Gladys Taber

Whenever I visit Avebury I always feel compelled to stop and contemplate the mysterious Silbury Hill.

• Silbury Hill
• The Story of Silbury Hill

After a good nights sleep my back was still playing up so I had to be careful and keep my back straight.  The hotel breakfast was good and unlike the breakfast experience in London it was an enjoyable, relaxing affair looking out over the Cathedral grounds.

After breakfast we set off for Avebury to pick up where we left off on our previous visit in June. This time we were were able to take a pleasant leisurely walk around the stones.  There was on slight hiccup and that was due to coincidental timing.  There was a particular stone that I wanted to investigate close up.  One of the stones that faces the southern avenue and it appears to have a seat.  Depending on what you read some say this was used to oversee processions to the Avebury site and refer to the magnetic properties of the stone in relation to this.

When we arrived at that stone a group of Germans were congregated in front of it taking part in some sort of ceremony that involved chanting, dancing and perhaps praying.  They had piled all their bags up in front of the stone so it wasn’t even possible to sneak behind them for closer inspection of the stone.  We decided to move on and come back and investigate later.

After we finished our walk around stone circle we visited the Parish Church of St. James, the small museum, had lunch and visited the shop where I purchased the two books that I regretted not buying on my previous visit.

We then made our way back to the illusive stone.  I photographed it an sat on the supposed seat to see if the reported magnetic properties of the stone had any effect. I felt nothing… We then left Avebury, stopping off for an obligatory glimpse of glimpse of Silbury Hill before making our way to Old Sarum, the site of the oldest settlement in Salisbury and the site of the Cathedral before a new one was built in ‘New Salisbury’.

After all that walking it was time to return to the hotel to freshen up before going out for our evening meal. This involved me having a nice relaxing bath which greatly eased the problems I was having with my back.  The evening meal was nice but the wine was rather expensive! We called stopped off at ‘The Oak’ before making our way back to the hotel. Along the way we bumped into some Street Pastors and stopped to have a chat with them.

Book Overview (from book cover):

Silbury Hill is an iconic monument within the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site, and the largest prehistoric mound in Europe. Written by two authors with unrivalled information and knowldedge of the Hill and combining scholarly research and readable narrative, the book tells the story of the early recognition of its importance and of the later antiquarion and archaeological investigations. Each is described and set within its own historical and political context alongside the extraordinary characters of the time.

For the first time, the results of recent work – the collapse of the summit in 2000 leading to the re-opening of the famous tunnel in 2007 – are set out from first-hand knowledge, and the origins of the monument and construction techniques fully outlined. The book also describes how the mound was seen and used by later communities and considers what Silbury means to people today.

Review:

The Story of Silbury Hill is very readable and provides up to date archeological information regarding the Hill and surrounding area. In 2000 a hole appeared on the top of Silbury Hill.  The hole was caused by a period of heavy rain causing previous archaological excavations and tunnels to collapse. This is the story from two of the archaologists that worked on the site whilst English Heritage decided on the best way to secure the Hill for future generations.

We are told of the archeological history of Silbury Hill and the characters that undertook the investigations.  The book also explains how the Hill was constructed in several stages and how it connects up with the wider landscape. We are also told of the problems caused by the previous excavations and what was done to try and repair the damage.

Many photographs and diagrams accompany the text, which made the book a joy to read.  There is a comprehensive index and bibliography, essential for any good reference book

George Gissing (1857 – 1903)

I have always been fascinated by Silbury Hill which is the largest man-made mound in Europe. Mysterious Silbury Hill compares in height and volume to the roughly contemporary Egyptian pyramids. Probably completed in around 2400 BC, it apparently contains no burial. There are many theories as to why the hill was built but the hill still refuses to give up its secrets.

The photos are from my recent visit but the text below is an article I wrote about Silbury Hill in 2008:

The May edition of Heritage Today has a very interesting article on the latest discoveries regarding the mysterious Silbury Hill. The hill is near Marlborough just on the edge of the A4.

In 2000 a large hole opened up and archaeologists and engineers teamed up to find a solution. The hole was caused by a shaft that had been sunk by the Duke of Northumberland in 1776. Furthermore the soil was seeping into various tunnels that had been channeled into the hill over the years. The largest tunnel was created by Professor Richard Atkinson in 1968. The BBC sponsored him to carry out the dig and Magnus Magnusson presented a programme from within. The entrance can be seen in the following picture (from Heritage Today magazine). To repair the hill all the voids had to be filled from the middle outwards with bags of chalk followed by a chalk and water mixture. The door to the entrance has now been placed in the nearby Alexander Keiller Museum in Avebury.

There have been many theories as to the significance of the hill; burial chamber for an ancient king, a platform for druid sacrifices and astronomical observatory are among the suggestions. The stabilising of the structure enabled archaeologists to shed a bit more light on the hill. It is now certain that there was no burial beneath the mound. A piece of pottery at the site has also established that the Romans had a settlement there.

Due to radiocarbon dating using pieces of antler it has now been established that the hill was started around 2400BC and probably went on for several hundred years. It is composed of a series of layers secured by stakes, then gradually built on top of. The mound eventually got covered by different layers of local material; clay, chalk, topsoil, turf and even some sarsen stones. Whilst looking in the main tunnel the archaeologists realised that the hill had started off as several mounds which later joined into the single mound, initially it stood 5 metres high. The mound grew to 25 metres high, the top part consisting of chalk that had been quarried from an adjacent ditch. At this stage it appears that the mound was left for a while as there is a layer soil showing signs that grass had colonised it. After this rest period more chalk was piled on top until the hill eventually stood at 37 metres high. It is the largest prehistoric mound in the whole of Europe that has been hand made by humans.

I shall leave you with the final paragraph from the article.

Silbury Hill has been called the British equivalent of the pyramids, but why did Stone Age man build it? Nobody knows, exactly. Quite apart from any ritualistic significance Silbury may have had for its builders, just constructing it would have been its own reward. Having such a great shared purpose would have helped the community to cohere. Perhaps future generations will say something similar of the people who came to repair the monument in the early twenty-first century. why has Silbury been mended? Because our nation is strengthened through doing it.

More interesting facts about the mound can be found on the Silbury Hill page of the English Heritage website.

The last picture is a photograph taken of the cover of the May 2008 edition of Heritage Today, the magazine of English Heritage.

After breakfast we set off for Avebury, taking in Woodhenge along the way.  Unfortunately Avebury was a little bit further than we thought. We didn’t have enough time there because we had a timed ticket for Stonehenge at 2pm.  The Avebury experience wasn’t helped by roadworks that made access to the main interests difficult.   All we had time for was a cup of tea, a quick look at the museum and some of the stones and a brief visit to the book shop (where I regret not buying two books that caught my eye).

As we left to make our way to Stonehenge we briefly stopped to photograph Silbury Hill.  Our viewpoint was not from the normal visitor carpark, but from the side of the road. From this viewpoint the hill looked particularly impressive set against the rest of the landscape.

On arrival at Stonehenge we had lunch in the new cafe before picking up our tickets from the kiosk where there was no queuing unlike my previous visits.  I have to say I am very impressed with the new visitor arrangements and the re-connection of the stones to their landscape environment. More on this in a future blog post.

After the Stonehenge experience we dropped the car off at the hotel.  Mum retired to the hotel to give her leg a well earned rest and Mr C and I strolled to the Cathedral so that we could enjoy the magnificent building in the sunshine (see ‘Back from my Travels’).

As luck would have it our first choice of  restaurant was booked up at the time we wanted so we resorted to plan B, ending up in ‘The Haunch of Venison’.  This was a perfect venue for our D-Day celebration.  A charming young gentleman waited on us and the food was delicious.  We found that the waiter was originally from Bromsgrove (not far from us). Along the way he told us that his potential professional football career had been terminated when he broke his leg.  After the meal he and Mum (both having broken a leg) were sharing stories and comparing ankle swellings…

After the ankle comparisons we strolled back to the hotel for a nightcap before retiring for the night.