324 Aburt/. 



that they had formed, a portion of such an avenue as Stukeley 

 has described. The result of the Doctor's long and careful investi- 

 gations, made as they were before the work of destruction had 

 proceeded too far, was to establish, to his own satisfaction, not only 

 the form of this stupendous work, but the actual number of stones of 

 which each component part had been constructed. He found that 

 the large outer circle within the mound and fosse had been composed 

 of 100 large and unhewn stones, placed about 27 feet asunder. Of 

 these there are at present remaining 10 erect and 8 prostrate, and 

 of some of these last the stumps are so embedded in a bank, as to 

 be almost hidden from view. The dimensions of the two stones of 

 this circle near the turnpike are as follows^ : — That nearest the road 

 is 13 feet high, 16 feet wide, and 4 feet thick; the other is 13 feet 

 10 inches high, 18 feet wide, and 5 feet 6 inches thick. Five stones 

 or portions of stones marked as recumbent in Sir R. Hoare's'^ plan 

 have since disiippeared, and a sixth, of which a portion then re- 

 mained above ground, is now reduced to the level of the surrounding 

 meadows. 



Within this large outer circle were two smaller ones, not con- 

 centric, each, according to Stukeley, composed of thirty stones.^ 



Of the southern of these circles two stones remain erect and three 

 prostrate. Three recumbent stones marked in early impressions of 

 Sir E,. Hoare's survey of 1812, were removed between that year 



' The measui-ements have in all instances been made at the highest, broadest, 

 and thickest parts, and were taken for me by Mr. Shepherd, land siu'veyor, of 

 Abury. 



2 It is impossible to write this name without feeling how great are the claims 

 of Sir R. Hoare upon the gratitude of all English Antiquaries for the two mag- 

 nificent and ti'uly precious volumes which compose his "Ancient Wiltshire." 

 The first was published in 1812, the second in 1819. Mr. Crocker's surveys are 

 of great value, and greatly enhance the importance of the work. I will take 

 this opportunity of tendering my best thanks to John Gough Nichols, Esq., the 

 proprietor of the copper-plates of the 'Ancient Wiltshii'e,' for the courteous, 

 prompt, and kind manner in which he acceded to my application for the loan of 

 the three plates of plans, which have been so skilfully transferred to the stone 

 by Mr. West, and which have been adapted to the state of Abury at the present 

 time. 



^ It would be difficult to make out Stukeley's double circles in Aubrey's sketch. 

 It will be seen from plate 2, sec. 1., that the latter makes the diameter of the 

 northern circle considerably larger than that of the southern. 



