Ailsa of “Where’s My Backpack?” wants us to show her our most decrepit, worn and torn, antediluvian shots this week. If you would like to join in with her challenge then please do. Everyone is welcome.
One of England’s oldest sites is the Avebury Stone Circle in Wiltshire. Believed to have been started around 3000 BC it was probably used as a religious and ceremonial centre, but no-one knows by whom. The nice thing about Avebury is that you are allowed to wander freely on the site and get close up to the standing stones.
The main circle covers approximately 28 acres with two smaller circles inside. The henge is also split by the village of Avebury and a road. There is an avenue of stones leading away from the circle towards Overton Hill a mile and a half away, and it has been speculated by some archaeologists that the avenue was constructed to form the body of a snake, with the circle as the snake’s head.
A steep bank and ditch surrounds the circle, together they form a 60 foot barrier.
Just a few miles away is the strange conical mound of Silbury Hill, across the road from West Kennet Long Barrow. In the other direction is Windmill Hill causeway camp, the finest hilltop camp in England.
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