Avebury Stone Circle
Avebury stone circle and ditch has always been of interest to me.
The first time I saw it was in a school field trip led by our intrepid geography teacher, ‘Spud’ Gardiner……
Twenty of us piled off the school bus and ran through the rain and mud, from the car park, to the ditch entrance. The high bank obscured our view for a few seconds as ‘Spud’ stalled us and gave us a short talk on the history and archaeology of Avebury………. And then all was revealed as we entered the circle by crossing the great ditch.
A great memory that serves me well today
The ditch and bank were excavated in the early years of the 20th century by Harold St. George Gray who was the curator of Taunton museum. He found evidence that ditch construction had occurred in two phases. Initially a much smaller bank had been built around 2800BC. There is some evidence that this early bank was only ever meant to be a preliminary marker for the final, much larger form which is believed to have been started a century or so later. However, due to the amount of time taken by their construction, precise dating is difficult to achieve and with very little of the present structure having been excavated there remains uncertainty whether this was in fact the intention.
Anyway, here are some older photographs from that early excavation, showing you what it used to look like ……
I still enjoy taking people to ‘see the stones’ at Avebury, but the visit should always have an emphasis put into the bank and ditch, as well as the surrounding landscape of archaeology.
When touring the area I always make sure that a walk up to West Kennet Long Barrow is included ( I’m happy that one or two of my guiding colleagues now do it as well). A tomb that once housed the remains of people who were probably instrumental in the digging of the ditch and erection of the stones, it’s a must when visiting the area and I feel that my tour groups should experience that ‘connection’.