Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 95 (2002), pp. 89-92 



A Missing Drawing and an Overlooked Text: 

 Silbury Hill Archive Finds 



by Brian Edwards 



Response to the collapse in May 2000 of the vertical shaft mined into Silbury Hill at the behest of the Duke 

 of Northumberland in 1776 has resulted in extensive documentary research being carried out. Amongst 

 other material of interest, this research has brought to light a drawing, thought lost for seventy years, and 

 a hitherto overlooked eye-witness account to the mining of the shaft. 



A MISSING DRAWING 



A section of Silbury Hill by William Collings Lukis, 

 made on 6th August 1 849 during the digging of a 

 tunnel by the Archaeological Institute, was thought 

 to be lost, having been missing since 1929. A 

 postcard noting the loss was left on file in the then 

 Lukis Museum, Guernsey, and now attached to one 

 of W.C. Lukis' notebooks on 'Unchambered and 

 Chambered Barrows' in the Guernsey Museums 

 & Galleries, St. Peter Port. The postcard from 

 V.C.C. Collum states that when she examined the 

 book in 1929 a large number of pages were missing. 

 The index to this archive indicates that notes 

 relating to Silbury Hill are amongst the 59 missing 

 pages, and feature more than once. 



A copy of the Lukis drawing made by Canon 

 Jackson in 1922 is in the Society's library at Devizes 

 (DD14), but there was no certainty as to the 

 accuracy of this copy, or that certain details had 

 not been added or overlooked. Using a photograph 

 of Jackson's copy and encouraged by the possible 

 importance of the missing drawing, due to the 

 urgent situation that has befallen Silbury, the 

 Guernsey Museum continued to search and after 

 many months of investigation had almost reached 

 the end of the very large mass of Lukis material 

 when a recheck of a French volume revealed the 



Silbury drawing among loose material in the back 

 of the book. It is a watercolour sketch with pencil 

 lines, 42cm wide and 25cm in depth (Figure 1). It 

 remains in fair condition although there is an 

 impression of a paperclip in a particularly 

 inconvenient position. Horizontally extending into 

 the body of Silbury from the southern slope of the 

 hill, the mark left by the paperclip could be mistaken 

 for another tunnel. 



The Rev. W.C. Lukis is of course known for his 

 recording of detail, and despite the related notes 

 remaining missing, the drawing does not disappoint. 

 The plan dissects Silbury on a south - north line, 

 the road thus appearing on the extreme left of the 

 drawing. Coloured areas are used to highlight 

 differing layers of chalk and turf, with dotted lines 

 deployed to signify hidden detail. 



Lukis records that he visited the site with Dr 

 Mereweather [sic] Dean of Hereford on the 6th 

 August 1849, and that the tunnel had reached 88 

 yards in length. Above the tunnel and coloured 

 sections Lukis has drawn a dotted line in the shape 

 of an inner mound, outlining what he suggests as 

 the 'probable site of deposit'. This 'probability' may 

 have been suggested to the visitors by Merewether, 

 for on the day Lukis visited Merewether recorded 

 the workmen reporting that from 72 yards onward 

 the roof of the tunnel had sounded very hollow. 



Mount Pleasant, The Cartway, Wedhampton, Devizes, SN10 3QD 



