254 Supposed Stone-Circle near Abury. 
careful scrutiny resulted in my finding four other stones peeping 
just above ground, and certain faint indications of a trench, all of 
which would come within the supposed circle, that I determined to 
examine the ground more searchingly with the probe and the spade. 
Accordingly having obtained the ready permission of the owner, 
the Rev. Robert Ashe, and the cordial consent of the occupier, Mr. 
Pinniger, and having happily secured the valuable assistance of one, 
who by his admirable treatises on Abury and Stonehenge, has earned 
the title of a master in British antiquities (Mr. William Long), I 
set a careful man to dig early one morning in September last; and 
guided by the stones which appeared above ground, and the mark 
of the trench, we triumphantly vindicated our impression that it was 
a circle, by unearthing in that one day no less than twenty-two 
sarsen stones, lying from two to twelve inches below the surface. 
That these stones, though generally very small, were manifestly 
placed in the position they now occupy, in many cases nearly touching 
one another, and that they formed part of a large circle, is (I think) 
unmistakable. What that circle was, and what was its probable 
intention, I will not now discuss. Enough for the present that we 
have proved its existence; that the area it occupied is very large, 
with a diameter of about ninety yards; that the traces of the entire 
circle are by no means complete ; and that subsequent days’ diggings 
have as yet revealed but four more stones, none of which come within 
the exact circle. 
It is my intention to continue the examination, when the weather 
will allow on that most exposed down. I only make mention of the 
investigation now, before it is completed, in order that, while the 
stones are yet uncovered, any one who desires to do so, may visit 
the spot, and form his own opinion of the circle, which may 
readily be found by following the waggon-track nearly opposite 
Silbury, on the Beckhampton side, and continuing dwe south till the 
stones are reached. 
A. C. Smura. 
Yatesbury Rectory, 
October 24th, 1877. ; 
H, F, & E, BULL, Printers and Publishers, 4, Saint John Street, Devizes. 
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