Marja-Leena Rathje

Last of our destinations during our day long tour of Ancient Britain was Avebury. Like Stonehenge, Avebury is very well-known and many believe it is the superior stone circle. Certainly it is the largest of its kind by area and number of standing stones. I’ve read conflicting information on the original number of stones of which many have been lost or damaged, one site says 98.

My personal impression of the Avebury stone circle was of some disappointment. I was not able to feel the magic I felt at Stonehenge. Certainly it was accessible, being able to walk into the enclosed pastures and right up and among the stones. Their sizes varied quite a bit, from small to a bit over human height, and the shapes from tall and slim to chunky and square, and all placed at some distance from each other. I knew it would be quite different from Stonehenge’s smaller circle of bigger standing and horizontal stones.

But… there is a road and a town breaking up the circle so we could not see the whole. We were able to walk around one area, much too slowly because we were taking photographs while also stepping carefully around dozing sheep and their droppings. Pastoral and pretty, yes. I wondered if we had gone the best way around for we noticed most of the others walking elsewhere including on the surrounding henge. Perhaps our guide could have been a bit more helpful in suggesting the best walking route. We had arrived late in the day behind schedule, so there was not enough time left to see it all. We finally had to rush for a much-needed bathroom break and a take-out cup of coffee before returning to our van to head back to London. Anyway, essentially it was far too short a time to capture the spirit of the place. That can be and usually is the way with guided tours, I know with some small experience.

As for photography, it seems that the best atmospheric photos are taken early or late in the day or during mist and rain. Almost four years ago I wrote about Avebury linking to a beautiful and informative site that I’m happy to see is still up: Avebury – A Present from the Past. It includes gorgeous photos, stories and information including other related sites in the area, but I can’t judge for the scientific accuracy. Also, this aerial view helped give me a better sense of the Avebury, Silbury Hill and West Kennet Barrow area – wish I’d had it with me on the tour.

As has been said in some of the earlier articles by me and some commentors, a first time tour really is to give general impressions, an overall picture and is helpful in showing what one wants to revisit alone in greater depth. It’s unlikely that we would have been able to cover so many places in one day on our own, which is one reason of course why we took this tour. I would love to spend more time in these ancient places of mystery and power so hopefully there will be another chance for me to revisit these sites, as well as many more, in the future.

I’m so very grateful to my husband for taking so many great photographs on this tour, especially under the time pressures, something that inhibits me from doing it. I just wanted to absorb the feel of these places though sometimes I would point out spots that I particularly wanted photographed. He told me that he was surprised how much he enjoyed this tour which makes me glad since I desired it, researched it and booked it.

Ancient Britain Tour series of articles:
Salisbury
Old Sarum
Wiltshire Flint
Stonehenge
White Horses
Silbury & West Kennet

Soon after passing the White Horse we could see Silbury Hill, a huge man-made chalk mound near Avebury. It is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the world’s largest.

Composed mainly of chalk and clay excavated from the surrounding area, the mound stands 40 metres (130 ft) high[2] and covers about 5 acres (0.020 km2). It is a display of immense technical skill and prolonged control over labour and resources. Archaeologists calculate that Silbury Hill was built about 4750 years ago and that it took 18 million man-hours, or 500 men working 15 years…. Mackie asserts that no simple late Neolithic tribal structure as usually imagined could have sustained this and similar projects, and envisages an authoritarian theocratic power elite with broad-ranging control across southern Britain.

It still seems a mystery as to why it was built. It is off bounds now but we could see it well from the road and as we walked up a hill or ridge nearby on top of which lies the West Kennet Long Barrow, a Neolithic tomb or barrow. Older than Stonehenge, this too was a marvel of construction and many man hours of labour. Open and accessible, I thought it would be spooky to go in but some clever openings cut into the sod above it gave a little light to see the construction of stones holding up walls and ceiling and reveal a central passage and several adjoining small bays. Spooky though to know this was a tomb.

Our stop was not long enough for serious photography. There are some nice photos at wikipedia, and probably at some of the numerous sites online, and one can also view the inside of West Kennet Long Barrow via this cool interactive VR Panorama.

Avebury is next, our last tour stop before returning to London.

Posts about our Ancient Britain Tour:
Salisbury
Old Sarum
Wiltshire Flint
Stonehenge
White Horses
Avebury

Wikipedia has a good gathering of all the information and further links to explore.

Instead I want to talk about the experience. Naturally I felt anticipation and excitement to be there after so many years of dreaming about seeing it. I wondered if it might be spoiled by a ‘tourist trap’ but it was okay, for we quickly passed by the tour buses and ignored the gift and ice cream shops, located some distance from the site. Our excellent tour guide quickly and clearly explained the history and construction in front of the educational display wall in the tunnel way under the road. Then we were on our own, walking up towards the stones. They seemed so small in the distance….

At first we felt the pressure of the busloads of visitors impeding the view, jostling each other to snap photos, giggling girls asking to have photos taken of them in front of the stones (do they even really LOOK at the stones?). Then it thinned out and we were able to spend quite a bit of time looking, contemplating and walking around it. For many minutes I stood alone, silent and breathing deeply and looking deeply. It would have been marvellous to be able to walk up and between the stones and touch them, but we could see some of the graffiti and damage and could understand why not. I just felt so grateful to be there.

My husband took numerous and excellent photos. I trusted him to it for he’s the better photographer when it comes to understanding the finer points of the camera and the light conditions and has very steady hands! If I use any of his photos from this trip in my art work, as I probably will, I’ll have to give him credit by making the works ‘collaborations’! Early morning or evening light might have given us more interesting and dramatic photos but I can’t complain for the weather was good for us – sunny though very windy, the clouds scudding along and providing a stunning canopy over these stones set in the open fields and gentle green slopes with grazing sheep and yellow patches of canola in the distance.

There is a sense of great space physically as well as in the huge span of time and spirits here. I felt awed yet calm as I kept thinking about the immense labours involved in bringing the stones here and erecting them, especially the sarsens. And I kept wondering over the mystery and many theories of why the ancient peoples built these stone circles and other similar sites in many other places. How fortunate we are to still have sites like Stonehenge as a way of reaching back and connecting with mankind’s ancient past.

I’d go back in a heartbeat.

Other posts about our Ancient Britain Tour:
Salisbury
Old Sarum
Wiltshire Flint
White Horses
Silbury & West Kennet
Avebury

After visiting Salisbury on the first stop of a guided day tour to several ancient sites of Britain, we moved on to nearby Old Sarum. This hilltop is surrounded by banks and ditches with layers of 5,000 years of human settlement from the Neolithic to Celtic, Roman, Saxon, Viking and Norman until New Sarum (Salisbury) was established lower down the valley. It’s a fascinating and beautiful spot where I could sense the history and spirits of the ancient peoples within the stone walls and verdant slopes and the far views of the valley.

You may find this interesting additional reading: Old Sarum: A Layer-Cake of History.

My first encounter with Sarum was many years ago when I read Edward Rutherfurd’s Sarum, a vast work of historical fiction. I still remember my feelings of excitement over the early parts of the story covering the prehistoric period. Now I feel like I could reread it again with fresh new eyes.

Previous and later posts about our Ancient Britain Tour:

Salisbury
Wiltshire Flint
Stonehenge
White Horses
Silbury & West Kennet
Avebury