184 



Silbury. 



Mr. Long's argument that a line ruled on the Ordnance Map 

 between Overton Hill and Morgan's Hill would pass to the South 

 of Silbury, and that therefore Stukeley's view, ["that the Roman 

 road in its course from Overton Hill to Runway Hill (or Morgan's 

 Hill) should have passed directly through Silbury Hill, wherefore 

 they curved a little Southward to avoid it"] is incorrect: I would 

 submit, that the ridge of steep downs which the road has to cross 

 between Morgan's Hill and Beckhampton forbad so direct a line 

 as the Romans delighted in where practicable, and that the road is 

 necessarily turned considerably to the South by the sharp back- 

 bone of down, along which it runs, long before it approaches Beck- 

 hampton : but that on descending to the more level plain in which 

 Silbury stands, it makes directly for the very centre of the hill. 

 And again on the East of Silbury, the small fragment of Roman 

 road which remains points straight for the middle of our mound, 

 and I apprehend that a line connecting those nearest portions of 

 the Roman road which still exist East and West of the hill, would 

 pass directly through the middle of Silbury. Again, we must 

 remember that the Roman road from Bath to London, passing 

 through Spye Park and Verlucio or Wans, and crossing Morgan's 

 Hill, did not make for the town of Marlborough, but for the lower 

 Cunetio or Mildenhall, considerably to the North of Marlborough : 

 and a straight line ruled on the Ordnance Map from Milden- 

 hall to Verlucio will be found to bisect Silbury : the general direct 

 line therefore seems to be kept throughout, though the nature of 

 the ground may cause here and there a divergence. Moreover I 

 apprehend that though the plough has now effaced all traces of the 

 Roman road throughout a great part cf its course over our downs, 

 the case was otherwise 150 years since, and that when Stukeley 

 described its course as making directly for Silbury and then 

 curving Southwards to avoid it, and published the sketches which 

 he made on the spot to aid his description, he was making no 

 imaginary drawings or assertions, but only describing what he could 

 see clearly before him ; whereas at this date and under present cir- 

 cumstances, we can only conjecture where the road passed, from 

 those fragments of it which we see at some distance on either side 



