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Woodhenge Woodhenge is a very interesting site, as it predates
Stonehenge significantly. The site was discovered in the1920s when
Military flying was in its infancy in the area. A pilot flying over
the area noticed the circular discoloration. The site was investigated
and three concentric circles were discovered in the form of post holes.
Today these are marked with stone
Durrington Walls Durrington Walls is the largest henge in the country,
and although www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/2005_durr_timber.html
Salisbury Plain This area of Wiltshire is a chalk grassland of about
300 square miles Pewsey Pewsey a a pleasant small country Town and is where
the Kennet
Marlborough Downs and the Alton Barnes White Horse The Kennet and Avon canal winds its way along the
Vale of Pewsey to the rolling Marlborough Downs.
Crop Circles If you cycle through the Pewsey These circles vary from crude regular patterns to
extremely elaborate
West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill The West Kennet Long Barrow is very probably the
best known long barrow in the country. Being situated very close to
Avebury it becomes part of a "grand tour" of local ancient
sites. It is around 100 metres long and has the typical "lozenge"
shape of the Neolithic long barrow. At the east end is the impressive
entrance, blocked off with a row of huge sarsen stones. Impressive
views of Silbury Hill can be gained both from the mound its self and
along the path leading to it. Visitors can pass behind the entrance stones and walk down into the stone lined burial chambers, around 30 feet into the mound. During the last major excavation in the 1950s the stones were made safe by adding cement and concrete. This is only really noticeable when you look up at the ceiling of the tomb where huge slabs of concrete set with glass panels let in a little light. This might sound very damaging to the look and feel of the place and I suppose it would be better without; but it really doesn't "get in the way" and I'd rather that they were there and making the chambers safe for exploration than not have them there and not be able enter to the tomb. There are five stone lined burial chambers with a central corridor connecting two chambers on either side and one at the end. A torch is recommended for exploring the side chambers in more detail. The sarsen walls always seem to be damp, if not due to the weather then probably due to the numerous visitors. It is possible to get the place to your self though, and when you do it's a very tranquil site. When excavated, the remains of 46 people were found within, the bones scattered as they were moved to make way for new burials. However, not all of the ancient bones survived in the tomb for modern archaeologists to examine. In the 17th century a local doctor used to take bones from the barrow for use in medicines. Obviously he wasn't scared off by tales of the ghostly hound that is supposed to haunt the site. Silbury Hill Silbury Hill is the largest man made mound in Europe,
the second largest is Marlborough Mound just a few miles to the east
in the grounds of Marlborough School. Silbury Hill is an imposing
sight standing 130 feet high (about 40 meters), the base of the mound
covers over 5 acres and the flattened top is around 100 feet across. Carbon dating suggests that Silbury Hill was built around 2500 BC. Nobody really knows why it was built, local legend would have it as the burial place of King Sil (or Zil), said to buried under the mound sitting on his horse. There have been several excavations which have not found any trace of a burial. Silbury Hill suffered a considerable amount of damage at the end of May, 2000. Heavy rains caused part of an old shaft to collapse. The shaft is about 100 feet deep and was dug in the 18th Century in an attempt to discover whether the mound contained a burial. The public have been restricted from climbing Silbury Hill for some years now, but despite the signs and the fences some people still persist. I hope that this collapse brings home to these people the potential for damaging the site and also the danger involved. Many of those who climb it claim they hold Silbury Hill as sacred. I find it strange that anyone would wish to damage something they say is sacred to them... Avebury The showpiece of Wessex is the stone circle at Avebury, probably not as well known as Stonehenge, but nevertheless is far larger than its contemporary near Salisbury. The Henge itself was started around 2700BC, and it
covers an area of nearly 30 acres. The diameter is over a quarter
of a mile, but within its confines a village has evolved since the
Dark Ages, making it one of the most unique monuments in the world. The many stones that our still standing within the Henge are called Sarsen stones, they are a type of sandstone, which is a natural stone found on the Wiltshire downs. The weight of the most mighty of the stones can be as much as ninety tonnes, these can be found inside the Henge, but overall, the amount of stones that once stood at this site was 600, if you included the Avenue stones. Surrounding the stones is probably the deepest ditches
for a stone circle. The ditch today, is no more than 20 feet deep
in places, but when it was first built, it reached a depth of around
33 feet, with the bank reaching 20 feet. It has been calculated that
the ditch would have taken nearly 300 people between 22-25 years to
complete.
It is simply the premier site for megalithic Britain,
nothing can touch it for its shear size, as its regarded to be one
of the most sacred places in England. Indeed, many people have experienced
its mystical atmosphere, which must have been one of the driving forces
for the people at that time to build it. The stones themselves had
to be dragged for many miles across undulating countryside, not the
sort of vast distances for the completion of Stonehenge, but the entire
Henge and avenues would have taken generations to build. The Village of Avebury, which dwells within the Henge itself, was built over a period of time, and not without controversy. The Victorian politician and later named Lord Avebury, Sir John Lubbock described the village of Avebury as "The pretty little village of Avebury, like some beautiful parasite, has grown up at the expense and in the midst of the ancient temple" The village itself started life around 500-600AD,
when it became a home to a colonial settlement. The Saxons from northern
Europe made their way to Wiltshire, as the area itself was a perfect
place for their houses and workshops. It offered suitable land for
their crops and grazing, with a good water supply to serve a large
community. Very little remains of the Saxon settlement today, except
some fragments around the existing church within the village. The
Saxons named the ditch surrounding the stone’s weala-dic translated
the Britons' Ditch. The word Avebury probably dates to the Saxons,
as their leader at that time was Ava, of Affa, it was thought he was
buried within the bank, and that the name was adopted and changed
over time. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries an uneasy truce was in force over the village, it was caused by a conflict of interest between the Christian village and the pagans. The truce was finally broken in the fourteenth century and was probably stopped by the devastating plague, or perhaps the Benedictine priors, who had considerable power over the local population. When John Aubrey discovered the village in the middle
of the seventeenth century, hardly any houses were remaining within
the circles. He was so impressed with the place, as he rode into Avebury
in 1649, that he persuaded his King Charles II to come and visit the
grandeur’s that awaits him. He guided his king around the stones,
and up Silbury Hill. It wasn't until the early eighteenth century
that the most damaging aspect occurred within the Henge. Techniques
for breaking even the largest megalith had been developed, and were
being practiced frequently. Many of the houses that are still standing
today, have many of the megaliths within their walls, they were seen
as nothing more than valuable building material for the local community.
In the later half of the nineteenth century campaigns started to raise their voices to prevent anymore devastation to the stones. Many of the Farmers had been digging into the earthworks damaging the stones in the process. Probably the most active campaigners was Rev Bryan King, who was vicar of St James church (Avebury's own church), and Lord Avebury himself (Sir John Lubbock). In the 1870's he bought Silbury Hill, and parts of Avebury to prevent anymore damage being inflicted on the Henge. In 1883 Silbury and West Kennet Long Barrow became the first two ancient monuments to be officially protected by law through Act of Parliament.
Devizes Devizes Museum. The Wharf Caen Hill Locks Wilton Windmill Stonehenge and King Barrows Stonehenge began as a Neolithic monument, built and
re-built in several stages over a very long period time, culminating
in a final building stage in the early bronze age. The first Stonehenge,
called Stonehenge I, was a circular monument; radio-carbon dating
dates it to 2180 B.C. E. A low ditch and bank system with a single
entry way and a wooden building in the middle completed the first
building stage. The ditch and low ridge of the bank are still visible
today; just inside of them are 56 aubrey holes, named after the 17
century gentleman scholar, John Aubrey, who first rediscovered them.
At about 1800 B. C. E. two small circles of bluestones (from Prescelly in South Wales) were erected around the central area, and the entry way was altered to align with the parallel lines of the double ditches which run from Stonehenge to the horizon, and down to the river Avon, and which are usually called the Avenue. At about 1550 B. C. E. the bluestone circles were
moved so that the present sarsen stones and trilithons (the large
outer ring of stones, and the smaller inner ring formed of three-stone
structures made of two stones and a cap). The bluestones were then
placed in their present position, as an inner horseshoe and a smaller
circle. Stonehenge is very much an architectural monument and a work of art. The large sarsen stones are tapered towards the top, and some are convexly curved, like the columns of Greek temples, to counteract the warping effect of perspective. The lintels are individually shaped and curved to fit the stones they top. Stonehenge is also an astronomical computer;it is designed so that Midsummer sunrise and Midwinter moonrise fall within the horseshoe. Stonehenge could also be used to mark or calculate other astronomical events.
Old Sarum Old Sarum is approached via an opening in two high Iron Age banks, which obscure the site from outside, and give it the air of a mysterious hidden castle. The banks were begun almost 5000 years ago, and remained intact until the Roman invasion. The Romans installed a garrison in the river valley below the site and it was probably used as a market centre. At this time it was called Sorviodunum. Following the departure of the Romans the Saxons
may have used the site, but when the Normans came they quickly realised
its strategic importance and constructed a motte and bailey castle
within the old earthworks. The cathedral foundations Relations between the clerics of the cathedral and
the castle guard were punctuated with outbreaks of petulance and occasional
violence. The churchmen became so exasperated that in 1219 Bishop
Richard Poore decided that enough was enough, and he determined to
build a new cathedral at a location several miles to the south. A
settlement grew up around the site of the new cathedral, and it is
this settlement that is the modern city of Salisbury. With the shift of settlement away from Old Sarum to New Sarum (Salisbury) the old site lapsed and the castle fell into disuse. Despite the fact that the site was derelict, Old Sarum continued to send a representative to Parliament until the mid 19th century. Today, visitors can see remains of both the castle and the second cathedral, though little of that building exists beyond an outline of the walls on the grass. English Heritage, who administer the site, will arrange special guided tours for groups who book ahead. Salisbury is heaped in history if you look down to
the bare roots. Salisbury isn't the original name for this pretty
part of the South West, it started off on a hilly Bronze-Age hilltop
which was called Soverodonium by the Romans after the invasion. A
small city was begun here, then the name changed again after the Normans
came in 1066 & it became Serum. For a good look into the history
I recommend Serum by Edward Rutherford, it gives a in depth look into
the distant past of Salisbury & how it began. The new cathedral was started in 1220 & finished
in 1258. Salisbury cathedral was a catholic church under the name
of St Mary's until the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry
8th. The foundations consist of faggots & bulrushes
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cylinders.
There are several theories concerning the way the monument looked
at the time, some suggesting that maybe the posts were the experimental
precursor to the placement of stones at Stonehenge. Another quite
feasable suggestion is that the posts had a roof covering them and
that the structure was in fact a meeting or dwelling house.
There is evidence that people were living in the area of Woodhenge
and the adjacent site of Durrington Walls. Several other wooden circles
have been discovered in Durrington Walls and also at the site of the
burial ground of the Amesbury Archer, which is at nearby Boscombe
Down.
much
of it is now not visible it has recently been the subject of archeological
investigation. Several wooden circles have been excavated within the
henge, together with dwelling houses. Just recently a ceremonial roadway
was discovered which runs down to the 
river
Avon, and it is thought that the residents in this area would have
approached Stonehenge via the river and then along the Avenue which
stretches from another part of the Avon further downstream, to the
Stonehenge Monument.
and has a abundance of archaeology and wildlife. There are just a
few villages and towns on the Plain and it is sparsely populated.
The Plain has inspired such people as Thomas hardy, Wordsworth, Turner
and Constable. Some of the area is used for military training which
keeps it free of development and therefore a great area in which to
cycle.
and
Avon canal is joined there are several good pubs and some interesting
shops. Pewsey Warf is a great place to stop and watch the narrow boats
go by, while partaking of the wares of the adjacent hostelry.
Here
and in many other places in Wiltshire there is a white Horse carved
out of the chalk hillside. A splendid view of the horse is from the
Barge Inn, which is also the unofficial headquarters of the crop circle
fraternity. Photos and locations of all the current circles are posted
on the walls of the Inn.
Vale
and especially near Alton Barnes during the summer months, you can
be almost sure of seeing crop circles. Some folk are convinced that
these phenomena are created by aliens, and others that they are simply
great works of (human) art. What ever your views, they certainly provide
a huge amount of pleasure and interest both locally and worldwide.
and complex designs which can be stunningly beautiful. Be sure to
visit the barge Inn at Honey Street to find out where the recent circles
have been sighted. You can enjoy the circles by viewing from the top
of the Marborough Downs, or some people like to enter the circles
and claim to pick up "energy" from them. Remember that most
of the circles are on private land and that permission may be required
to enter the sight.
The King barrows
There was a much smaller cathedral at Serum it's outline still exists
today, & there are also two legends about how the present cathedral
was built. One was that Bishop Poor had a dream of God telling him
where the new cathedral was to be built, the other is of a Knight
who fired an arrow from a long bow & where it landed the foundations
were to be laid. The arrow itself landed on marshy ground, & is
why sometimes there is bad flooding inside & out. There's a picture
of a man in a rowing boat inside the cathedral; the shot was taken
in 1913. The clergy wanted to move as they were not getting on well
with the soldiers, & on coming back one day from the Summer Solstice
at Stonehenge, they found all the doors were locked; plus the weather
conditions were not always suitable. 
covered
by 2ft of gravel; the faggots still exist & were discovered during
renovations 10yrs ago. We have the tallest spire in England at 505ft
& the oldest clock in the world which is operated by weights &
pulleys. The Americans once wanted it, but we said "no way".
If you look at the spire you would see that it tilts slightly towards
the right, this is because the structure is sinking! There are tours
up the spire to see the bells working.Ear-plugs recommended here as
they are very loud. The close is the biggest in England with 2 museums
& lots of posh houses. Edward Heath (MP) had a house round here,
& one of the houses (Mompesson) was used in Sense & Sensibility;
it also has connections with the Tidworth Drummer legend, while I
will explain later.