AVEBURY CHAT

Silbury diary

PeteG — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:38:48 GMT

Silbury diary

I have been keeping a diary of events at Silbury on the above link.

I updated today as I found two voids have appeared above the Atkinson tunnel.

Lets hope the weather holds and these can be filled before anymore damage occurs.

PeteG

Return of the CornMonster

PeteG — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:49:33 GMT

It's back!

PeteG

New gate to nowhere!

Rose — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:28:19 GMT

I tried to visit Swallowhead the other day and found it almost impossible. The bridge over the river was flooded, the field was flooded, the 'stepping' stones were submerged, so I tried to go down the side of the field by the closed off parking bay opposite Silbury. There is a nice new shiny gate there, calling out to be used, so I obliged, only to find that the only place you can go is an extremely soggy field surrounded on 3 sides by very fast flowing river. The old gate to the right of the ...

Avebury Residents� Pack launched

PeteG — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:42:08 GMT

Gaz & Herald

Lord Avebury and Time Team's Phil Harding will be at the Avebury Day fete to help celebrate the launch of the Avebury World Heritage Site Residents' Pack'.

The launch will take place beside the banks of Avebury's 4,500-year-old henge on Saturday 19th July.

The pack is the first of its kind produced specifically for those who live within one of the UK's 27 World Heritage Sites.

The Residents' Pack is the result of two years hard work by a wide range of contributors.

In ...

Avenue query .

tiompan — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:53:32 GMT

Recent mention of the avenue encouraged a "virtual" look at the section to the west of the B4003 where it shifts slightly further SW .I calculated that it is orientated just to the west of the westerly boundary stones on Lurkeley Hill .If this is the case it would mean that the winter major standstill moon would rise at that spot framed by the avenue . My question for you locals is , is that particular bit of the hill visible from that point of the avenue at SU 10551 69517 ? And ...

Pewsey Church

tonyh — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:36:45 GMT

Other sites/blogs I have seen. Use this Church as a example of of a Church Christianising Pagan Stones...

Must admit it had me thinking for a while... (Bad habit. Bad, bad habit)

First I noticed that this part of the Church is in a different style to the other side (It's from a differant time frame)

Next, I think that the banking on the left has been pulled away from the Church to expose the Footings (I have a feeling the drainage channel has a connection to this)

Finally I have ...

Hanging Moon Picture

june — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:38:49 GMT

Don't know if any of you have come across this yet: someone sent it to me earlier by email, so I don't who to credit it to.

The Buried Stones

Admin — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:51:11 GMT

I have just found amongst my files an 1882 map showing the positions of the buried stones located by A.C.Smith during his 1881 survey of henge using probing rods. Given the interesting information it contains I can't believe I have overlooked it this long especially when bemoaning the lack of info regarding this topic that NT has issued.

http://www.avebury-web.co.uk/bb1882.jpg

Axe grinding marks

Chance — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 08:42:25 GMT

Message 4 Pete G

Hi Pete,

Being a man with an axe to grind (only joking mate), could you please tell me the latest on how many axe grinding marks have been defiantly confirmed in the Avebury area?

I have photographed the most reported ones, but the ones in West Kennet Long Barrow seem to be a bit disputed. The grinding marks I know are:-

a) Mr. Young's polisher stone - Somewhere (not saying) on Fyfield Down

b) The inner face of Stone 19b of the West Kennet Avenue

c) ...

Hedgehogs and slugs

Rose — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:01:47 GMT

This isn't at all Avebury related, but is a bit related to the Orchid thread so I'm hoping no-one will mind too much.

I have a huge problem with slugs in my garden and was wondering if anyone had any tips. I am determined not to use slug pellets as I have a pond with frogs, toads etc and many visiting birds and am trying to garden organically.

So far I have tried:

Making a hedgehog house (the mice have moved in instead)

Putting out beer (too many slugs, not enough beer in the world!)

Eggshells ...

Hidden Swindon

Steve M — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:14:35 GMT

Fame at last!

June's wonderful Hidden Swindon blog has been picked up on by BBC Wiltshire, who are featuring it on their own website: BBC Wiltshire

June's blog is lovingly put together, and it's great to see some 'official' recognition for it. A link on the BBC website should bring an awful lot of web traffic - watch out, June!

Avebury Earthworks...

tonyh — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:55:35 GMT

I was reading this and wondered how large this smaller bank was..

----------

There are a couple of possibilities worth mentioning. Firstly, it may be that the massive earthwork, the remains of which we see today, replaced an earlier, much smaller, ditch and bank. Excavations have revealed the profile of a smaller bank buried under the final bank. Aubrey Burl ('Prehistoric Avebury: Second Edition') argues that this small bank was merely a guideline for the main earthwork. Secondly, stoneholes ...

Digging other Henge sites

PeteG — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:35:09 GMT

Thought people would be interested in this

Brodgar Excavation Diary

PeteG

A Wiltshire Farrier

june — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:34:33 GMT

Just been tidying up a bit (not before time) and flicked through the June edition of Wiltshire Life. I don't know how I missed it but there is a very interesting article in there about the farrier who shoes the Shire horses belonging to Wadworth Brewery in Devizes (text and photographs by one Steve Marshall). As with most 'old' skills it is increasingly difficult to keep it alive; the farrier Darren Oldman informs us that China has bought up 90 percent of the world's steel (that's scary).

Yesterday, ...

Driver trapped in car

PeteG — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:34:51 GMT

By Nigel Kerton

(from the Gaz & Herald)

Two vehicles collided at Beckhampton today

Gaz on line

FIRE fighters were called to free a driver trapped after a two car crash at about 11am today near Beckhampton.

A Peugeot and a Toyota collided on the A4 on the Marlborough side of the roundabout completely blocking the road.

Traffic quickly built up on the A4361 Devizes road west of Beckhampton and police had to put a diversion in place at Bishops Cannings.

It was believed ...

People climbing the stones.

megadread — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:27:24 GMT

Would you say something. ?

Yes. ?

Are you sure. ?

Tata Pedro Cruz.........

shiny — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:35:29 GMT

Does the name ring any bells?

The Ridgeway..

tonyh — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:41:12 GMT

I read references to it being the Oldest Pathway in England. But is that true?

What is the latest estimate on it's age (The Pathway)?..

Was it created to 'Service' Avebury or was Avebury built at the end of it?..

I find myself fascinated by the Forrest and the 'part' the Forrest played in the lives of the People who lived in it..

For instance...Should the Ridge way predate Avebury. Be more in line with The WKLB. Then, it would have been a trackway though the Forrest...

There ...

Silbury view

PeteG — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:07:44 GMT

For Megadread to remember his camping view

PeteG

Avebury today

Steve M — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:54:05 GMT

I went over to Avebury at about 4.30 today and to me it seemed pretty quiet for 'summer' - but in the pub it had been very busy.

I walked round the circle and it was quite peaceful, but some of the hippies are really going too far. This bloke was trying to smoke one of the stones!

The Lone Drummer

PeteG — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:36:22 GMT

BB reports seeing a lone drummer at Avebury who he thinks is a Berber drummer.

He was using large fish bones as drum sticks.

Could this be the Berber Sturgeon?

Avebury on film

PeteG — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:19:14 GMT

a young Aubrey Burl at Avebury

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGisMiEb6fo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmNvkbt3Wjk&feature=related

PeteG

Bonekickers

PeteG — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:57 GMT

Did anyone see this new series tonight?

Whilst not directly related to Avebury the series may touch on megalith archaeology at some point.

I have to say I have been on a lot of digs and they are all like that.

Terence and I are forever hacking our way through dense undergrowth to uncover lost tombs littered with skellies and gems and hardly a week goes by without having to lower BB on a thick rope into a subterainean chamber to retrieve a lost text of one sort or another.

The bit that ...

Renovated Henge Map

Admin — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:16:30 GMT

I've tidied up the henge stone numbers map and put a link to it on the forum header under "Stones" for reference purposes....If you can think of any useful additions that can be added to the map please mention.

Adam's missing orchids

Steve M — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:51:04 GMT

This afternoon I went to Walker's Hill, above Alton Barnes, to see the orchids. There are normally many different varieties - some quite rare. The weather was horrible - cloudy and threatening rain. I went to all the usual places, but found just one Common Spotted and one Fragrant Orchid. There's a big colony of Burnt Orchid on the south side of the hill, just below Adam's Grave. Except there aren't any yet this year - not one! Strangely though, I found two miniature Burnt Orchids on the east ...

Timeline Map

Steve M — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:27:55 GMT

I just bought an OS Timeline Historical Map. It uses digital composites of the original OS maps from 1817 - 1830 and they are re-scaled to match closely to the modern OS map 173 - Swindon and Devizes. I already had some reprinted OS maps, including Sheet 77 Devizes - but this new one looks very different - darker, but low contrast. It's very interesting though. This part of Wiltshire has sarsen drifts everywhere - labelled 'large stones'.

It costs �6.50 and is highly recommended.

I've ...

Meaning of the Font

PeteG — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:21:17 GMT

Anyone have an opinion on what this carving on the font means?

I have read a few things but there is much to explore.

Here is a link to a much higher res photo to see more details.

Church Font

PeteG

(Tony - Photomatrix Pro has an update out to go to V3.1)

(Update)

My solstice problem solved.

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:02:24 GMT

No more whingeing about toilet access around the solstice period from me.

Fantasy Festival

PeteG — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:16:20 GMT

Ok it will never really happen at Avebury but if there was a Glastonbury type festival at Avebury who would you bring?

PeteG

Post your choices here folks!

The hill remembered for Morgan

Chance — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:26:30 GMT

When does a hill get named?

A named feature of the landscape will only live on in the memory of those who choose to remember it.

If the map calls a feature by a name, it becomes encased within the local reference.

Morgan's Hill has a lot of features to make it stand out, like the Wansdyke and a Roman road.

This hill may have been known for its beautiful flowers, or the sweet bird song of evening.

Morgan's Hill is named after a murderer who killed his uncle in Heddington.

This ...

News...

tonyh — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:23:42 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/7481849.stm

Stonehenge protest camp

Rose — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:04:58 GMT

Arthur's up to his stuff again...!

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/display.var.2374314.0.druid_campaigns_at_stonehenge.php

Litha 2008 (Summer Solstice) - Report and Photos (Cross Post

handswithenergy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:22:48 GMT

Below is a link to a report and photos from my Summer Solstice celebrations. They started with a visit to Avebury a week before the public Solstice event. The following Wednesday it was down to the White Spring for a Full Moon/Solstice evening, although due to local issues the event was cancelled and so I held my own small event further up the road for the other disappointed visitors. On the morning of the public Solstice I was on Glastonbury Tor with the Western Order of Druids. Then I had a ...

Avebury Sky..

tonyh — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:55:36 GMT

Not really, but it could have been...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7468832.stm

Telescopes

Steve M — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:51:31 GMT

I bought a telescope this morning at the car boot sale - �15 for a 3" reflector with tripod, 3 eyepieces and an LED finder scope! It's not been used and is very clean.

The box is labelled TCM but I've now found it's made by Tchibo - it's a German company; a chain of coffee house like Starbucks that also sells randon 'stuff' that's cheap but good.

Of course the sky is completely clouded over now...

Does anyone know of this make?

Another Huge circle

PeteG — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:50:04 GMT

I'm getting De-Jevu here!

PeteG

Public consultation on Stonehenge

By Gazette Reporter

A three-month public consultation on the future of Stonehenge will begin in the middle of July, seeking feedback on two important initiatives relating to the World Heritage Site.

In December 2007 the Culture Minister, Margaret Hodge, asked English Heritage to lead a review of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site Management Plan, taking account of the cancellation of the A303 road improvement ...

Stone 80A West Kennet

Admin — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:54:28 GMT

On this 1961 map of West Kennet http://www.avebury-web.co.uk/wkaplan2.html

Stone 80A is shown as fallen by the roadside. Does anyone know if it is still visible or what has happened to it?

Avebury people

BumblingB — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:43:38 GMT

Here are some Avebury characters:

Philip Hunton (1604-1682), a schoolteacher at Avebury from c.1628-1636, was feted by Oliver Cromwell for publishing a criticism of royalty. A Treatise of Monarchy (1643) was banned after the Restoration and burned in 1683 by the University of Oxford, as one of the �Pernicious Books and Damnable Doctrines Destructive to the Sacred Persons of Princes, their State and Government, and of all Humane Society�.

Richard Phelps : �Oranges and Lemons�

Richard ...

Camp Site news

PeteG — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:37:08 GMT

From the Upper Kennet news

Firstly, I would like to thank the many people who read my article in the Upper Kennet News and agreed with its sentiments. I have been amazed by the solidarity of opinion in such a cross-section of the community.

There was also a solidarity of views at the Annual General Meeting of the Parish Council against a camp site of any nature within the World Heritage site. However, Scott Green, on behalf of the National Trust, has dismissed the 39 to 3 vote as unrepresentative ...

Threads that lose their way

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:03:20 GMT

I think we are all responsible at some point for taking threads waaaay off topic.

For people using this forum to gain knowledge and gleen in depth and general info about the avebury heritage site this must be really frustrating..

Example. The avebury people thread had the potential to be a very interesting archive on local figures, it turned out to be interesting anyway in my opinion., but you get my point.

The general banter here is interesting in its own right and often gives birth to ...

In Rockley Firs

Chance — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:38:06 GMT

An old folk song called � `In Rockley Firs' was remembered locally and preserved by Alfred Williams in his Folk Songs of the Upper Thames.

Anyone know it or anything about it?

I'm told that the tavern is the "Eagle" in Rockley and was an old coaching inn for the mail coach when it came over the downs, before the A4 was used.

In Rockley Firs

Chorus:

In Rockley Firs where I was sought

I thought that night I should have been caught

The moon shone bright and the stars ...

Solstice Time

Steve M — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:51:34 GMT

I met up with Lionel Sims today, who every solstice brings a samba band from University of East London to play at Avebury & Stonehenge. They're performing in Avebury at 8.30 pm on Friday, then going on to Stonehenge and doing it again there.

What are the Druids doing this year? As the Solstice is on the 20th, not the 21st, I assume Terry is doing his thang on Friday morning, not Saturday.

I just looked up the exact time for solstice and the Greenwich observatory has it as 23.59. ...

Hidden chambers at Wklb ?

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:31:10 GMT

For a week now ive been cramming as much information about the avebury area into my brain as possible, due to my visit there this week.

somewhere along the line i heard or read that the dry stone walling between the stones in the far chamber conceals the way to hidden chambers.

seems very unlikely to me.

whilst willing to accept that the barrow may conceal other later burials,cremations, i think this theory is ********

Im also pretty sure that the walling was done in restoring the tomb, ...

Paganism...

tonyh — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:26:37 GMT

We holidayed in Brittany last year and visited many of the Breton Monuments...

I don't recall seeing a single Pagan (Or anybody dressed in the manner of a lot of British Pagans) All the people we did see appeared to be much like us - Tourists...

Canac (Below) has many thousands of visitors.

My question is - Is the British type of Pagan typical of Pagans everywhere..

???

All done for another year

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:07:39 GMT

Well now solstice week is over i was wondering what your feelings and thoughts were on it all, the great time i had is talked about elsewhere so i wont go into it here.

From what i saw the whole thing seemed to go pretty smoothly for everyone concerned and the only incidents i saw were a drunken traveller hit a glass with his guitar at the lion, his friend soon stepped in though and sorted it.

A stupidly parked car at the entrance to the museum, restaurant complex and two elderly ladies having ...

Invisible Man

PeteG — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:20:03 GMT

The Cerne Abbas giant as it used to look (left) and how it looks now

The chalk outline of the Cerne Abbas giant has become almost totally obscured from view by thick vegetation, because there is a shortage of sheep to keep the hillside trim.

Cerne Abbas giant in danger of disappearing

Local farmers have traditionally lent their flocks to graze on the grass around the ancient fertility symbol, but for the past nine months it has been left to overgrow.

Now the famous 180ft ...

Community-run shop to open in Avebury

PeteG — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:37:33 GMT

from the Gaz & Herald

A NEW shop could be opening soon in Avebury for the benefit of local residents and tourists run by the villagers themselves.

There is growing support in the village for a community shop to replace the village post office that is due to close.

Until recently Dick and Gilda Stannard ran the post office shop in premises rented from the National Trust.

The post office, in common with hundreds of others across the country, is to close and will be replaced ...

A massive thank you

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:52:24 GMT

To PeteG and SteveM.

I really cant thank them both enough for the things they showed me and the places they took me over the last few days.

words cant express the difference they made to my trip and i shall be ever grateful to both of them and forever in their debt.

Thank you again.

I didn't take many pics but the few i did i will post as soon as all my kit is unpacked.

My missus is fine and totally surprised at my return a day early but there's only so long you can stay in a ...

Ebay

PeteG — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:34:22 GMT

Is it me...

tonyh — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:27:09 GMT

Or is anybody else experiencing half pages.. ?

It's the pages with photo's that are the problem..

Tony