340 Ahtiry. 



Man at the meetings of the Tinwald in the open air, on"a hill top 

 near the middle of the Island; while others again have conjectured 

 that it was erected for astronomical observations, and it is perhaps 

 not improbable that it was made use of for this purpose and also 

 for religious rites. 



The practice of resorting to the top of Silbury Hill on Palm 

 Sunday which Stukeley mentions, and in which traces of the old 

 Pagan processions may perhaps be recognized, is still kept up by 

 the children of the neighbourhood.' On these occasions it was the 

 custom in Stukeley 's day for the country people to " make merry 

 with cakes, figs, sugar, and water fetched from the 'Swallow head,' " 

 which was the sacred spring of the district, and the principal source 

 of the River Kennet.^ 



The Roman Road. 



"The Roman Road" says Stukeley, "in its course from Overton 

 Hill to Runway Hill should have pass'd directly through Silbury 

 Hill ; wherefore they curv'd a little southward to avoid it, and it 

 rims close by the isthmus of the hill, then thro' the fields of Bekamp- 

 ton. This shews Silbury Hill was ancienter than the Roman Road."^ 

 Any one who will take the trouble to rule a line on the Ordnance 

 Map between Overton Hill and Morgan's Hill (Stukeley 's "Runway 

 Hill," see 'Itin. Cur.' Iter. vi. p. 133, 1724, and plate at page 20 of 

 his 'Abury,') will see how erroneous the first part of this statement 

 is, and how much more correctly Stukeley wrote in his 'Itinerary.' 

 He there says, ""When from the top of this hill you look towards 

 Marlborough, which is full east, you may discern that the road 

 curves a little northward, not discernible but in the whole. The 

 reason is to be attributed to the River Kennet, thrusting it out 

 somewhat that way, otherwise the true line should have lain a little 

 more to the south of Silbury."^ Had the road from Runway Hill 

 been carried straight to Marlborough, it would have passed con- 



^ A similar custom with respect to Clea Hill, near Warminster, is stated by 

 Sir R. Hoare to have prevailed on Palm Sundays, when he wrote his 'Ancient 

 Wiltshire.' See vol. ii. p. 80, note. 



2 Stukeley's Abury, p. 44. ^ p_ 133^ 1 p_ 134, 



