Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 97 (2004), pp. 197-210 
A. D. Passmore and the Stone Circles of North 
Wiltshire 
by Aubrey Burl 
Prehistoric stone circles continue to surprise. And multiply. In WANHM 27 of 1893 A. D. Passmore informed the 
Society ‘of a hitherto unnoticed circle of stones’ at Coate near Swindon, and the following year he described it and the 
remains of a second ring nearby. In two Notebooks, unpublished until this year, he provided more details about them 
and of a possible four more in the same area. Even though he was mistaken with his ‘hitherto unnoticed’, his fieldwork 
transformed previous beliefs about the number of megalithic rings in Wiltshire. 
It is seldom appreciated how rich northern 
Wiltshire had been in the distribution, size and 
architectural complexity of its prehistoric stone 
circles. Although those near Avebury are well- 
known others near Swindon are almost forgotten. 
Hardly realised today because of savage destruction 
in the last five centuries, the countryside north of 
Winterbourne Bassett once had as many as seven 
megalithic rings, several within a few miles of each 
other, a tight group of stone circles just south of 
Swindon. Only the vestiges of one remain. (Fig. 1) 
Until the end of the 19th century just two or 
three of those rings were known. As well as the 
questionable ring on Avebury Down there were 
examples at Winterbourne Bassett and Broome, 
both now destroyed. It was not until 1894 that A. D. 
Passmore recorded several more in his brief report.' 
That report has now been supplemented, at 
considerable cost, by the Society’s purchase of 
Passmore’s two Notebooks in which those circles 
are described more fully. They add details to rings 
whose existence modifies our understanding of the 
- so-called Avebury complex. 
In both Notebooks the writing, mostly in 
pencil, sometimes in red ink, is confined to the left- 
hand side of the page. Volume I is a soft-backed, 
lined exercise book, the second a rather smaller, 
hard-covered book, also lined. Each has about sixty 
pages, some left blank. Being a man of catholic 
interests, Passmore made notes on a miscellany of 
topics: the hill-forts of Wiltshire; the value of coins 
he owned; a boar’s tusk; round barrows; Dartmoor 
monuments; Roman jewellery; and a murder in 
Swindon. 
Here, in this report, only his records of stone 
circles are included. In the transcription the 
spelling, changes of mind, and contradictions have 
been left as they appear in the Notebooks. 
Before considering Passmore’s ‘new’ sites, the 
two that were already known must be considered. 
The more problematical, Winterbourne Bassett 
just a few miles north of Avebury, has gone. William 
Stukeley was the first to mention it. In his Abury of 
1743, he wrote. ‘At Winterburn-basset, a little north 
of Abury, in a field north-west of the church, upon 
elevated ground, is a double circle of stones 
concentric, 60 cubits diameter’, referring to his 
imaginary ‘Druid’s Cubit’ of 20.8 inches, sixty 
being the equivalent of 31.7m. ‘The two circles are 
near one another, so that one may walk between. 
Many of the stones have of late been carry’d away. 
West of it is a single, broad, flat and high stone, 
standing by itself. And about as far northward from 
the circle, in a plough’d field, is a barrow set round 
with, or rather compos’d of large stones. I take this 
double circle to have been a family-chapel, as we 
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