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a snake transmitted thro' a circle; this is an hieroglyphic, or symbol of highest note and antiquity."

That the avenues and the circles on Overton (or rather Kennet) Hill existed originally in the form laid down by Stukeley, cannot reasonably be doubted. Fanciful and credulous as he may occasionally appear, he evidently aimed at accuracy and truthfulness. At the period of his frequent sojournings at Abury, much had been done in the way of destruction, but it had been done for the most part within the memory of the existing generation, so that the Doctor was able to satisfy himself respecting the site, the destroyer, and the mode of destruction of almost every missing stone. "The custom of destroying them," he writes, "is so late, that I could easily trace the obit of every stone; who did it; for what purpose, and when, and by what method, what house or wall was built out of it, and the like. Every year that I frequented this country, I found several of them wanting; but the places very apparent whence they were taken. So that I was well able, as then, to make a perfect ground-plot of the whole, and all its parts. This is now 20 years ago. 'Tis to be fear'd, that had it been deferr'd till this time (1740) it would have been impossible."1 He describes with minuteness the particular portions of the temple and avenues which were laid low in his time by Farmers Green and Griffin, and by Tom Robinson, (whose ugly face with a bird of ill omen hovering over it, and his manner of breaking the stones are commemorated in the vignette to page 53 of his work); and does not fail to make honorable mention of Sir Robert Holford, Mr. Charles Tucker, and Reuben Horsall, the Parish Clerk of that day, who all resented these ruthless proceedings, and will be held in grateful remembrance by succeeding generations of English Archaeologists.

Should any visitor of the antiquities of Abury be sceptical as to the form and extent of them, I would recommend him to walk down the road to Kennet, and observe the remains of the avenue on the right hand side of the road. He could not look upon those two stones and nine stumps of stones and feel a doubt 1 Page 16.

that they had formed a portion of such an avenue as Stukeley has described. The result of the Doctor's long and careful investigations, made as they were before the work of destruction had proceeded too far, was to establish, to his own satisfaction, not only the form of this stupendous work, but the actual number of stones of which each component part had been constructed. He found that the large outer circle within the mound and fosse had been composed of 100 large and unhewn stones, placed about 27 feet asunder. Of these there are at present remaining 10 erect and 8 prostrate, and of some of these last the stumps are so embedded in a bank, as to be almost hidden from view. The dimensions of the two stones of this circle near the turnpike are as follows':-That nearest the road is 13 feet high, 16 feet wide, and 4 feet thick; the other is 13 feet 10 inches high, 18 feet wide, and 5 feet 6 inches thick. Five stones or portions of stones marked as recumbent in Sir R. Hoare's plan have since disappeared, and a sixth, of which a portion then remained above ground, is now reduced to the level of the surrounding meadows.

Within this large outer circle were two smaller ones, not concentric, each, according to Stukeley, composed of thirty stones.

Of the southern of these circles two stones remain erect and three prostrate. Three recumbent stones marked in early impressions of Sir R. Hoare's survey of 1812, were removed between that year

1 The measurements have in all instances been made at the highest, broadest, and thickest parts, and were taken for me by Mr. Shepherd, land surveyor, of Abury.

2 It is impossible to write this name without feeling how great are the claims of Sir R. Hoare upon the gratitude of all English Antiquaries for the two magnificent and truly precious volumes which compose his "Ancient Wiltshire." The first was published in 1812, the second in 1819. Mr. Crocker's surveys are of great value, and greatly enhance the importance of the work. I will take this opportunity of tendering my best thanks to John Gough Nichols, Esq., proprietor of the copper-plates of the Ancient Wiltshire,' for the courteous, prompt, and kind manner in which he acceded to my application for the loan of the three plates of plans, which have been so skilfully transferred to the stone by Mr. West, and which have been adapted to the state of Abury at the present

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3 It would be difficult to make out Stukeley's double circles in Aubrey's sketch. It will be seen from plate 2, sec. 1., that the latter makes the diameter of the northern circle considerably larger than that of the southern.

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and 1819. Mr. Lawrence, the venerable Clerk of Abury, pointed out to me their sites in a garden adjoining his own.

Of the northern circle three stones (one of them much reduced in size) are now erect and one prostrate. One which was standing when Sir Richard Hoare described Abury has since been broken up. It projected into the road leading to Winterbourne Monkton, as may be seen in Stukeley's large plan; and as the carters were constantly driving against it, it was removed when the road was widened, and its fragments now form the wall which serves for the eastern boundary of the road.

Within each of these two circles Stukeley thinks there was a concentric circle of twelve stones. Of that within the northern circle, the last remaining stone when Mr. Crocker's survey for Sir R. Hoare was made in 1812, was removed about thirty years ago, as it unfortunately stood near the entrance to the farmer's rick yard. Of that within the southern circle nothing now remains.

Within the northern of these circles, in its centre, were three very large stones which formed the Adytum or Cove of the Temple, as Stukeley termed it. "These were plac'd with an obtuse angle towards each other, and as it were, upon an ark of a circle, like the great half-round at the east end of some old Cathedrals."1 Of these two remain, standing at an angle of about 110 degrees. The third, 7 yards in length, fell in 1713, and was broken up. The taller of the two is 17 feet high, 7 foot 7 inches wide, and 2 feet 4 inches thick. The other is 14 foot. inches high, 14 feet 7 inches wide, and 4 feet thick. "The properly lay upon the ground before this superb nich. The doubt was carry'd off long ago, as not being fix'd in the The late Mr. Brown of Amesbury says, "Before the centr the three, facing, (like the altar trilithon of Stonehenge) east, was placed the stone on which the sacrifices were be I ascertained myself by digging, the place being st vhere it lay, but now filled up with rubbish." In a aper on the state of Abury in 1829, in the Gentlemng Stukeley's Abury, p. 23. "The vulgar call them 'the Devil'

2 Do. p. 24. * Brown's Stonehenge and Abury, 4th ́a

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