Avebury
Avebury is a small village on the downs in Wiltshire, between Swindon and Marlborough. Together with Stonehenge, Avebury has since 1986 been a World Heritage Site.
Most of the village is surrounded by an impressive stone circle, one of the largest in the world, containing about a hundred standing stones, with a bank and ditch, constructed 4500 years ago. The circle’s circumference is nearly a mile. Within the circle are two smaller ones.
The Wiltshire antiquarian John Aubrey wrote detailed accounts of the circle in 1648, while the antiquarian William Stukeley, from Stamford, evolved elaborate theories involving Druids.
The parish church contains Saxon work, and the 16th century Avebury Manor is now owned by the National Trust.
The Alexander Keiller Museum is operated by English Heritage, and explains the prehistory of the Avebury area and Salisbury Plain.
A mile away is the enigmatic Silbury Hill, the largest man made construction in Europe, rising to 130 feet.
Places in Avebury
Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury Manor, St. James Church, Stone Circle