Avebury Stone Circle is one of the world's greatest prehistoric monuments: older than Stonehenge,…read moreit is the largest megalithic stone circle (henge) anywhere, and part of what was once an enormous megalithic complex stretching for miles. To me, it's more impressive and more spiritual a place than Stonehenge, despite the fact there's a road and village within its structure. History As ever with such sites, our knowledge is limited, but like Stonhenge, it is likely to have been built in phases. The best guess is that construction began around 2600BC with the inner circles, with the great ditch and outer circle completed around 2500BC, making it contemporaneous with the Pyramids at Giza. When completed, these circles included about 154 stones (only 36 remain today) and it also had two avenues 50 feet wide on either side, extending another one and a half miles. Excavations indicate it was probably used as a ritual site for some 2,300 years. A mile to the south is the artificial Silbury Hill, which must also have formed a related part of this complex, although its purpose is now unkown. Nearby Windmill Hill - an important settlement in Neolithic times - also has some burial mounds from the Bronze Age. As well as natural degradation, the monument suffered hugely during the mediaeval period when the Christian authorities actively encouraged demolition of what was regarded as a Pagan monument. This process accelerated in the 17th and 18th centuries, when local people also broke up the stones for building material. But as late as the 1720s, the great antiquarian Dr William Stukeley was able to trace the original plan, including the avenues: although his interpretation of this as a Druid site is now regarded as inaccurate, his drawings and surveys provide our best record of what it looked like. Alas, the destruction of the stones by local farmers continued unabated into the 19th century. The 20th century showed a greater interest in and respect for the site, and - rather controversially - many of the stones were re-erected in the 1930s by the archaeologist Alexander Keiller. This involved in some cases demolition of later buildings, themselves of some historical interest. I happen to think he was right to try and preserve what was left, but many contextual historians disagree. Whatever the rights and wrongs, the site is now safely in the hands of the English Heritage and managed by the National Trust. The site Today, the most impressive feature is the great ditch and its banks: the excavation of this feature - nearly 0.5km in diameter - involved moving 200,000 tonnes of soil and rock. It may even once have been filled with water to make the interior and island. Even now, the ditch and bank together are impressive, but originally they were even deeper/higher (at around 50ft). Inside this are the remains of the outer circle, which is nearly complete in the north west and south west corners. The remains of the two inside circles are more fragmentary. Unlike Stonehenge, here you can walk right up to the stones, so allow at least a couple of hours to visit properly. Don't miss walking south from the main henge monument along the West Kennet Avenue - around 30 standing stones arranged in pairs (to the form the avenue). Practicalities There is a gift shop and museum in the nearby Barn and Stables (themselves 17th century buildings) with interactive displays to put everything into context. The museums are fully accessible, but the main site has undulating grassy terrain (without footpaths) which are accessed through "kissing gates". The ground can get soft and rather boggy underfoot if it has been raining, so you will have to judge for yourself. There is a drop-off point in the village. Parking is the main problem: there is a pay and display car park (free for motorcycles and National Trust Members), on the A4361 road between Beckington and Avebury about 400m from the edge of the henge. This can become packed very quickly in the summer. There's a more central car park for those with disabled parking badges - the Red Lion car park is only for patrons. The village of Avebury itself is worth a wander around (Avebury Manor - see separate review - and the Red Lion especially, although it does get terribly busy at weekends in summer). For the most part, you'll still be inside the monument itself!

I almost feel educated!‍ We enjoyed this pre Stonehenge!…read more Keeps getting ! Keeps getting stranger!

We visited Lockeridge Dene as part of a private day tour that included stops at Stonehenge, Avebury…read moreStone Circle, Woodhenge, West Kennet Long Barrow, Durrington Walls, and Silbury Hill. We felt these stops helped give us context to Lockeridge Dene and a better understanding of the time period. This National Trust site has fields of Sarsen stones scattered around. It is thought that this is where the stones in the Avebury Stone Circle were mined.

This has been on my bucket list for a long time and I was glad that Globus included it on their…read moreLondon Countryside Tour. About 2 hrs from London, this is an UNESCO site. A short walk from the parking lot,you take a bus about 1.5 miles to the site. You will experience the mystical stone circle of Stonehenge. You can't actually touch the stones as they are roped off but you can get close enough for some great pictures. You can spend as much time as you like and then you can either walk back or take the bus. You exit thru the gift shop where there is also a cafe and restrooms. Definitely an experience I will never forget!

So glad to get a chance to visit this historical place. We were able to get on the first bus to get…read moreto the stones, and beat the crowd to take lots of pictures. Everything was marked, with excellent descriptions all around. There was a nice gift shop and cafe. The exhibition museum was amazing. The huts outside the museum were wonderful. All staff were very nice and welcoming. Highly recommended!

If you go to Stonehenge, Avebury Circle or Silbury Hill you should stop in at this amazing burial…read moremound. It's small but that's part of the attraction. At Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury everything is seen from a distance like you're walking through a museum where everything is behind glass. Here you can go into the mound and explore around it all you like. There are no walkways, fences or signs that start, "Please don't...... ". When you walk to the back of the interior you lose your scene of time and feel it could just as easily be 1010 BC outside in the sunlight as 2010. The stones guarding the entrance are in many ways more remarkable than those at the better know places. First of all the people who erected them seem to have just left for supper. They are arranged in a perfect order as if stating: "let those inside rest in peace". But what I found most amazing about West Kennet Long Barrow was that the basic layout of the place, the location on the hill, the grandeur of it all (if on a small scale) are all reminiscent of our modern places of worship and remembrance. The people who built the mound must have revered those who were once buried here and the template they created through intuition and inspiration have stayed with us all these years.

Few people, easy to access. Free. Don't go too far out of your way, but an interesting stop.read more

Just 2 miles from stonehenges.. Its a free site. Not much but truly amazes you, when you think of…read morethem people who created these circles. What were they thinking or doing to create these circles.. hmm. Nice views around. Small parking available as well.

Bradford on Avon has a wel-preserved Anglo-Saxon (i.e., pre-Norman /pre-1066 English) Church of St…read more Laurence, also referred to as the Saxon Church. It was supposedly founded in the early 8th century and the surviving building is over 1000 years old. It has preserved a typical Anglo-Saxon style and decor and is both charming and interesting.

Bradford-on-Avon is a lovely historic town close to Bath, with a handsome mediaeval bridge, an…read moreimpressive 14th Century tithe barn and a lovely parish church of Norman foundation. But the most famous building in Bradford-on-Avon is undoubtedly the diminutive church of St Lawrence which, by an accident of history, is Britain's most perfectly preserved Saxon church. A church was founded on the site in AD 705 by St Aldhelm, although most archaeologists agree that the present building dates from the reign of King Aethelred II (978-1016). A charter granted Bradford to the nuns of Shaftesbury in 1001, and the church may date from this grant. It has been suggested that the richness of this small church implies that it was intended partly to house the relics of Aethelred's brother, Edward The Martyr. Its subsequent history is rather obscure, but appears quite early on to have been converted into secular use, with other buildings growing up around it, and extra floors inserted into its nave and chancel. These were removed when it was rediscovered and restored in 1856, although the walls still show evidence of them. There are no remaining additions from later periods, so the building we now see is purely Saxon. The church is tiny the nave is just 25ft long and the chancel is 13ft long, although it feels larger as it considerably taller than it is wide. A north porticus is still intact, but the south has been lost, although it is clear from the exterior where it stood. The robust Victorian buttresses on the south side were erected when the school-master's house, which had bee built on this side against the church, was demolished. Decoration is restrained: the exterior has Romanesque blind arcading, and the interior has simple mouldings around the narrow door arches, but the most interesting carvings are those of two bearded flying angels on the east wall of the nave. There are only a few, small windows, giving a dusky light. Although the interior is bare of furnishings, it is nevertheless an ancient and atmospheric space.

The Abbey gateway in Kingswood is the symbol of the village. The gateway is all that remains of a…read moremonastery that was Kingswood Abbey, a Cistercian abbey. Kingswood Abbey was founded in the year 1169 by a William of Berkeley. All that survives today is the 16th century abbey gatehouse, which is under the care of English Heritage. The abbey was destroyed by order of Henry XIII and someof the stone was used to build nearby Newark Park House. There is a short description of the abbey placed by English Heritage. If you are passing through the area it is worth stopping in to see.

You might not realise, but Wiltshire is actually full of white horses This is one of the more…read morerecent ones, said to have been cut in 1837 by the Parish Clerk of Broad Hinton to commemorate the coronation of Queen Victoria. (What? You thought they were all Neolithic? Nope the Victorians had a bit of a fashion going for them). It's also quite small, being 27 metres high. You can get a pretty good view from a car as you drive up Hackpen Hill, though I scared my mum by leaning out the window to get a picture (I WAS looking out for traffic coming the other way lol). Apparently the field underneath is a favourite place for crop circles to appear. In fact, if you turn the map to satellite/hybrid view, you'll currently be able to see the horse and a rather fine crop circle to the North West The horse is also known as the Broad Hinton or Winterbourne Bassett white horse, after nearby villages.