146 



Si I bury. 



protest against it, I imagine that I do not stand alone, but am 

 only echoing the sentiments of very many, and some of these no 

 mean Archaeologists, among whom I am proud to enumerate 

 Aubrey and Stukeley of old time, and of our own day, the late 

 Dean of Hereford, and that prince of Anglo-Saxon scholars, the 

 late Mr. Kemble ; both of whom (unless I very much misunder- 

 stood them at the time) as well as many other influential members 

 of the Institute who were present on the occasion, gave it as their 

 opinion, not that the sepulchral theory as regarded Silbury must 

 be abandoned, but only that we failed to prove it to be some- 

 thing more than theory, by not being so fortunate as to hit upon 

 the exact spot in our excavations. 



"With considerable diffidence of my own knowledge of the subject, 

 but backed by such well-known names, I proceed to give a short 

 description of the great tumulus, and then to consider its probable 

 origin : remarking by the way, that gigantic as the work is, we 

 can find no allusion to it in any early writer, unless we accept the 

 suggestion (for which there seem to be scarcely sufficient grounds,) 

 that possibly the "heaping the pile of Cyvrangon" mentioned in the 

 Welsh Triads, as one of the three mighty labours of the island of 

 Britain, may be applied to Silbury. 1 



SILBURY stands on the extreme edge of a short spur or prom- 

 ontory of down, jutting out Northwards towards Avebury, and is 

 nearly South of the great Circle, and midway between the extremities 

 of the avenues : 2 that is, assuming that there was a second avenue, 

 and that it ended where Stukeley fancied. Its general mass is com- 

 posed of chalk, earth, and rubble taken from the surrounding soil, 

 and is covered with the short close turf for which our downs are 

 so famous : 3 but by the kind assistance of Mr. Cunnington (who 

 also furnished me with some of the details of the accompanying 

 section) I am enabled to give an accurate description of the com- 



1 Sir E. C. Hoare's Ancient Wilts, ii., 83. Davies' Celtic Researches. 



2 Stukeley' s Abury, p. 41. " Abury illustrated," by William Long-, Esq., M.A., 

 in Wiltshire Magazine, vol. iv., p. 337. 



3 Professor Buckman found forty species of plants on Silbury Hill, and considers 

 that it furnishes a good, example of the flora of a limestone district. 



