Chance

View from the back

Natural cracking of the stone and one of the areas of stone removed with an industrial saw

View from side showing position of the capstone above the mound

View from side showing thickness of capstone and one of the areas of stone removed.

The remains of the information sign

La Grosse Pérotte and La Petite Pérotte are placed a mere 45m apart and should be grouped together. They have been built into a natural ridge. A broken part of the capstone, together with the remains of the information sign.

View from inside showing the uniformity of the supporting blocks and the precision of the building.

One of the few carvings I could clearly see.
A couple of names, one dated 1940 and above it another dated 1946.

View from inside showing the way the whole monument appears to have moved sideways.

The English tourists showing the size of the Dolmans.

View from the back showing the way the whole monument appears to have moved sideways.

View from the back

View from the back showing thickness of capstone and the way the whole monument appears to have moved sideways.

The beech trees planted by the Victorians, to turn it into more of a ‘folly’, have themselves become part of the Wayland Smithy experience.

The beech trees planted by the Victorians, to turn it into more of a ‘folly’, have themselves become part of the Wayland Smithy experience.

Looking into the mouth of the cave.
I wonder just how much of this stonework has been re-instated and how much has been placed here by the archaeologists’ imagination. The pictures of the barrow before excavation show an overgrown heap.

Gold coin produced by the local British tribe – the Artbates in the 1st Century BC.

Evidence of the Vale of the White Horse being a frontier zone comes from the distribution of such coins.

Wantage Museum

Unpolished flint axe from Alexander Keiller’s collection

Axe Heads from Alexander Keiller’s personnel collection

One axe head made from knapped flint, with oak staff, the other a polished stone axe of the type created from a polisher stone similar to this.

Stonehenge Twilight

Kodak Black and White Infra Red Film with Red R25 Filter
.

Lanhill Long Barrow showing the Ministry of Environment Bronze Plaque before it was stolen

Kodak Black and White Infra Red Film with Red R25 Filter

Walking up the old path to Silbury Hill

Kodak Black and White Infra Red Film with Red R25 Filter

Extract from the excavations made by the modern A345 in the 1970’s.
The two wooden henges, which now rest under the modern road, are shown, together with woodhenge and the round barrows south of it leading to the long barrow.

View looking North from between the old and modern A345. The henge covers all the area of the horizon, so you can see just how large an area it covers.

View looking East showing the modern A345 and hidden by the trees, the river Avon.

Note for all you eco-tourists: The bus stop shown is now the nearest public one to Stonehenge.

View looking North from between the old road and the current A345

View looking North from the old road showing the banks of the henge

The Bronze plaque at the back of Woodhenge,
possibly installed by the Cunningham’s in the 1930’s,
shows the signs of age. Another plaque below it reads..

“Woodhenge so called because it was originally a
wooden structure of a type similar to Stonehenge,
was probably set up during the bronze age possibly
for a religious purpose. The concrete posts mark
the position of the original timbers, the 6 concentric
rings are indicated in the different colours on the plan.
The rings are oval, with the long axis pointing to the
rising sun on Midsummer Day. The red concrete
posts (which do not form part of any of the rings)
and a burial near the centre are shewn in
black on the plan. A bank with the ditch on
the inner side surrounded the monument which
was entered by a causeway on the North East.”

Stonehenge – emerging from the A344 underpass

Stonehenge in it’s final stage.

Stonehenge car park looking west towards Fargo plantation and the A344.

Stonehenge with the A303 in the foreground.

If the tunnel had been built, this whole view would be one flat plain once more.

Looking towards Stonehenge from the Normington Down trackway

Coneybury Hill, site of the destroyed Coneybury Henge to the right, with the A303 to the left

The Cove looking westwards to adjoining cottage in 1930

The Cove looking south eastwards to Norris’ Farm in 1922

Orchard Farm stone wall.
These stones were rescued from the floor of a local barn. The building was refurbished into living accomadation and the floor of the old cow shed was dug up. The barn dates from the time the Sanctuarty was broken up and lies at the back of Overton Hill, in the grounds of East Kennet Manor.

Their size and bulk would fit those drawn by William Stukeley in his “Prospect of the temple on Overton Hill – 8th July 1723” from his publication, Abury – A Temple of the British Druids

It would appear lots of sarsen’s have found their way into this wall

Orchard Farm stone wall.
These stones were rescued from the floor of a local barn. The building was refurbished into living accomadation and the floor of the old cow shed was dug up. The barn dates from the time the Sanctuarty was broken up and lies at the back of Overton Hill, in the grounds of East Kennet Manor.

Their size and bulk would fit those drawn by William Stukeley in his “Prospect of the temple on Overton Hill – 8th July 1723” from his publication, Abury – A Temple of the British Druids

It would appear lots of sarsen’s have found their way into this wall

View looking across the inner circle with the post holes from Phase I to III.
This picture shows the central pillar to the right, the stone-and-post ring and the outer circle towards the entrance to the Avenue.

The odd stone set back from the rest of the inner circle.

The place where two worlds merged.

This marks the spot where they found “the lad”, as the Sir Arthur Keith refered to him.

“All parts of the human skeleton are present, the bones being of a lad about 14 years of age and about five feet in height. ..... The skull view from above shows an oval form. All the features of the skull and skeleton lead me to regard the lad as a member of the long barrow people.”

This is the overall size of the Sanctuary.
The concrete pillar at the bottom of the picture marks the centre of the site and the second band of cut grass marks the outer circle of 42 stones, 60 feet away.
The access gate leads to the A4 layby and the barrows of Overton Hill.

Looking out of the Sancturary towards the stile and NT foot path south east.
The blue concrete blocks mark the outer circle. Stukley stated that the circles formed ovals or egg shapes, but they were found to be 2 stone circles within a group 7 deep stone and wood layers. The outer measures 130 feet in dia. and contained 42 stones.

These concrete blocks painted blue, mark the excavated holes made formed by the two stone circles and outline stones. These were installed by the Cunninghams when they gave the site to the nation, after their excavations in 1930. They could be nearly 80 years old.

The size of the Sanctuary can be judged here by the circles cut in the grass.
The access gate from the A4 layby and the Ridgeway, with the round barrows of Overton Hill, in the background.
This shot shows the two odd stones leading off the Avenue stones to the left. (See the ground plan for a clearer view of this.) This feature may have been the exit if you were to process around, or could have been the entrance used by the high priest, once everybody else had assembled. There is also a single odd stone shown opposite this. The plan seems to show the stones turned 90 degrees to the circle, so forming another entrance/exit.

Looking into the Sancturary from the NT foot path. The Blue concrete posts mark the excavated position of stones. With the grass cut around the inner circle, the size of the structure can be gauged. The EH information board can be seen towards the hedge.
Behind the hedge line runs the ancient Ridgeway, the offical start, lies over the road (A4) at Overton Hill.

Plan 2

This is a more detailed mono graphic ground plan of the inner circle of wooden post holes.

The Cunningtons broke the site down into 7 rings. Here the outer ring, which contained only stones has been excluded. Ring C – The Stone-and-post ring had 32 holes in total, but only half of these were wooden post holes, the other half, the stone holes, being made later.

Here are the number of holes and thier diameters, as recoded by the Cunninghams in 1930.

B – The Fence ring of 34 stake holes, 65 ft in dia.
C – The Stone-and-post ring, 32 holes, 45 ft in dia.
D – The Bank Holiday ring, 12 holes, 34 1/2 ft in dia.
E – 10 foot ring, 8 holes, 21 ft dia.
F – 7 foot ring, 8 holes, 15 ft dia.
G – 6 foot ring, 6 holes, 13 ft dia.

The legend shows the various phases of construction from I to III. The stones were all erected much later, maybe after the sight had gone into decline through warfare, deisease or migration.

The position of the sole grave, that of the “lad”, is marked in the east.

Plan 1

This is the “current” version of the ground plan. There are a number of diffences between this and the earlier, but more detailed mono graphic ground plan. The sarsen stones are blue in colour and their orientation towards the circle gives a hint towards their purpose. The red circles indicate the various phases of the wooden elements.

The Cunningtons broke the site down into 7 rings. Here the number of holes and thier diameters are recoded.
Note: only ring A, the outer ring contained only stones and C – The Stone-and-post ring, with 32 holes, only had 16 stones.

A – The outer ring of 42 stone holes, 130 ft in dia.
B – The Fence ring of 34 stake holes, 65 ft in dia.
C – The Stone-and-post ring, 32 holes, 45 ft in dia.
D – The Bank Holiday ring, 12 holes, 34 1/2 ft in dia.
E – 10 foot ring, 8 holes, 21 ft dia.
F – 7 foot ring, 8 holes, 15 ft dia.
G – 6 foot ring, 6 holes, 13 ft dia.

There seems to be no reason why the outer ring only contained 42 stones. Maybe this was the number of tribes who came together to build the Avebury complex in it’s final stage.