Putting aside the rights and wrongs of climbing Silbury, I have to disagree with both The Eternal and Sanctuary when they say (to paraphrase) the view from the top is great and helps put the monument within its landscape. The view from the top isn’t that great actually because you can’t see much further than the downs immediately surrounding the monument. There’s a much better view of both Silbury and the surrounding landscape from the top of Waden Hill – from there the monument is truly in the landscape (ditto the views from the Sanctuary and Windmill Hill).
I agree with Sanctuary on the point he makes however that, “...the builders of the Complex no doubt looked down from [the top] at some stage to admire much of what they had accomplished with great pride.” (and for that reason have always believed that the top was always flat though of course not as flat as now).
What happened after completion however is maybe the interesting bit; was it reserved for special ceremonies with only an elite few allowed access, was it open to all at any time, or was it a combination of both when it was out of bounds to most people most of the time but opened up a few times a year for special occasions.
Who knows (and as always it’s fun to speculate) but I think we can be pretty sure of one thing (already outlined in JC’s the Game of Silbury) it was constructed to be seen (and marvelled at?) from many different view points.
 Reply | with quote | Posted by Littlestone
2nd September 2012ce
10:15 |
Room for a view (Littlestone, Sep 02, 2012, 10:15)- Re: Room for a view (tiompan, Sep 02, 2012, 10:41)
- Re: Room for a view (Sanctuary, Sep 02, 2012, 13:51)
- Re: Room for a view (The Eternal, Sep 08, 2012, 23:22)
- Re: Room for a view (Evergreen Dazed, Sep 10, 2012, 10:28)
- Re: Room for a view (Sanctuary, Sep 10, 2012, 13:50)
- Re: Room for a view (Looking Deeper) (Sanctuary, Sep 10, 2012, 22:09)
- Re: Room for a view...The 'missing' top! (Sanctuary, Sep 12, 2012, 20:27)
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