By William Long, Esq., M.A. 349 



deserves the consideration of the members of this Society whether 

 they should not map the barrows which remain, and collect for 

 those who come after lis what information has been or may be 

 procured respecting the examination and contents of those which 

 have been opened. 



Theories respecting the object for which the Temple was 



constructed. 



The object for which the great work at Abury was constructed will 

 probably ever be involved in mystery. We know so little of the 

 Druids and their forms of worship, that to more than conjectural 

 approximations to the truth we can hardly hope to attain. An astro- 

 nomical, a civil, and a religious purpose have each had their advo- 

 cates. The erection, too, of circular temples, like this and Stonehenge, 

 has been assigned by different writers to different nations ; to the 

 Phoenicians, the ancient Britons, the Eomans, the Saxons, and the 

 Danes. Tliere can, however, be little doubt that the temple at 

 Abury dates from a period long anterior to the Roman connection 

 with Britain, and that it was a much older work than Stonehenge. 

 " I think we may fairly conclude," says Dr. Guest, " that Stone- 

 henge is of later date than Avebury and the other structures of 

 unwroujiht stone; that it could not have been built much later 

 than the year 100 B.C., and in all probability was not built more 

 than a century or two earlier. As to the antiquity of Avebury, I 

 dare offer no conjecture. If the reader be more venturesome, and 

 should fix its erection some eight or ten centuries before our era, 

 it would be difficult to advance any critical reasons against his 

 hypothesis."^ " The Rev. Richard "Warner was the first," says Mr. 

 Bowles,' "who started the idea, — in my opinion a most happy one, 

 that the Belgaj, having taken this (the southern) part of the country 

 from the Celts as far as ^yansdykc, raised this monument of Stone- 

 henge in rival magnificence to that of Abury." Dr. Guest writes, 

 "It will be seen that the Wansdike bends to the south, as if to 

 avoid Avebury, and approaches close to it, but does not include Bath. 



* Archojological Journal, 1851, p. 157. 

 ' lIsrmeB britanDious, 1828, p. 123. 



