XXXll. MARLBOROUGH. 



than 78, and at one time there were 200. As to the so-called Beck- 

 hampton-avenue, coming from the West, to his mind it was doubtful 

 whether an avenue ever existed in the direction of Beckhampton ; 

 but, if so, all that remained now were two large stones, in a field nearly 

 a mile away, called Adam and Eve, Longstone Cove, or the Devil's 

 Points. On December 2nd last " Eve " fell. Effort was being made 

 to set the stone up again ; but already they had broken several steel 

 ropes in the attempt. Mr. Cunnington, of Devizes, had been digging 

 out the hole to find the socket in the solid chalk, and in doing so had 

 discovered a human skeleton and a beaker, or drinking vessel, 

 datable to the Bronze Age. 



Dr. CoLLEY March said that, as the interment was close to the 

 stone and shallow, it must have been placed there after the stone was 

 raised. Had it been put there before the stone was raised it would 

 have been ground to pieces. He suggested that the interment was 

 made at that spot because it was sacred, and people wished to bury 

 their dead in or near some sacred place. As to date, the avenue was 

 there before the early Bronze Age. 



(Also, cf. Proceedings, Vol. XXX., p. Ixiv.) 



SiLBURY. 



From Avebury the Club drove back to jMarlborough via " Adam 

 and Eve " and Silbury Hill, which has the distinction of being the 

 highest artificial mound in Britain. 



Mr. Gray gave all the information known about the tumulus. It 

 is 125 feet high from the surface of the ground ; the diameter of the 

 base is 555 feet, and at the top 105 feet. The material was believed 

 to have been obtained from all round the base of the hill. In hollows 

 which he pointed out there are five feet of alluvial deposit, showing that 

 originally the hollows were very much larger ; and in that deposit 

 had been found flint implements of the Neolithic period. The de- 

 pression in the centre of the summit marked the position of the vertical 

 shaft which was sunk in 1777, and although it reached the very 

 bottom of the hill, nothing was found. In 1840 the Royal Archaeo- 

 logical Institute followed suit by doing the complementary work of 

 tunneling the hill from the Bath-road side to the centre ; and in 

 doing so they met the shaft. Again nothing was found except two 

 fragments of red deer antlers. There is, therefore, no proof that Silbury 

 was sepulchral. 



Evening Proceedings. 



On regaining Marlborough the Club visited the church of St. Mary, 

 which was shown them by the Vicar (the Rev. A. E. G. Peters). It is 

 an interesting if unlovely example of a church built in the Common- 

 wealth period. The old church having been almost entirely burnt 



