust. In 1986, UNESCO added Avebury, along with Stonehenge, Silbury Hill, and associated local sites, to its World Heritage List.

Avebury also houses the museum of one of the pioneers of photography, William Fox Talbot.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Avebury,Wiltshire."

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