2 The Re-erection of Two Fallen Stones at Avebury. 



as consisting of two stones set at an angle to each other outside the 

 avenue, the other stone that Stukeley regarded as the third member 

 of the cove group, being at the same time one of the stones of the 

 avenue. This latter stone is the smaller of the two now remaining, 

 known as "Eve"; the larger one, "Adam," which fell in 1911, 

 being one of the two original outstanding stones of the cove. 



The stones are visible from the road leading from Avebury to 

 Beckhampton, and stand just beyond the end of the private road 

 leading out of that road on the right hand, to Mr. Darling's stables, 

 just as the road dips down into Beckhampton. 



At a committee meeting of the Society held in January, 1912, 

 it was decided that an effort should be made to raise funds to re- 

 erect this stone, this being considered advisable largely on the 

 ground that a standing stone is more likely to be respected and 

 safeguarded than one fallen. 



Before anything else could be done it was necessary to clear out 

 the hole in which the stone had stood, as it was encumbered with 

 sarsen boulders, which had been originally used as packing to 

 support the great stone, and loose soil which had found its way 

 into the cavity when the stone fell. In case anything of archae- 

 ological interest might be found in this digging, Mr. and Mrs. B. H. 

 Cunnington were entrusted with the supervision of the work, which 

 was done with the aid of two labourers on May 24th and 26th, 

 1912. 



When cleared the hole was found to measure 13^ ft. in length, 

 in a direction from East-South-East to West-North-West. The 

 hole widened out somewhat at its East end, its greatest width 

 being 6£ft., while it was 6ft. wide in the middle, and only 4|ft. 

 wide at the West end : it was 3ft. Sin. deep, measured to the surface 

 level, and as the soil at this spot was 15in. deep, the stone had 

 stood only 2ft. Sin. in the solid chalk. The stone had been packed 

 round with about one hundred and fifty sarsen boulders of various 

 sizes, some of them weighing by computation more than a hundred- 

 weight. It is remarkable that some of the flatter boulders had 

 been laid purposely on the floor of the hole prepared to receive the 

 stone. A large piece had split off the bottom of the stone and was 



