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Avebury () is a village and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, England. The village is about west of
Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...
and northeast of Devizes. Much of the village is encircled by the prehistoric monument complex also known as Avebury. The parish also includes the small villages of Avebury Trusloe and Beckhampton, and the hamlet of West Kennett.


Prehistory


Stone circles

The Avebury monument is vast, and consists of several smaller sites of varying dates. The earliest of these, the
earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour * Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), m ...
, dates to between 3400 and 2625 BC. Later additions include a henge and several
stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...
s. Starting in around the 14th century, locals began dismantling the stone circles for one reason or another: to clear land, to provide material for other building projects, or simply to efface a pagan monument. In 1648 John Aubrey visited the site and found most of the stones still standing or lying nearby:
These Downes looke as if they were Sown with great Stones, very thicke; and in a dusky evening they looke like a flock of Sheep: from whence it takes its name. One might fancy it to have been the Scene where the Giants fought with stones against the Gods... I was wonderfully surprised at the sight of those vast stones, of which I had never heard before; as also at the mighty Banke and Graffe itchabout it. I observed in the Inclosures some segments of rude circles, made with these stones, whence I concluded, they had been in old time complete.
In the 18th century,
William Stukeley William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...
visited the site and chronicled the further damage that had been done. In 1872, the banker and Liberal MP,
Sir John Lubbock John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, 4th Baronet, (30 April 183428 May 1913), known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was an English banker, Liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist and polymath. Lubbock worked in his fam ...
, bought part of the village and protected the monuments. He later promoted the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 to ensure the British government protected ancient monuments. In the 1930s, the archaeologist Alexander Keiller re-erected many of the fallen stones, partially restoring the circle to its original condition. In 1943 the government took possession of the monument and the village; they are currently administered by the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
. In 1986
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
added Avebury, along with
Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...
, Silbury Hill, and associated local sites, to its
World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...
.


Other sites

The earliest occupied site in the area is on Windmill Hill in the north-west of the parish, where a causewayed enclosure with three concentric ditches was built c.3700 BC on an earlier field system. Two avenues of
standing stones A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be foun ...
radiate from Avebury henge.
Kennet Avenue Kennet Avenue or West Kennet Avenue is a prehistoric site in the English county of Wiltshire. It was an avenue of two parallel lines of stones 25m wide and 2.5 km in length, which ran between the Neolithic sites of Avebury and The Sanctua ...
runs south-east for about from the south entrance of the henge to
Overton Hill Overton Hill is a 571 ft (174 m) hill at the southern edge of the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire, England. It lies just west of the village of West Overton and about west from the town of Marlborough. The A4 road passes close to the north, a ...
, just beyond West Kennett hamlet. Originally there were around 100 pairs of stones, and many survive although some are buried or have been re-erected. On the hill stood a stone and timber circle, destroyed in the 18th century, known as The Sanctuary. The second avenue, known as Beckhampton Avenue, consisted of pairs of stones running south-west for about from the west entrance of the henge to a cove known as
The Longstones The Longstones are two standing stones, one of which is the remains of a prehistoric 'Cove (standing stones), cove' of standing stones, at , close to Avebury, Wiltshire, Beckhampton in Avebury parish, in the English county of Wiltshire. Two st ...
near Beckhampton. Of this avenue, only one stone remains (one of the Longstones); the rest are either buried or missing. Other prehistoric sites in the parish include Silbury Hill, south of the henge, a chalk and earth mound about high. Further south (on the other side of the A4) is
West Kennet Long Barrow The West Kennet Long Barrow, also known as South Long Barrow, is a chambered long barrow near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Probably constructed in the thirty-seventh century BC, during Britain's Earl ...
, a chambered long barrow.
Falkner's Circle Falkner's Circle was a stone circle near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Built from twelve sarsen megaliths, it measured about in diameter, although only one of these stones remains standing. The ring ...
, 750m south-east of the henge, was a stone circle of which one stone remains.


Modern history

The Roman road from Silchester to Bath followed the Kennet valley west from
Cunetio Cunetio was a large walled town in a valley of the River Kennet in modern-day Wiltshire, England. The settlement was occupied from the 2nd century CE by Romano-British culture, Romano-British people until the Sub-Roman Britain, post-Roman period, ...
(near Marlborough), then continued over West Down. A section of the
agger Agger may refer to: * Agger (surname) * Agger (ancient Rome), a type of ancient Roman rampart or embankment * Agger (river), a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Agger nasi, an anatomical feature of the nose * Agger Rockshelter, in Wisconsi ...
, some 300m long and up to 1m high, is visible south-west of Beckhampton.
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
in 1086 recorded a church at ''Avreberie'' but no further details; the population of the settlement may have been recorded under another estate name. Fourteen households were recorded at ''Backentone'', on land held by Gilbert of Bretteville. The village grew around the church and the manor houses of Avebury and Avebury Trusloe. In 1377 there were 134 poll-tax payers in the village, making it one of the largest settlements in Selkley hundred, together with 31 at Beckhampton and 24 at West Kennet. Henry I granted an estate at Avebury to his chamberlain William de Tancarville, who in 1114 granted it to the Abbey of Saint-Georges, Boscherville, Normandy, leading to the establishment of
Avebury Priory Avebury Priory was an alien house of Benedictine monks in Wiltshire, England, between the early 12th century and the Dissolution. William de Tancarville, chamberlain to Henry I, granted an Avebury estate (which he had recently received from the ...
. After the expulsion of the alien priories, in 1411 the manor was granted to the collegiate church at Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire. The college exchanged the land with the Crown in 1545, and in 1547 the manor was granted to the courtier Sir William Sharington, who had extensive landholdings in Wiltshire and neighbouring counties. Later owners included William Dunche (from 1551);
John Stawell Sir John Stawell or Stowell, 29 August 1600 – 21 February 1662, was MP for Somerset at various times from 1625 to 1662, and one of the leading Royalists in the West Country during the First English Civil War. Captured at Exeter in 1646, h ...
(from 1640); his son Ralph, created
Baron Stawell Baron Stawell was a title that was created twice in British history. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1683 when Colonel Ralph Stawell was made Baron Stawell, of Somerton in the County of Somerset. The title became extinct on ...
in 1683; Adam Williamson (d.1798),
governor of Jamaica This is a list of viceroys in Jamaica from its initial occupation by Spain in 1509, to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. For a list of viceroys after independence, see Governor-General of Jamaica. For context, see History of Jamai ...
; Sir Henry Meux (from 1873), MP and brewery owner, and his son, also Henry. Manor Farm (excluding the manor house) was sold off in 1902, and bought by the National Trust in 1943. The house,
Avebury Manor Avebury Manor & Garden is a National Trust property consisting of a Grade I listed early-16th-century manor house and its surrounding garden. It is in Avebury, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, in the centre of the village next to St James' ...
, was bought in 1955 by Sir Francis Knowles, who restored it and began to open it to the public in 1956. After passing through several hands following his death in 1974, the house was bought by the National Trust in 1991. The land held by the church at the time of the Domesday survey was granted to
Cirencester Abbey Cirencester Abbey or St Mary's Abbey, Cirencester in Gloucestershire was founded as an Augustinian monastery in 1117 on the site of an earlier church, the oldest-known Saxon church in England, which had itself been built on the site of a Roman stru ...
by Henry III in 1133. In 1604 the rectory estate was granted to the Dunche family, and probably merged with the manor estate.


Avebury Trusloe

Another manor held by the abbey was bought by Joan Trusloe in 1563, and around 1628 the estate known as Avebury Trusloe was held by William Dunche; he sold it to Sir Edward Baynton in 1633. The
Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...
traces the later owners including Alexander Keiller, who bought a farm in the 1920s and sold it to the National Trust in 1943. The house known as Trusloe Manor began as a rebuilding c.1520, was later reduced in size to four bays, and in the 1980s gained a large rear wing.


Beckhampton

Racehorses have been trained at Beckhampton House, using gallops on West Down, since the mid 19th century. Notable trainers include Sam Darling and his son
Fred Darling Frederick Darling (1884–1953) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse trainer who trained a record-equalling seven English Derby winners. Darling's father, Sam Darling senior, was a trainer at Beckhampton, near Avebury in Wiltshire, who train ...
who had nine
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
winners between them in the first half of the 20th century; then Noel Murless between 1948 and 1952, followed by
Jeremy Tree Arthur Jeremy Tree (21 December 1925 – 7 March 1993) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Background Born into a prominent London family, Tree was always known by his middle name, Jeremy. His father was Ronald Tree, an American-born ...
, then since 1990
Roger Charlton Roger J. Charlton (born 18 January 1950) is an English racehorse trainer and a former flat racing jockey. He trains horses in Beckhampton Stables, near Marlborough in Wiltshire, England. He made an immediate impact as a trainer in England and ...
.


Geography

The River Kennet flows south through the parish, passing just west of Avebury village before turning east near Silbury Hill on its journey towards Marlborough. Higher ground includes Windmill Hill in the northwest corner of the parish, and Avebury Down in the east. Beckhampton, Avebury Trusloe and Avebury are on the A4361, a renumbered section of the A361 between Devizes and
Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...
. The Calne
Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...
section of the A4 crosses the A361 at Beckhampton and continues east through West Kennet.


Religious sites


Parish church

Pevsner describes the
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
of St James as "archaeologically uncommonly interesting". There was a stone church on this site, just west of the prehistoric earthwork, in the 10th century; it had a high and narrow nave without aisles, similar in its proportions to St Laurence's, Bradford-on-Avon. Parts of this building survive, in quoins at the north-west corner and two small windows at the west end (now internal to the church), which had external shutters rather than glazing. Three circular
clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
windows in the north wall are also Anglo-Saxon. Aisles were added in the 12th century, the nave walls being pierced by low arches; the aisles were widened in the 15th century and in 1812 the arches were rebuilt to let in more light, but fragments of 12th-century work remain. Pevsner called the newer Tuscan columns "a surprise, but not an unpleasant one". In the 14th century the south porch was rebuilt, using a 12th-century doorway having two carved
orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...
and a hood mould. The three-stage west tower, with stair-turret, was built around the same time. The chancel was rebuilt in the 13th century, and again in 1879 during
restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...
by R. J. Withers. The church was designated as
Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
in 1966. The stone font has carving which is probably from two periods. The lower part has an arcade of intersecting arches with a somewhat chaotic layout, while the upper decoration has foliage scrolls, two serpents or dragons, and a skirted figure which may be Saint Michael, holding a
crozier A crosier or crozier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholi ...
. The font may be Saxon with Norman carving over-cut. The chancel screen is a design of 1884 by C.E. Ponting, and above it is a 15th-century
rood loft The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...
with coloured and gilded panels, complete and therefore described as "rare" by Historic England. The timbers of the loft were concealed behind a wall after the
Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
in the 16th century, remained undiscovered until 1810, and then were reinstalled by Ponting in 1878–1884. Monuments inside the church include an elaborate marble wall memorial to Susanna Holford (died 1772). In 1979 there were five bells in the tower, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries; after the peal was restored in 1981 there were six cast at Whitechapel, and two more were added in 2009. The old tenor bell, cast in 1719 by Richard Phelps (born in Avebury and master of the Whitechapel foundry from 1701 to 1738) now strikes the hours. The lychgate at the south entrance to the churchyard was designed by Ponting and erected in 1899. A heavy timber frame on low limestone walls, under a tiled roof, it is described by Historic England as a good example of its type. The benefice was united with Winterbourne Monkton from 1747 to 1864, and again from 1929, although the parishes remained distinct. From 1952 and again from 1963, the incumbent also held the benefice of Berwick Bassett. In 1975 a team ministry was created for the area, and today the parish is part of the Upper Kennet Benefice, alongside seven others around Avebury.


Chapels

A
nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...
chapel was built inside the stone circle circa 1670, then extended in the 18th century and again in 1830. In the 20th century the congregation joined the United Reformed Church and in 1977 the building was designated as Grade II listed. The building was bought by the National Trust in 2017, regular worship having ceased by 2015, and is operated as an information centre. A Strict Baptist chapel was built in 1873, replacing a building from the 1820s. The chapel closed circa 1953.


Notable buildings

The parish has three
Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
buildings: St James' church, Avebury Manor, and the Great Barn at Manor Farm, north-east of the church. The late 17th-century barn has nine bays under a thatched roof; it was restored in 1978 and is used as a museum by the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
. Beckhampton House began c.1745 as a large coaching inn on the Bath road; alterations in the 19th century included the addition of a stone porch. Built in brick with limestone sills, the house has three storeys and a five-bay front. Since 1855 it has been the farmhouse for the racehorse stables. A nearby 17th-century house, two storeys in stone with a thatched roof, is now the Waggon and Horses pub; additions in the late 19th century and early 20th are described as picturesque by Historic England. West Kennett House was built c.1800. A three-storey house with a five-bay brick front and columned porch, it is described by Orbach as "rather urban Late
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
".


Avebury Manor

Avebury Manor and Garden is a National Trust property in the village, near the church, consisting of the
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
and its garden. The house was begun c.1557 by William Dunch, extended in 1601 and partly rebuilt c.1907; it is Grade I listed. Since 1938 its 18th-century stables have housed a museum, now the Alexander Keiller Museum. A well-preserved 16th-century circular
dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...
in the grounds is Grade II* listed.


Governance

Avebury is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council
unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.


Amenities

The village
pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
, The Red Lion, a former farmhouse from the late 16th century, claims to be the only pub in the world to be enclosed by a stone circle. It was built around the 86-foot deep village well which has been covered over with glass and now features as a dining table. Another pub, the Waggon and Horses, is about one mile south-west of the village at Beckhampton. The National Trust has a restaurant for visitors in converted farm buildings. The village has no school, following closure of the primary school in 2007. This school, on the High Street opposite the church, began as a National School in 1844, then was rebuilt in 1849 and enlarged in 1873. In 1970 a new school was built behind the original and the old building became a social club for the community.


In media

The stone circle has been used several times as a filming location. It was used in the short film '' Lucifer Rising'' (1972), and for the 1998 film ''
Still Crazy ''Still Crazy'' is a 1998 British comedy film directed by Brian Gibson (his final film before his death in 2004). The plot concerns a fictional 1970s rock band named Strange Fruit, who, after being split up for two decades, are persuaded to get ...
''. Avebury was also the setting for the 1977 cult HTV West series ''
Children of the Stones ''Children of the Stones'' is a British television fantasy drama serial for children, produced by HTV in 1976 and broadcast on the United Kingdom's ITV network in January and February 1977. The serial was produced by Peter Graham Scott, with Pa ...
'' that depicts Avebury (renamed "Millbury") as a town controlled by the stones. Also in 1977, it was the location for the BBC's '' A Ghost Story for Christmas'' episode " Stigma". In 2002, the stones and the Red Lion were the subject of an episode of ''
Most Haunted ''Most Haunted'' is a British paranormal reality television series. Following complaints, the broadcast regulator, Ofcom, ruled that it was an entertainment show, not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal, and "should not be taken seri ...
'', first shown on Living TV. Avebury is the setting for
Robert Goddard Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945) was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first Liquid-propellant rocket, liquid-fueled rocket. ...
's thriller novel, ''Sight Unseen'' (2005). Avebury, in particular, The Cove, is the setting for some of the action in and is referred to throughout Elly Griffiths' novel, ''The Stone Circle'' (Ruth Galloway, No.11) (2019).


References


Sources

*


External links


Avebury visitor information
– National Trust * * {{authority control Civil parishes in Wiltshire Villages in Wiltshire World Heritage Sites in England English Heritage sites in Wiltshire