Avebury

I totally disagree with you ... that looks like the 49 bus from Swindon to Devizes; I used it myself to go to Avebury yesterday. How did you travel to all those sites you've posted up by the the way.

But the village is there, along with the Red Lion; did you know the forecourt (where the tables are) is made up of broken sarsens from the stone circle. The village is a living community - the village shop is run by volunteers from the village.

I can't comment on the geometry of Avebury other than it is a circle.

The whole World Heritage Site is my favourite place to wander about and I don't consider taking a bus to get there a 'vulgar habit'. Once again, may I ask with the utmost courtesy - how did you get there?

An excellent photo Arcturus (and welcome to TMA by the way). Your photo puts Avebury and the Diamond/Swindon Stone in a (literally) new light.

A comment I heard earlier on your photo was that the lights of the vehicle seemed to suggest the speeding transience of modern life, while the Stone itself suggests permanence - whether or not that's what you intended to convey doesn't matter too much (if I may say so) as in the end it's how we interpret the world around us, and whether that interpretation (on these pages at least) helps in the understanding and appreciation of our megalithic heritage.

IMHO your photo certainly goes a long way towards achieving that goal. Well done :-)

I don't drive and i agree that the road needs to go, it is out of place[nowadays], the place is too sacred for roads, the village also needs relocating along with the pub, they wont do it for the sacred but they do that sort of thing for road building and widening, it's all about what people think is important, you could say that the pub and the church are archaeology as well but like i said it doesn't stop the greedheads when they want to widen [or build] the roads or build a new fucking runway!!!! the times are changing!!!!!

I had once had this conversation with someone who cared passionately about Avebury and felt there should be a by-pass. My argument then, and now, is that it would cause devastation to the surrounding landscape - which is also 'ancient and sacred'. And when the bulldozers came in to demolish the village, pub and road would what was left be 'sacred' ? I don't think so. The road, in some form, has been there for hundreds of years and seems to enter/exit at the north and south entrances which have always been there (the Swindon Stone being one of the portal stones).

Several years ago I was out at Avebury on a week day when there was a freezing (minus degrees) wind blowing, I was compelled to sit in the Red Lion watching transporter lorries thundering by the window; it wasn't pleasant but before people start shouting about relocating the village and the road you have to think of the consequences for the surrounding landscape. Pehaps we have to go 'back to the future' and campaign to have local railway lines reinstated so that food/commodities are not just transported by road.

Arcturus, perhaps we should have had this discussion on the forum as it is getting a bit long for the comments boxes. I have to say I am in complete agreements with you regarding vehicles speeding through Avebury. It has been a bone of contention for a long while even though there is a 30 mile an hour speed limit.

I walked along a section of that road earlier in the summer to get to the track up to Windmill Hill. It was unnerving to say the least, you don't actually realise how fast cars are going until you walk along the side of a road. It was such a relief to get off it.

We've probably worn you out now with all our comments, however, I would like to ask one more question relating to your photograph. If that is a bus passing by the Swindon Stone, and it does look like the bus I use, it can't have been going that fast - how did you get that effect. Is it a time lapse.

I'd love to know if you can bear one more answer.

best

tjj

Thanks A, sounds like my bus ... it starts running in the small wee hours (though I may be wrong, I often am).

PS: BTW, I'm a woman and quite small.

June

Hi Arcturus.

Sorry, this is a bit of a cheek, but I've been thinking of doing a short feature on the Diamond/Swindon stone for a while now and your pic of it has jolted me into action (though it probably won't see the light of day until early next year). I'd love to use your photo above (along with a couple of others that I already have) and the feature would probably appear initially on my Avebury Matters blog.

No prob at all if you can't oblige but, if you can, photo credits etc would naturally go to you.

Cheers.

LS

Thanks Mr A, much appreciated - will credit it to Arcturus if that's OK.

Just my twopenneth but i don't think the traffic detracts from the sacredness of the place, whatever that is, i do agree the traffic shouldn't be there though, it is one of our foremost ancient sites after all.

Labelling Avebury "sacred" just doesn't wash with me, we have bugger all clue what it was used for, primarily it's an archaeological landscape' it's only modern day "worshippers that attach such spurious tags to the place without solid foundation.

Hi Arcturus.

Managed to get a draft feature up on the Diamond Stone sooner than I thought using your pic - aveburymatters.blogspot.com/2009/12/diamonds-are-forever-hopefully.html

Please let me know if you want anything changing re: the caption or credit.

Cheers.

LS

Thanks Mr A. The feature (along with your photo) has now been taken up by Heritage Action here - heritageaction.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/avebury-diamonds-are-forever-hopefully/ Hope that's OK but let me know if you want anything changing.

Cheers

LS