Etymology isn't a very good source for this kinda thing.
Well, we're going off at a bit of a tangent there FW, and I actually I don't agree with you that etymology isn't a good source of info (especially when it's the etymology of place-names). One thing's for sure, the local Wiltshire dialect would have rendered the 'a' in Waden as an open vowel - ie Waaden, not the closed vowel suggested by Weedon. I suspect you would, regardless of the idiosyncrasies of early 18th century spellings, still have ended up with two very discrete renderings of those two names.I tend to agree with moss when she says that the, "...Wansdyke is the boundary of the last British/Welsh land, not the modern Bristol Channel..." It's hard not to believe that the Avebury area, at the time of the early Anglo-Saxon occupations, did not still respect and represent aspects of pre-Roman culture, and the idea of a hill with a 'Welsh' Temple, as suggested by Weedon Hill, fits comfortably into that landscape.
But who knows, we're all still tossing ideas around here - unlike the 'academic' community who seem to be doing sweet F all.
