By William Long, Esq., M.A. 341 



siderably to the south of Silbury, but in so doing, it must have 

 crossed the Kennet several times, and it was doubtless to avoid this 

 that the framers of the road conducted it to the north of the river, 

 and brought it near the base of Silbury. The course of the road 

 over the downs is very far from being a straight one, and certainly 

 no deflection was necessary to avoid cutting into the side of the old 

 British Mound. It is right, however, that I should add that many 

 persons believe that Stukeley was right ; and it is stated iu the 

 Salisbury volume of the Archaeological Institute^ that Mr. Bland- 

 ford, the engineer who directed the opening of the hill in 1849, 

 came to the conclusion, " that the road was carried round the base 

 of the tumulus to avoid it, and was thereby diverted from its other- 

 wise direct course." 



It was the opinion of Stukeley, that this road, although 'chalked 

 out,' as he calls it, was never completed; the framers of it having 

 undertaken it " toward the declension of their empire here, when 

 they found not time to finish it."^ This, however, is opposed by 

 the fact that the stations on this road, Cuuetio, Verlucio, &c., are 

 enumerated in the 14th Iter of Antoninus. The pits or cavities 

 at the sides, from which they took the materials for forming it 

 are very visible, and it is curious to see in one place, how they 

 dug into what is called a Druid's barrow, which happened to 

 be on the line the}'^ had selected.^ On the top of the hill above this 

 spot the flint diggers have recently cut into the middle of the road 

 and made it clear that there was no foundation of stones or rubble, 

 but that it consisted merely of the chalk and earth thrown up from 

 the excavations made at its sides. 



Hickman'' has objected to an earlier date for Abury than one 

 posterior to the Roman Conquest, " because it adjoins a Roman 

 Road; because it resembles a Roman Amphitheatre; because its 

 dimensions seem to be adjusted to the measure of a Roman mile; 



• p. 303, « Stukelcy's Ahmy, p. 26. 



* From Stukeley's dcscriplioa and 9th plate, it woidd appear that they also 

 helped themselves very freely to the erowu of a barrow (uow planted,) ou the 

 other side of the road. 



' Archscologia, vol. .vxviii. 



