|
 Log in |
Register
|
|
 Head To Head The Modern Antiquarian Avebury Forum | Start a topic | Search |
5 messages | Select a forum: |
| When this little book landed on my doormat, I admit to being slightly sceptical - though easy to see just at a glance, it was well written, accessible and jargon free. Thoroughly researched and clearly a labour of love for its author Roy Goutté (aka Sanctuary); he draws on records dating back to 1685, quoting correspondence to John Aubrey by Dr Robert Toope as documented in Monumenta Brittania; he details in chronological order the Silbury excavations up to the current decade when he quotes David Field (English Heritage’s Landscape Investigation Team) and Jim Leary. This is not an alternative Story of Silbury Hill, however; Roy makes an credible case for the Avebury Complex being a carefully thought out neolithic Female Earth Figure, the purpose of which was a gateway to the afterlife. He links the component parts of the Avebury Complex including the Ridgeway, the Sanctuary, the Great Circle, West Kennet and Beckhampton Avenues; Silbury Hill (as the figure in child) and the Swallowhead Springs/River Kennet - as the (re)birth canal and gateway to the afterlife. I found Roy’s chapter on the Swallowhead Springs particularly moving. If you think this is a rehash of something you’ve read before, trust me it isn’t. I have been fairly immersed in the Avebury landscape over the past three or four years – so much so, this year I had a break and left it alone. There are ideas in Roy’s book I’ve never heard expressed before; perhaps the biggest revelation for me was what Roy has to say about the Well within the stone circle (now housed in the Red Lion pub). I’ve pondered and pondered on the significance of this within the circle – Roy’s book offers a plausible explanation. A great little read indeed - thoroughly recommended. Reply | with quote |  6th December 2010ce 23:28 |
Top of page