one another, so that one may walk between. Many of the stones have of late been carried away. West of it is a single, broad, flat, and high stone, standing by itself; and about as far northward from the circle, in a ploughed field, is a barrow set round with, or rather composed of large stones." "By the above description, I was enabled," says Sir R. Hoare, "to find the remains of this circle, which is situated in a pasture ground at the angle of a road leading to Broad Hinton, and consists at present only of a few inconsiderable stones." In the dip of the hill between the Kennet avenue and a slight oblong earthwork on the slope of Hakpen Hill,3 a solitary stone is standing. Mr. Falkner of Devizes, has favored me with the following account of his observations in connection with it. "The stone which you saw in a field on the left, when you went along the avenue towards Kennet, was seen by me in 1840. I went to it, and found it was one of a circle that had existed at some former period. There were two other stones lying on the ground, and nine hollow places, from Small Circle near Kennet. (Falkner, 1810.) which stones had been removed, making twelve altogether. I made a note of it at the time, and the person with whom I was riding 1 Stukeley's Abury, p. 45. 2 Hoare's Ancient Wiltshire, ii. p. 95. I use the words 'Hakpen Hill' because this hill is so designated in the plan, but the Hakpen Hill, properly so called, does not extend so far to the south, or beyond the road leading from Abury to Rockley. See Ordnance Map. observed it also. The circle was then in a meadow, which was broken up a few years afterwards, and two of the stones removed. The circle was 282 yards from the nearest part of the avenue. I could not have been mistaken as to the fact of a circle being there, and considered the discovery of sufficient importance to write to the Rev. E. Duke on the subject, who was not aware of what I told him, nor could he explain the matter at all,-only suggesting that the stones might have been set round a large tumulus,—but the ground was quite flat within the circle, which was about 120 feet in diameter." "In a lane leading from Kennet to Marlborough," says Aubrey, "are eight huge large stones in a circle, which never could be by chance, and besides they are rudely hewen." (Plate iii. fig.2.) It was probably this circle which Stukeley has described in his 'Itinerarium Curiosum' (part I. page 132). "Over against Clatford at a flexure of the river, we meet with several very great stones, about a dozen in number, which probably was a Celtic temple, and stood in a circle; this form in a great measure they still preserve." In Sir Richard Hoare's second volume of Ancient Wiltshire,' in Dean Merewether's paper in the Salisbury volume of the Archæological Institute, and in the 'Crania Britannica,' by Mr. Davis and Dr. Thurnam, may be found very interesting accounts of the examination of barrows in the vicinity of Abury. Sir Richard Hoare thus describes the conclusion he arrived at, from the investigations carried on under his superintendence: "The result of these underground researches will prove to us the very high antiquity of the tumuli raised on this conspicuous eminence (Overton Hill); and at the same time the poverty of those Britons over whose ashes these sepulchral mounds were elevated. We find no costly ornaments of jet, amber, or gold, but very simple articles of brass and vessels of the coarsest pottery. Cremation seems to have prevailed, except in one instance, where the post of honour, adjoining the sacred circle, might possibly have been reserved for the chieftain of the clan that inhabited these downs." Again, "In my late researches 1 Ancient Wiltshire, ii. p. 91. This barrow is no doubt the more southerly of the two shown in Aubrey's sketch (plate iii. fig 1). The other, as Dr. Stukeley near Abury, I had the satisfaction to substantiate the conjectures I had previously formed, respecting the nature and contents of the barrows in this district. I had ever considered the stone circle at Abury to be of a much older date than that of Stonehenge; and in the same light I had always considered the tumuli. These conjec tures have been corroborated by our late researches; for although we find the same modes of interment adopted here, as in South Wiltshire, yet we have found none of those costly articles which have so often rewarded our labours in the southern district of our county." "The absence of costly ornaments of amber and gold, in the barrows of this district, as distinguishing them from those near Stonehenge," says Dr. Thurnam, "is borne out by all the more recent excavations of these tumuli. The immigrant tribe of Belge were doubtless more wealthy than the aboriginal Dobuni of North Wilts, and also kept up a more intimate traffic with Gaul." These mute memorials of a remote age, over which, without impairing them, the seasons have for centuries rolled their uninterrupted course, and to which we are indebted for such glimpses as we have been able to catch, of the arts and customs of our British ancestors, are full of interest to the thoughtful mind. They carry it back to a time when the now deserted downs and lofty hills were thickly-peopled tracts, when the wattled hut was the habitation, when cattle were the riches, and the worship of the heavenly bodies the religion, of the Britons. How do they not bridge over the interval between the present and a past long anterior to Saxons, Danes, and Romans; and in their presence, what recent events de the Great Rebellion, the Wars of the Roses, and the Norman vasion appear to be! The knowledge, too, that they were tells us, was levelled in 1720; "a man's bones were found within a bed stones, forming a kind of arch. Several beads of amber, long and rour as one's thumb end, were taken from it, and several enamel'd Britis glass: I got some of them white in colour, some were green." Th have been the solitary exception to the absence of amber in these be 1 Ancient Wiltshire, ii. p. 93. 2 Crania Britannica," "Description of Skull from Barrow at The writer is indebted to Dr. Thurnam for much valuable assista pilation of the present paper. "The circle of the stars" and "the lights of heaven." Solomon, xiii. 2. over the bodies or ashes of some great ones of their day tends to increase the mystery and awe with which they are invested. It is to be wished that they might be spared further disfigurement from the furrow and the plantation. There is one cluster which from their elegant forms and elevated position, are strikingly beautiful, especially when seen against the horizon in the evening twilight; and for the preservation of which I would earnestly plead. They compose the group alluded to by Sir R. Hoare, in one of the previous extracts, and are situated upon Overton Hill, near the Roman road and the turnpike road to Marlborough. The barrow which adjoins the site of the 'Sanctuary,' to which we have already alluded, and from which Dr. Thurnam, in 1854, obtained the fine skull which has been figured and described in the Crania Britannica,' has this year been divested of its turf for the sake of the ashes. The same process of excoriation has been extensively carried on, during the last few months, upon the Down between Beckhampton and Shepherd's Shore, and it seems likely that every year will show a further contraction of our open downs. Might not the owners and occupiers of land be induced to plough round the barrows and leave their surface intact? In many instances, I doubt not, they have been found as unproductive as that upon which the Cromlech in Clatford Bottom, called the 'Devil's Den,' was erected; and, for a few stalks of corn or a dozen turnips annually, it is a pity to obliterate or degrade these interesting traces of Britain's earliest inhabitants. At all events, it 1 In this group is a beautiful example of the triple barrow. There is another at Shepherd's Shore. 2 "It is not to be desired that the ancient barrows belonging to the times of paganism, should be . . . removed. It is true they occur, in certain parts of the country, in such numbers as to offer serious impediments to agriculture; while they contain beside large masses of stone, which in many cases might be used with advantage. Still they deserve to be protected and preserved, in as great a number as possible. They are national memorials, which may be said to cover the ashes of our forefathers; and by this means constitute a national possession, which has been handed down for centuries, from race to race. Would we then unconcernedly destroy these venerable remains of ancient times, without any regard to our posterity? Would we disturb the peace of the dead, for the sake of some trifling gain."—Primæval Antiquities of Denmark, by J. J. A. Worsaae, 1849, p. 153. deserves the consideration of the members of this Society whether they should not map the barrows which remain, and collect for those who come after us what information has been or may be procured respecting the examination and contents of those which have been opened. THEORIES RESPECTING THE OBJECT FOR WHICH THE TEMPLE WAS CONSTRUCTED. The object for which the great work at Abury was constructed will probably ever be involved in mystery. We know so little of the Druids and their forms of worship, that to more than conjectural approximations to the truth we can hardly hope to attain. An astronomical, a civil, and a religious purpose have each had their advocates. The erection, too, of circular temples, like this and Stonehenge, has been assigned by different writers to different nations; to the Phoenicians, the ancient Britons, the Romans, the Saxons, and the Danes. There can, however, be little doubt that the temple at Abury dates from a period long anterior to the Roman connection with Britain, and that it was a much older work than Stonehenge. "I think we may fairly conclude," says Dr. Guest, "that Stonehenge is of later date than Avebury and the other structures of unwrought stone; that it could not have been built much later than the year 100 B.C., and in all probability was not built more than a century or two earlier. As to the antiquity of Avebury, I dare offer no conjecture. If the reader be more venturesome, and should fix its erection some eight or ten centuries before our era, it would be difficult to advance any critical reasons against his hypothesis." "The Rev. Richard Warner was the first," says Mr. Bowles, "who started the idea,-in my opinion a most happy one, that the Belga, having taken this (the southern) part of the country from the Celts as far as Wansdyke, raised this monument of Stonehenge in rival magnificence to that of Abury." Dr. Guest writes, "It will be seen that the Wansdike bends to the south, as if to avoid Avebury, and approaches close to it, but does not include Bath. 1 Archæological Journal, 1851, p. 157. |