5N THE AGE OF STONE CIRCLES. 401 



The Avehunj Excavations, 1908, By H. St. George Gray. 

 I. Introductory Notes. 



In point of size and grandeur Avebury ^ stands out pre-eminently 

 among the prehistoric stone monuments of Great Britain ; at the same 

 time it is decidedly difficult to realise fully what Avebury and its 

 appendages were when in the height of their glory. The monument has 

 been terribly mutilated, and vandalism must have reigned supreme for 

 many years to effect the complete destruction of some 95 per cent. 

 of the great monoliths. To understand the original form of Avebury it 

 is necessary to refer to the plans of Aubrey, Stukeley, Hoare (drawn 

 by Crocker), and Lukis. Modern archaeologists can accept only a certain 

 proportion of the statements and theories advanced by the earlier of 

 these antiquaries. Much remains to be proved with regard to the precise 

 original form of the great Avebury monument, and although the Kennet 

 Avenue,- approaching Avebury from the S.E., is not disputed by any- 

 body, antiquaries are still divided in opinion on the question of the 

 former existence of a ' Beckhampton Avenue ' on the W.IS.W.^ Then, 



' ' Averberie ' in Bomcsflatj Booh. 



- Of the Kennet Avenue nineteen stones remain, viz. eleven in a group half 

 way between Avebury and West Kennet (which I photographed recently) ; one on 

 the brow of the hill on the other side of the main road and towards Avebury ; one 

 close to the turnpike-gate outside the vallum; two stones on the Avebury side of 

 West Kennet, between which the main road passes ; and four in the bank on the 

 left-hand side of the road from Marlborough as it enters West Kennet, which can 

 be seen by going into the adjoining field. Stukeley, with Lord Winchelsea, counted 

 seventy-two stones of this avenue in 1722. The eleven stones mentioned above 

 average 70 feet apart, and the only remaining standing stone is 8 feet 9 inches high. 



Stukeley records that two prostrate stones of this Avenue (destroyed in 1722) 

 existed in the gap by which the Kennet road enters Avebury. Aubrey, in his plan 

 (1GG.3) shows seven stones immediately outside the gap through the southern vallum. 

 Sir Norman Lockyer {Nature, Jan. 16 and Feb. 20, 1908) believes that the vallum 

 of Avebury was raised long after the circles had been constructed, at a time when 

 this Avenue became useless for astronomical purposes. He regards the Kennet 

 Avenue as being made for the purpose of watching the rise of a Centauri (pre- 

 viously to 4,000 years ago), as a warner of the Nov. festival (while the sunrise in 

 May was provided for in the Beckhampton Avenue). He goes so far as to suggest 

 that the stones of the Kennet Avenue close up to Avebury may have been removed 

 when the vallum was built I (For further information see Nature, and Wilts Arch. 

 Mag., XXXV. 1908, 515-7). 



' In the Guide to the British and Roman Antiquities of the North Wiltshire 

 Downs, the Rev. A. C Smith has collected together the opinions of early writers as 

 to the former existence, or non-existence, of the so-called Beckhampton Avenue. 

 After mentioning Aubrey's absolute silence on the subject, he quotes the words of 

 .Stukeley at some length ; then follow extracts from Thos. Twining, Jas. Fergusson, 

 and the Revs. C. Lucas, Bryan King, and W. C. Lukis. 



' There is no question that, if Stukeley's word is to be believed, he most certainly 

 earn many sarsen stones lying in two, more or less apparent, lines west of the great 

 circle of Abury : moreover, he speaks of ten stones of this Avenue known to have 

 been standing within memory, between the exit of the Avenue from the vallum and 

 the brook.' (Smith, 147.) 



The Rev. Bryan King said : ' There are very few lineal yards which are not 

 occupied by causeways, walls and cottages, all formed of sarsen stone, sufficient, 

 and more than sufficient, to absorb all the stones of the Beckhampton Avenue.' 

 {Wilts Arch, yiag., xviii., 377-383.) Sir Norman Lockyer has dealt with the 

 alignment of the Beckhampton Avenue in Nature, Jan. 16, 1908. 



Nearly a mile to the S.W. of the centre of Avebury is the ' Longstone Cove,' or 

 'Long Stones,' also known as the ' Devil's Quoits.' Aubrey spoke of three upright 

 Stones, but two only remained in Stukeley's time. 



1908. p u 



