182 List of Prehistoric, Roman, and Ray an Saxon Antiquities. 





southern circle 2 standing and 3 fallen, and of the northern circle 

 3 standing and 1 fallen, but in 1881 the Rev. A. C. Smith [Brit, and 

 Rom. Antiq. of N . Wilts., 139) discovered and uncovered 16 stones 

 of the outer circle now buried, and 2 in the northern circle. 



From the S.E. point of the oater circle, just on the E. side of the 

 present Kennet Road, a winding avenue of a double row of stones led 

 across the ditch by a solid causeway and more or less along the course 

 of the present road to W. Kennet where it turned sharply to the E. 

 and ended in a double concentric circle or oval of stones on Overton 

 or Kennet Hill just W. of Overton boundary and S. of Marlborough 

 Rd. (O.M. 28 S W.). This circle, called by Stukeley " The Sanctuary," 

 was entirely destroyed in 1724, the ground around it having been 

 found in 1678 to be full of human bones (Stukeley's Abury, 27, 29, 

 30). This avenue, planned in a rough sketch by Aubrey (1663) when 

 it was nearly complete, had in Stukeley's day (1743) 72 stones still 

 standing. At present 19 stones remain visible, one just outside the 

 vallum of Avebury, and a group on the W. of the Rd. to Kennet, 

 still occupying their original positions. Of this group of 11 stones 

 together 2 are now standing and 9 prostrate. Stone No. 2 from the 

 Avebury end of the W. side of the avenue has never fallen, the stone 

 opposite to it on E. side of avenue was re-erected by Wilts Arch. Soc. 

 in Aug., 1912, at the same time as the large Longstoneat Beckhamp- 

 ton. Long in 1858, and Smith in 1884, state that there was only 

 one stone standing at those dates, but there seems good evidence 

 that there were really two, and that this one fell cir. 1889. O-M. 28 

 S.W. ; W.A.M. iv., 328 ; xxxviii., 7. 



A large sarsen was found buried in the line of the avenue, 1913, 12ft. 

 from the W. side of the road, possibly one of the avenue stones, 

 broken human bones found round it. W.A.M. xxxviii., 12. 



The existence of the Beckhampton Avenue rests on the authority of 

 Stukeley alone, Aubrey does not mention it, and many authorities 

 doubt its existence. According to Stukeley it left the -circle at the 

 S.W. point to S. of the churchyard, (extending to Beckhampton and 

 ending near a group of barrows on the down between the Calne and 

 Devizes Roads. Stukeley Abury, 30 ; W.A.M., iv., 329. 



Longstone Cove, Longstones, or the Devil's Coits, 2 large stones stand- 

 ing in field to N. of Rd. Avebury to Beckhampton, near the latter. 

 Aubrey says 3 stones were standing in his time placed like a cove. I 

 Stukeley saw 2 standing and 1 prostrate, which he says abutted on 

 the Beckhampton Avenue, the avenue stone forming the back of the ' 

 cove which opened to the S.E. The large stone which fell Dec. 2nd, 

 1911, was re-erected by the Wilts Arch. Soc, 1912, when B. H. 

 Cunnington found an interment with drinking cup immediately at 

 the foot of the stone. O-M. 28 SW. ; W.A.M. xxxviii., 1 ; Stukeley 

 Abury, 35 ; A. W. ii., 78 ; Smith p. 101, VII. F. V. c. 



Excavations in the ditch by H. St. G. Gray on behalf of Brit. Assoc. 

 carried out 1908, 1909, and 1911 on the W. side of Kennet Road proved | 

 the ditch to have been 17ft. to 20ft. deeper than it is now, with a flat ! 



