AVE BURY 



20I 



The first mention of Avebury Temple is by Aubrey 

 the antiquary. It was in 1G48 that he first saw the 

 place, which seems, curiously enough, to have been 

 until then quite unknown. He came upon it quite 

 by chance, when hunting, and must have been 

 astonished at the discovery of so extraordinary a 



AVEBURY. 



place. His account of it led that kingly amateur 

 of science, Charles the Second, to visit Avebury on 

 his way to Bath in 1668. Pepys, too, going to Bath, 

 unexpectedly happened both upon Avebury and Sil- 

 bury Hill, and viewed them and the sepulchral 

 barrows that, crowned with pine trees, look down 

 from the hill sides, w^ith an admiration not unmixed 

 with a superstitious dread. 



The road to Swindon goes straight through this 



