Ancient Wessex News and Information
Ancient Wessex News and Information

Avebury

Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument, built between 2850 BC and 2200 BC, with three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, England. Avebury contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to some pagans.

There are also many places and monuments in and around Avebury, important in the ancient wessex world, including SilBury Hill, The Sanctuary, West Kennet Long Barrow, etc.

A henge is the name for a circular Neolithic earthwork, consisting of a bank with a ditch on the inside. The henge at Avebury is very large at just over three quarters of a mile in circumference and it would have been originally up to 29 feet deep . The large outer stone circle contains two smaller inner circles within it. The stones themselves are of a local sarsen stone.

Archaeologist Alexander Keiller excavated at Avebury in the 1930s, there is now a museum bearing his name. The Alexander Keiller Museum displays archaeological treasures from across the World Heritage Site.

Avebury henge and stone circles are managed by The National Trust on behalf of English Heritage, and the two organisations share the cost of managing and maintaining the site.

South Inner Circle of Avebury

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Outer Breakwater, Portland Harbour