Silbury

Prehistoric Wiltshire: An Illustrated Guide and talk by Bob Clarke

2011-11-04T11:34:00.001-07:00

Prehistoric Wiltshire: An Illustrated Guide by Bob Clarke. Foreword by Francis Pryor

Wiltshire contains some of the most important archaeological sites in Britain and its Prehistoric remains range from the splendour of Stonehenge to the awesome Avebury stone circle, with Silbury Hill and the Kennet Long Barrow being other noted megalithic monuments in the county.

Among these important sites are also found smaller, perhaps lesser known monuments to the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, including the cursus barrow cemetery at Fargo Plantation and Woodhenge.

Bob Clarke, author of numerous books on military archaeology and history, takes us on a tour of the prehistoric sites in this archaeologically rich county, using aerial photography and outstanding images, which accompany the informative text and diagrams.

Amberley Publishing. ISBN 9781848688773. Paperback. 128 pages. b&w and colour illustrations throughout.

Bob Clarke will also be talking about his book this Sunday (6 November) at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum. The talk will be followed by a book signing.

Venue: Sunday 6 November, 2:30 - 4:30. Entrance fee £3 which includes tea/coffee and cakes.

The Marlborough Mound: Prehistoric origins confirmed!

2011-06-01T03:32:00.000-07:00

Writing in The Guardian yesterday Maev Kennedy reports that -

“For generations, it has been scrambled up with pride by students at Marlborough College. But the mysterious, pudding-shaped mound in the grounds of the Wiltshire public school now looks set to gain far wider acclaim as scientists have revealed it is a prehistoric monument of international importance. After thorough excavations, the Marlborough mound is now thought to be around 4,400 years old, making it roughly contemporary with the nearby, and far more renowned, Silbury Hill. The new evidence was described by one archeologist, an expert on ancient ritual sites in the area, as "an astonishing discovery. Both neolithic structures are likely to have been constructed over many generations.”

William Stukeley’s 1723 image of Marlborough “Mount”

More here and here.

On this day William Stukeley (1687-1765) died

2011-03-03T07:42:00.000-08:00

“Stukeley was an English antiquary and one of the founders of field archaeology, who pioneered the investigation of Stonehenge.

“William Stukeley was born at Holbeach in Lincolnshire, and studied medicine at Cambridge University. While still a student he began making topographical and architectural drawings as well as sketches of historical artefacts. He continued with this alongside his career as a doctor, and published the results of his travels around Britain in 'Itinerarium Curiosum' in 1724.”

More here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/stukeley_william.shtml

World Megameet. Sunday, 17 July 2011

2011-02-13T08:37:00.000-08:00

Heritage Action will be holding its 6th World Megameet this year on Sunday, the 17 July in Avebury.

More here -
http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/avebury-world-megameet-sunday-17-july-2011/

A rude race of hunters...

2011-01-09T10:39:00.000-08:00

“...I have ascertained that Silbury Hill was originally surrounded by a deep trench or moat. Also, that it was erected by a people, probably a rude race of hunters, so little advanced in civilisation that they were using flint implements a long time after the hill was built. This discovery places the date of the erection of Silbury Hill at a very early period, possibly many centuries before the arrival of the Romans in Britain.”

From Recent Excavations at Silbury Hill by Alfred C Pass. Read to the Clifton Antiquarian Club on 15 December 1886. More here -

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://silburyhill.pagesperso-orange.fr/silbury-hill-archeology/Recent-excavations-at-Silbury-Hill.pdf&ct=ga&cad=CAcQARgAIAEoBDAAOABAnYqm6QRIAVgAYgJlbg&cd=9hUDtIABgWY&usg=AFQjCNFNaTHeQyCboLzwaNygOiBSLyAIUw

David Attenborough's big dig

2010-10-27T02:24:00.000-07:00

Quoting from a recent Guardian article, “Silbury Hill is as ancient and enigmatic as Stonehenge. David Attenborough tells Jonathan Jones why he set out to crack it.”*

Crack it? An unfortunate use of the word ‘crack’ in this context (though perhaps an unwittingly accurate one). And as much as I like and respect David Attenborough, the 1960s tunnel into Silbury should categorically never have been dug; it contravenes just about every conservation (and possibly archaeological) rule in the book. The 'dig' was a shambles from start to finish, with little respect for the integrity (archaeological, structural or otherwise) of the monument. The televised dig was a 1960s archaeological equivalent of Big Brother voyeurism, only in this case it was Silbury that was in the firing line and about to suffer the worst attack on its structural integrity in over 4,000 years.

Has anyone asked, for example, where all the 1960’s spoil from the Atkinson/BBC tunnel (an intrinsic part of the structure itself) was dumped? It’s gone, vanished, along with any archaeological evidence it may have contained. If stones from the Great Pyramid had been dug out and discarded in this way there would have been an international outcry. But not here. Silbury might not be as high, nor as old as the Pyramids, but treating it as it was treated by Atkinson and the BBC was cultural vandalism. Vandalism touched with egotism, and akin to scraping off a 13th century church mural in order to find out what a 12th century mural under it might look like. But that’s only part of the story; when Atkinson and the BBC crew left Silbury at the end of the 60s the tunnel was not even backfilled. Metal tunnel struts were never removed, just allowed to corrode, and all kinds of junk, including old car tyres, ended up in the monument’s interior. The whole project (if it can be called that) is hardly different to the barrow and tomb wreckers of slightly earlier centuries who had little more in mind than the possibility of finding buried treasure and didn’t care a jot for the structures they were damaging or, in some cases, totally destroying.

For David Attenborough to argue that, ‘far from failing, TV's first live dig triggered an unlikely chain of events that recently led to the tunnel being reopened and re-examined, using modern techniques’ is surprisingly naive for a man of such distinction. Silbury very nearly collapsed at the beginning of this century; that collapse was partly due to rain seeping into the structure from the vertical shaft and weakening further the Atkinson/BBC tunnel. It’s a miracle the structure did survive (and is perhaps testimony to the genius of its builders that it did) but it now contains dozens of metal struts from the 1960’s ‘dig’ and hundreds of plastic sacks from English Heritage’s most recent ‘conservation’ project.

In the 18th century William Stukeley witnessed the almost complete destruction of many of the stones that went up to make the nearby Avebury Henge; he writes of that destruction, “And this stupendous fabric, which for some thousands of years, had brav'd the continual assaults of weather, and by the nature of it, when left to itself, like the pyramids of Egypt, would have lasted as long as the globe, hath fallen a sacrifice to the wretched ignorance and avarice of a little village unluckily plac'd within it.”

Likewise, if Silbury had been ‘left to itself’ it would not have come so perilously close to collapse, would not now be so riddled with hastily backfilled tunnels, a shaft and the detritus of recent ‘investigations’. And, if left to itself, it would, in time, undoubtedly have benefited from scientific and archaeological advances – advances which would almost certainly have given us an insight into its construction, use and meaning - without, it should be said, the use of the destructive and invasive ‘techniques’ which almost destroyed it.

* http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/oct/25/david-attenborough-silbury-hill-bbc

Silbury Hill 'not always a hill'

2010-10-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

In an interview* with Evan Davis this morning on Radio 4’s Today programme, Jim Leary makes (and repeats several times) the extraordinary statement that, “The received wisdom that we had when we went into the tunnel in 2007, was that the hill was constructed as a single construct...”

What! A single construct! I’m no expert but anyone with even a passing interest in Silbury knows it was constructed in at least three phases. Perhaps Leary means he was surprised at how many phases it was constructed in, but that isn’t the impression he gives here. He's certainly keen to push his book though (see below) and the interview concludes with Leary urging millions of Radio 4 listeners to go out and buy a copy...

* http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9126000/9126720.stm

Observations on The Story of Silbury Hill

2010-10-25T00:28:00.000-07:00

Below are observations, and some background information, by Fachtna McAvoy (formerly an archaeologist with English Heritage) for readers of the book, The Story of Silbury Hill: written by Jim Leary and David Field. The views below are those of Fachtna McAvoy and do not necessarily represent the views of this blog.

I was on the Board of the Silbury Hill Conservation Project since its inception and I managed and carried out archaeological excavation and recording at Silbury from 2000 until the 15th June 2007. This was the day that I was dismissed from the on-going conservation work and tunnel re-excavation and then replaced as ‘director of fieldwork’ by Jim Leary, hitherto a (relatively recently appointed) member of the project team. The manner of my removal and replacement was and remains controversial (described at http://sites.google.com/site/anotherstoryfromsilburyhill/ ).

In these circumstances, although I was kindly offered an opportunity to review this book here, I feel it would be more appropriate instead to simply make a few observations on the reporting of events during that part of the Conservation Project for which I had responsibility and have first-hand knowledge. There are a number of factual inconsistencies in the portrayal of these events in the book ie:

1.

‘…. while Jim Leary directed the excavations in 2007 and 2008.’ (page xii).

The text quoted above gives the reader the impression that Jim Leary directed all of the excavations in 2007. This is incorrect as I directed the excavations at Silbury from 2000 onwards and in 2007 until the 15th June.

2.

‘For archaeologists specialising in prehistory, any trepidation at being lowered into the hole was tempered by sheer excitement at the thought of seeing the interior of one of Europe’s most important prehistoric monuments.’ (page 70).

The text quoted above gives the reader the impression that archaeologists specialising in prehistory, like Mr Leary for example, were present at this very early stage in the project. This is an incorrect portrayal. I was one of the very few people who were lowered into the hole and none of us was a specialist in prehistory. On a slightly different tack the thing I found astonishing in this experience was not that the shaft was square but that people had been down the open shaft before us and had left offerings like tea-lights and a small model bull. I am surprised that the authors did not mention this to illustrate the compelling attraction of the monument. One of the things that I found most interesting was the evidence for differing stages in the construction of the mound which could be clearly seen in the walls of the shaft. Here distinctly differing types of mound deposits were separated by a white continuous band of crushed or trampled chalk.

3.

‘On Friday 11 May 2007, the large green door that had been closed nearly 40 years previously was opened.’ (page 90).

The text quoted above gives the reader the impression that this was the first time that the tunnel door had been opened for nearly 40 years. This is incorrect and omits to mention that the tunnel door had been opened in the previous year (2006) by Skanska.

4.

‘…. it could be seen that the tunnel had been filled with pink, Type 1 roadstone.’ (page 91).

The text quoted above reinforces the impression for the reader that this was the first time that this roadstone fill had been observed. This is incorrect. The fact that the tunnel had been filled with pink roadstone had been established in a partial re-exposure of the tunnel entrance by English Heritage in 2004.

The above passages seem to me to reveal a willingness by their author (Mr Leary I believe) to re-write and misrepresent facts from even very recent history. I recognise that this view is based upon a limited set of observations but there is very little other material in the book which refers to matters of which I have first-hand knowledge. I was forbidden to visit Silbury during the engineering and archaeological work which took place from mid-June 2007 onwards.

Fachtna McAvoy

25 October 2010

Heritage Action lends its weight behind English Heritage

2010-10-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

Heritage Action lends its weight behind English Heritage and supports its ban on allowing people access to climb the monument. Please, when visiting Silbury, observe this ban and leave or do nothing there that might damage this ancient structure, its archaeology or the micro environment it supports.

More here -
http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/silbury/

Silbury from the south-east quadrant of the Avebury Henge

2010-09-05T00:40:00.000-07:00

A view of Silbury not possible all year due to crop growth. The monument can just be seen on the skyline between the stone on the left in the south-east quadrant of the Avebury Henge and the stone on the right in the south-west quadrant. If Silbury were originally higher it would have been more easily seen from this point in the circle. It might be argued however that Waden Hill was slightly higher in the Neolithic and is now somewhat reduced due to heavy ploughing. If Waden Hill was also wooded at that time that too would have cancelled out the view of the monument from within the circle.

Rethinking Silbury

2010-09-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

"One of the advantages of living on the edge of a World Heritage Site, is that you occasionally get to see the latest activity and research in action."

An excellent (independent) report here -

http://thehword.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/rethinking-silbury/ on English Heritage's excavations at 'Later Silbury'. It rather puts to shame the sporadic, lack of detail, and very lack lustre 'reports' on the official EH team blog (see below).

Avebury: World Megameet. Saturday, 21 August 2010

2010-08-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

"It’s that time of the year again when we look forward to sun and summer, and our annual (this year being our fifth) picnic at Avebury. As the weather has not been too good for the last two years the picnic on the grass has normally ended up in the Red Lion, with people scattered amongst its many rooms. Fingers crossed for fine weather this year but, if not, the Red Lion in Avebury will again be our venue. Otherwise, the picnic will take place by the recumbent stone in the south-east quadrant of the Avebury Henge from noon onwards on Saturday, 21 August 2010."

"All are welcome. Bring your own food and drink, or eat at one of several pubs around Avebury."

More here -
http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/avebury-world-megameet-saturday-21-august-2010-2/

Memorabilia. Silbury Golden

2010-08-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

Silbury Golden. An organic beer once brewed by Ushers of Trowbridge

Perhaps not quite a piece of memorabilia but certainly a very memorable drink. Silbury Golden was an organic bitter brewed at the end of the 20th century by Ushers Brewery of Trowbridge, Wiltshire (the brewery closed in 2000). Sold in bottles of 500ml with an alc of 4.5% and a UKS Organic Certificate, the bitter was brewed from an Ushers' recipe which used, "...organically grown malt and hops to create a golden beer with a delicate hop aroma, refreshing light bitterness and clean crisp finish." The label on the back of the bottle goes on to read, "A mystery amidst the fertile plains of Wiltshire, Silbury Hill is the largest man-made mound in Europe. Started in 2660BC, it rises to 130 feet and covers 5 acres. It's purpose has been lost over the ages; one theory suggests it was a solar observatory, and another links it with "Lammas" (Harvest Festival) as the mound becomes most visible when nearby grain crops have been gathered."

The Romans at Silbury

2010-08-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

One of two trenches in the water meadows below Silbury

Fragment of a Roman brooch?

Unconnected with the ungoing English Heritage excavations at Silbury, this fragment (possibly of a Roman brooch) is from the West Kennet Long Barrow area. Compare this fragment with the two Roman brooches from Beckhampton Down (Merewether 1851) illustrated on pp153 of Pollard and Reynolds' Avebury: The biography of a landscape.

"A team consisting of several English Heritage archaeologists and archaeological scientists led by Nicola Hembrey (Project Manager) and Vicky Crosby (Excavation Director) plus their Project Executive (Michael Russell) along with other team members from archives, conservation, graphics, geoarchaeology, geophysics, logistics and zooarchaeology, have started conducting, ”…five weeks of digging eight evaluation trenches to focus our attention on a poorly-understood phase in Silbury’s history – the Romans. How did the Romans understand this place?”"

Alan S>

More here - http://latersilbury.wordpress.com/ and here -
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/research/archaeology/silbury/roman-period/

Field trip to the archaeological excavation near the Monument

2010-08-09T01:11:00.000-07:00

Trenches in the arable field opposite Silbury

Field trip to the English Heritage archaeological excavation near Silbury Hill, Wiltshire and the Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury.

Wednesday 1 September 2010.
10.30am – 4pm.

"The Icon Archaeological Group field trip will be visiting a research excavation being undertaken by the Archaeological Projects team at English Heritage. The excavation is evaluation the recently revealed Romano-British settlement located in the fields surrounding Silbury Hill. The day will include a guided tour of the excavation by the project manager as well as the opportunity to hear about the recent Silbury Hill conservation project.

"In the afternoon the field trip will move on to the site of Avebury and a guided tour of the Alexander Keiller Museum.

"A buffet lunch will be provided at the Red Lion Pub, Avebury. "

More here –

http://www.icon.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1284&Itemid=16

Resolving the Enigma. The reviewer is reviewed

2010-08-08T03:20:00.000-07:00

In the latest edition the CBA British Archaeology magazine, Jim Leary begins his ’review’ of Michael Dames’ book, Silbury: Resolving the Enigma (see below) with the rather dismissive statement that, “Let us first be very clear: despite the words “English Heritage” in the opening line on the back cover, this book has nothing whatsoever to do with the recent English Heritage project at Silbury Hill.”

I’m sure it doesn’t, and I’m sure Michael Dames would be the last to claim that it does. Leary however goes on to complain that, throughout the book, “…Dames portrays archaeologists as feckless academics, over-reliant on science and closed to the outside world.” Ehm… yes… that does sound about right with regard to much of the ’archaeological’ activity at Silbury over recent decades. Leary however rants on and then concludes (without actually having reviewed the book at all) with the somewhat condescending statement that, “This well-written but ultimately frustrating book would have benefited greatly from a little communication with archaeologists. Perhaps then it would not have been so full of factual errors.” Hmm… we look forward to reviewing your book, Jim, when it’s published later this year; no doubt it will be free of any factual errors and will shown that you (and English Heritage) have fully communicated with conservators (and others) on the optimum methods and materials needed to ensure the future stability of Silbury, and have also taken on board the advice offered to you by such professionals (as well as the concerns of those in the pagan community).

It is not our role to promote current archaeological theories, nor the alternative theories of those outside the archaeological establishment. Perhaps, however, a little more communication from English Heritage archaeologists with other concerned bodies and individuals, and a little less self-aggrandisement of some individual archaeologists, would not go amiss. If a luminary like Professor Ronald Hutton of Bristol University can write of Dames’ latest book that, “This is a colourful, readable and fascinating personal reinterpretation of a unique monument. As a set of hypotheses it is credible, and as a piece of literature it is a joy. Michael Dames knows and loves our land itself at least as well as anybody else alive.” we can surely expect the same degree of magnanimity (and diversity of perspective) from those public servants whose wages we pay.

Silbury: Resolving the Enigma by Michael Dames is published by The History Press Ltd. Paperback: 192 pages.
ISBN-10: 0752454501. ISBN-13: 978-0752454504.

English Heritage on their consolidation project at Silbury

2010-08-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

English Heritage has released four films (the first three produced in 2007) on Silbury under its Conservation Projects banner. Some footage, but not all, has previously been shown.*

The first film, entitled Silbury Hill: The Conservation Project Begins, is narrated by Julian Richards and shows the temporary capping, with polystyrene blocks, of the shaft dug by the Duke of Northumberland in 1776. Fachtna McAvoy, who managed the archaeological element of the English Heritage Silbury Conservation Project between 2000 and September 2007, shows core samples from the ground level of the Monument when it was first built some 4,400 years ago. Also shown is the Atkinson/BBC tunnel door being opened for the first time since it was sealed in 1969. Strangely, the spoil that was seen spilling out of the tunnel in an earlier version of the film, is not visible in this version.**

The second film, A Walk through the Tunnel, shows Jim Leary, Fieldwork Director of the project for English Heritage, talking about, “…a few of the discoveries made inside the tunnel.” The film concludes with a, “…walk along the main tunnel from its start at the surface of Silbury three to its end at the central core of Silbury one”. Note how the number of small boulders on the tunnel floor increase towards the central core.

The third film, Collapse and Discoveries, shows engineers led by Mark Kirkbride (Project Manager from Skanska) discussing problems, and some of the archaeology revealed by a collapse inside Silbury, with Amanda Chadburn from English Heritage. Chadburn’s statement with regard to a collapse that, “If we just leave this it will eventually migrate up to the surface we’ll end up with Silbury with a kind of little valley or something [gestures]… which is not good…” is a little understated to say the least.

The fourth film, Filling the Silbury Hill Tunnel, begins with the somewhat premature claim that, “…the Hill has been stabilised and the future of this important monument assured.” Note there is no mention of the sensors still monitoring the interior, nor the possible deleterious effect foreign bodies in the form of iron arches and plastic sacking within the Monument might have on it. In the film English Heritage also glosses over their idea for a time capsule by saying, “During the project English Heritage involved local schools in a number of projects…” One such project was, in fact, for a time capsule containing, among other things, items made by local schoolchildren which would have then been placed within the Monument. The idea was opposed by Lord Avebury (owner of Silbury), by Heritage Action and by others and was eventually abandoned. The film opens with a pagan ceremony followed by Mark Kirkbride and Jim Leary describing the final days of engineering and archeological work at Silbury. The film concludes with an advertisement for Jim Leary and David Field’s forthcoming book (foreword by David Attenborough***) The Story of Silbury Hill.

Putting aside the slow release of the films, together and in this format, the lack of detail contained within them, and what looks like a sleight of hand re: the editing out of the opening of the Atkinson/BBC tunnel door; not to mention the somewhat premature claim that, “…the Hill has been stabilised and the future of this important monument assured.” there is much food for thought contained within all four films and especially the last one where it is revealed that various stages of the construction of Silbury are far more complex than hitherto thought.

After watching the films I am yet again struck by the beauty and sheer complexity of Silbury, both as a structure and as a monument (I wish English Heritage would stop calling it a hill) and deeply saddened by all it has suffered in recent times. Let’s hope that English Heritage’s claim that, “…the Hill has been stabilised…” holds true.

* Films here -

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/multimedia-library/conservation-projects/

** Seen here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxkXdK2hcs4 (04:40 minutes in). It’s difficult to reconcile that footage with what seems to be a ‘cleaned up’ version of the opening here -

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/multimedia-library/conservation-projects/ (Holes in The Hill: The Conservation Project Begins. 03:00 minutes in). Perhaps English Heritage would like to explain the difference?

*** David Attenborough was Controller of BBC2 when the Silbury Dig programme was filmed for the channel in 1968 and 1969. Silbury Dig was one of several programmes in BBC2′s Chronicle series. It seems the young, and perhaps overly enthusiastic, controller invited Richard Atkinson to tunnel into Silbury and ‘reveal its mysteries’ to the nation on television. Let’s hope that David Attenborough uses the forward to this book to state clearly that the Silbury Dig programme should never have been made, that it was a shambles from beginning to end (the tunnel was not even backfilled after Atkinson and the television crews left) and that it went against the accepted conservation (and probably archaeological) standards of the time.

Silbury Films

2010-07-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

Silbury Dig: The Heart of the Mound.

BBC 2 Chronicle Series.
First Broadcast 27 July 1968.
Duration 39 minutes 12 seconds.

"Silbury is one of the largest prehistoric earthworks in Europe, possibly dating to 2400BC. In this programme, originally broadcast live, Magnus Magnusson meets the archaeologists who have uncovered a tunnel that leads into the heart of the mound."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/chronicle/8607.shtml

Silbury Hill falling down.

Channel 4 News. 24 Oct 2007.
Duration 4 minutes 31 seconds.

http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/player.jsp?showId=9817

The Hill with a Hole (or The Silbury Hill Conservation Project).

English Heritage. 10 June 2010.
Duration 9 minutes 5 seconds.

"A film produced by Chris Corden Productions for English Heritage that includes work taking place within the re-opened 1849/1968/69 tunnels at Silbury Hill."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxkXdK2hcs4

See also -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVxKI0bKdk4

Book reviews. Silbury: Resolving the Enigma by Michael Dames

2010-07-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

"This is a colourful, readable and fascinating personal reinterpretation of a unique monument. As a set of hypotheses it is credible, and as a piece of literature it is a joy. Michael Dames knows and loves our land itself at least as well as anybody else alive."

Professor Ronald Hutton, Bristol University.

Published by The History Press Ltd. Paperback:192 pages.
ISBN-10: 0752454501. ISBN-13: 978-0752454504.

Silbury Hill - new find in the archive!

2010-02-01T03:22:00.000-08:00

"New information has emerged from letters written in 1776 about excavations at Silbury Hill and published for the first time in the new volume of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine.

"Local historian, Brian Edwards tracked down two letters, written in 1776 by Edward Drax to his friend, Lord Rivers, about excavations at Silbury Hill. Edward Drax from Bath , had hired a team of miners from the Mendips to dig a shaft from the top of Silbury Hill, to the centre of the hill, 125 feet below.

"The letters record that at first, the miners found little but large chalk blocks and deer antler. However, at 95 feet, some 30 feet above they expected the base of the mound to be, the miners discovered what Drax records as a 'perpendicular cavity' that was 6 inches across, and that 'we have already followed it already about 20 feet, we can plumb it about Eleven feet more'. He says that ‘something now perished must have remained in this hole to keep it open’."

More here - http://wiltshireheritagemuseum.blogspot.com/2010/02/silbury-hill-new-find-in-archive.html

Silbury Dig: The Heart of the Mound

2010-01-21T07:29:00.000-08:00

BBC2's Chronicle series "...filmed excavations at the Silbury Mound from 1968 to 1970, one of the largest operations mounted by the programme. This 1968 dig was not, however, the first attempt to uncover the secrets of Silbury Hill. The Duke of Northumberland sank a shaft into the mound in 1777. A tunnel was dug in 1849, while in 1922, Sir William Flinders Petrie cut a large trench into the base of the mound. This trench was reopened and re-examined as part of the 'Chronicle' series in 1969."

More here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/chronicle/8607.shtml

Silbury in Wintertime. Image credit Bozzer

2010-01-01T07:48:00.001-08:00

Silbury and New Beginnings

2010-01-01T07:38:00.000-08:00

William Morris once wrote of a visit he took to Avebury one summer afternoon. He was a schoolboy at Marlborough College, and would cycle out on his afternoons off to visit the stones and have a drink at the Red Lion Inn. In a letter written to his sister he describes wading through the water meadows around Silbury before he climbed to the top, and finding a snail shell which he kept. The water meadows have long gone, though maybe they will be returned soon to the fields round this great mound leaving the grass full of the flowers of summer.

Water is such an important part of our lives, it has a somewhat mystical aura as to its magical properties as well in history, its glassy surface reflecting back a mirror image, and there is evidence to suggest that the ditch round Silbury when filled with water could have been a part of the ritual ceremony bronze age people would have taken part in, progressing across a causeway to the sacred mound. The Winterbourne running beneath Waden Hill which turns with such abruptness at the Swallowhead Spring to become the Kennet River reminds us that springs have also been sacred as well. The Roman settlement discovered so recently in the water meadows, may also have come into being because Silbury had carried its sacred powers through time from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, several Roman wells have also been discovered round the base of Silbury.

Suddenly we are leaving the archaeological world behind and stepping into the natural world, where water flows, plants grow and people move about in the landscape busy at their chores. The first phase of Silbury brings us a sharp reminder of what plants existed at the time, the soil and turves heaped on the first mound have preserved the minute details of leaves, seeds and insects, here we find all the plants of a mixed ecology.
So what has this to do with saving heritage? History is most often the recorder of destruction, archaeology even more so, yet when there is something tangible to explore and preserve people take a lot of time and trouble to do just that. Silbury after the calamitous hole that appeared at the top of the mound has now been restored, it is once more whole in its outside appearance, the inner voids and tunnel also being filled. The scars have slowly healed and we can be grateful for that.

Yet we still often see the various monuments round the Avebury landscape as single units, isolated in their layers of history, we forget that Silbury once towered above a busy Roman settlement, the soldiers clattering past on the road that went to Aqua Sulis, or stopping for a rest, or maybe standing quietly beside the spring to contemplate the world of the gods. There is evidence of Saxon and Viking also on the mound, a fortified settlement, or perhaps a ‘Christian footprint’ of disapproval on this pagan relic – who knows… then there are the fairs and festivals of the medieval period when people celebrated the special festive days of the year; bull baiting is recorded in the 18th century, when between 4000 and 5000 people sat at the foot of Silbury and on a facing eminence… where there was also wrestling, bowling and dancing (The Gloucester Journal – 9th November 1736), and bonfires were lit and the poor bulls having met their demise were roasted and imbibed with ale on the following two days!

So let’s celebrate our heritage, that rich tapestry of history from the past, welcome in the New Year with a promise that we will protect this serendipitous cauldron of myth, history and archaeology; welcome the new pagans who once more come to dance at the stones of Avebury; the archaeologists who write, and then write once more, their varied interpretations of prehistory; even the crop circle makers who cleverly decorate the fields of wheat on the Marlborough downs, though I doubt the farmers are in the same mind; and finally in a wider sweep let’s celebrate the people who through extraordinary devotion and energy seek out all those prehistoric stones in the British Isles and abroad to add to our knowledge in the form of a gazetteer on The Modern Antiquarian, The Megalithic Portal and other sites – there is in the end more gain than loss…

Feature by Moss, Heritage Action member. This feature first appeared on the Heritage Action Journal -

http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/silbury-and-new-beginnings-2/ and is republished here with the author's kind permission.

Lectures. Silbury Hill: the Archaeology of a Monumental Mound

2009-12-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

An illustrated lecture by Jim Leary, the English Heritage archaeologist responsible for the recent survey on Silbury Hill, will be held at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum from 2:30pm on Saturday, 23 January 2010.

"In 2007-08 English Heritage undertook major works to stabilize Silbury Hill, parts of which were collapsing due the effects of the several tunnels and shafts which had been dug in to the hill over the last 200 years, particularly the large tunnel dug by R J Atkinson in conjunction with the BBC in the 1960s, and which were never backfilled. Before the tunnels were filled with chalk to prevent further erosion, the opportunity was taken to make an archaeological record of the inside of the hill."

More here -

http://www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk/events/index.php?Action=2&thID=467&prev=1

Reviews. Diary of a Dean: John Merewether

2009-09-27T02:06:00.000-07:00

Wiltshire Heritage Museum’s Book of the Month is -

Diary of a Dean

Being an account of the
EXAMINATION OF SILBURY HILL
and of
VARIOUS BARROWS AND OTHER EARTHWORKS ON THE DOWNS OF NORTH WILTS

Opened and Investigated in the Months of July & August 1849

By Dean John Merewether

With illustrations

An online edition of the book is here

Reviews. Prehistoric Geometry in Britain by Tom Brooks

2009-09-14T11:04:00.000-07:00

A DVD (and CD) in which Tom Brooks suggests, in his Prehistoric Geometry in Britain, that, "...prehistoric man navigated his way across England using a crude version of 'sat nav' based on stone circle markers; they (prehistoric man) were able to travel between settlements with pinpoint accuracy thanks to a complex network of hilltop monuments. New research suggests that they were built on a connecting grid of isosceles triangles that 'point' to the next site. Many are 100 miles or more away, but GPS co-ordinates show all are accurate to within 100 metres. This provided a simple way for ancient Britons to navigate successfully from A to B without the need for maps."*

Brooks' research, "...based upon the true position of each unit relative to all others according to the Ordnance Survey National Grid, reveals that all are related geometrically by isosceles triangles (having two sides equal) and projected alignments of remarkable accuracy over great distances. Further, such isosceles triangulation was directed from and focused upon a single, central feature more than 5,000 years old - Silbury Hill on the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire."**

*http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1213400/Ancient-man-used-stone-sat-nav-navigate-country.html#ixzz0R6gQT2Tr

**http://www.prehistoric-geometry.co.uk/index.html

Silbury Air

2009-08-30T03:37:00.000-07:00

Silbury Air by Harrison Paul Birtwistle (1934-) is a composition for chamber ensemble. The piece was written in 1977 and revised in 2003. The premiere was given at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 9th March 1977 and the piece performed again at this year's Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.

Part 1 here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnllf6XVhJI
Part 2 here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2XRMuvisCo&feature=related

Silbury at Lammas Time. Image credit Moss

2009-08-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

These walls of earth

2009-02-15T06:45:00.000-08:00

"Clumsy treasure hunting," Sir Richmond said. "They bore into Silbury Hill and expect to find a mummified chief or something sensational of that sort, and they don't, and they report nothing. They haven't sifted finely enough; they haven't thought subtly enough. These walls of earth ought to tell what these people ate, what clothes they wore, what woods they used. Was this a sheep land then as it is now, or a cattle land? Were these hills covered by forests? I don't know. These archaeologists don't know. Or if they do they haven't told me, which is just as bad. I don't believe they know."

From The Secret Places of the Heart by H G Wells

English Heritage's 2008 'conservation' project at Silbury

2009-02-15T06:43:00.001-08:00

This hoard of undefended joy

2009-02-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

The Ravager of the night,
the burner who has sought out barrows from old,
then found this hoard of undefended joy.
The smooth evil dragon swims through the gloom
enfolded in flame; the folk of that country
hold him in dread.*

*From Beowulf. Translated from the Old English by Michael Alexander. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044268-5. pp122. (No connection being made, of course, to the Silbury barrow-burrowers of recent times).

Silbury: Winter 2009. Image credit Bozzer

2009-02-05T15:20:00.001-08:00

Silbury Hill

2009-01-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

Ask in vain!
For we, the dead,
Speak not a word to you.
This thing was ours, not yours.

Gaze in awe,
On what we wrought.
There is no clue.
This thing was ours, not yours.

We, whose fingers bled,
Whose passions burned.
Care not for you.
This thing was ours, not yours.

Nigel Swift

Silbury by Richard Colt Hoare: circa 1812

2009-01-27T10:18:00.001-08:00

Inscription 05 - For A Monument At Silbury-Hill

2009-01-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

This mound in some remote and dateless day
Rear'd o'er a Chieftain of the Age of Hills,
May here detain thee Traveller! from thy road
Not idly lingering. In his narrow house
Some Warrior sleeps below: his gallant deeds
Haply at many a solemn festival
The Bard has harp'd, but perish'd is the song
Of praise, as o'er these bleak and barren downs
The wind that passes and is heard no more.
Go Traveller on thy way, and contemplate
Glory's brief pageant, and remember then
That one good deed was never wrought in vain.

Robert Southey (1774-1843)

Silbury by Richard Colt Hoare (1758-1838)

2009-01-25T07:38:00.001-08:00

Oh forgive if now we pierce the chambers of your rest

2009-01-22T04:27:00.000-08:00

Emmeline Fisher was born in 1825 in Poulshot, Wiltshire and died (aged 39) in 1864. Her mother was William Wordsworth’s first cousin. Although Emmeline published a book of verse in 1856 she is perhaps best remembered today for the poem she wrote on the opening of Dean Merewether’s 1849 tunnel into Silbury. The poem, along with other items, was placed in a ceramic urn and left at the end of the Merewether tunnel where it lay undisturbed for some 160 years. The urn was finally unearthed by Richard Atkinson during his and the BBCs ‘activities’ there at the end of the 1960s. This 1849 Silbury ‘time capsule’ urn was at some point then deposited in the Alexander Keiller Museum at Avebury where it seems to have languished unnoticed until 2005. The urn itself has subsequently been ’lost’ but its contents, including Emmeline Fisher’s poem, are kept (though sadly not on display) at the Alexander Keiller Museum. Mike Pitts, who was for some time curator at the Alexander Keiller Museum, discusses the contents of the urn (and Emmeline Fisher’s poem) in the January-February 2008 issue of the British Archaeology Magazine.*

It’s interesting to speculate why Emmeline Fisher, a young woman of 24 and Wordsworth’s second cousin, should have written her poem in the way that she did.** For example Emmie alludes, in the last few lines of the poem, to what seems to be the ‘pagan’ practice of strewing (human) ashes amid the corn and, by comparison, the Christian practice of interment? Was there some renewed interest in paganism and Druidism at the time Emmie wrote her poem that was rattling the Church authorities, of which her father was a respected member?

Who knows, but one thing’s certain, after some 160 years Emmeline Fisher’s poem, with its apology to our forefathers who built Silbury, stands as the only half-decent thing ever to have been placed within the structure by modern hands. Thankfully even Emmie’s poem is no longer there, though sadly the Atkinson/BBC’s corroding iron tunnel work struts of the late 1960s (not to mention English Heritage’s thousands of plastic sacks of the early 21st century) still are.**

The envelope

Emmie’s poem was placed in an envelope with the following inscription, on the obverse, in the same hand (hers?) as the poem itself -

Lines on the Opening of
Silbury Hill, written by
Miss Emmeline Fisher,
Daughter of The Reverend William
Fisher, Canon of Salisbury and
Rector of Poulshot in Wiltshire
August 1849.

The poem in the urn

Suggested by the opening
made in Silbury Hill,
Aug 3rd 1849

Bones of our wild forefathers, O forgive,

If now we pierce the chambers of your rest,

And open your dark pillows to the eye

Of the irreverent Day! Hark, as we move,

Runs no stern whisper through the narrow vault?

Flickers no shape across our torch-light pale,

With backward beckoning arm? No, all is still.

O that it were not! O that sound or sign,

Vision, or legend, or the eagle glance

Of science, could call back thy history lost,

Green Pyramid of the plains, from far-ebbed Time!

O that the winds which kiss thy flowery turf

Could utter how they first beheld thee rise;

When in his toil the jealous Savage paused,

Drew deep his chest, pushed back his yellow hair,

And scanned the growing hill with reverent gaze, -

Or haply, how they gave their fitful pipe

To join the chant prolonged o’er warriors cold. -

Or how the Druid’s mystic robe they swelled;

Or from thy blackened brow on wailing wing

The solemn sacrificial ashes bore,

To strew them where now smiles the yellow corn,

Or where the peasant treads the Churchward path.

Emmeline Fisher (1825-1864)

* http://www.britarch.ac.uk/BA/ba98/fisher.shtml
** http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/dec/05/poetry.books

NB Both the paper on which the poem is written and the envelope which held it appear to be handmade (it’s difficult to tell from the photo in the British Archaeology Magazine but the bottom and right-hand side of the letter-paper seem to have a deckle edge). The ink may be made from oak gall which means it’s probably acidic and will eventually eat though the paper if left untreated. Emmie’s poem itself is important but so too are the materials used to record it - let’s hope English Heritage are taking the necessary steps, as they undoubtedly took at Silbury itself, to preserve this item for posterity.

Moon over Silbury Hill. Image credit Pam Brophy

2009-01-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

Legends: Silbury and the Beckhampton Moonraker

2009-01-22T03:53:00.000-08:00

Long, long ago in the village of Beckhampton in Wiltshire, there lived three handsome brothers. The three were not only brothers but good friends as well; alas they had all fallen in love with the same beautiful girl from the village. Each brother had vied with the other two for the girl's attention and each had asked her to marry him. However, as each brother was both kind and handsome the girl was unable to decide which one she wanted for her husband. She was about to tell them that she would choose someone else from another village when an old woman took her aside and said, "My dear, choose the one who can bring you the moon."

The beautiful Beckhampton girl looked at the old woman in surprise and said, "How can anyone bring me the moon?" "Just ask them." replied the old woman. So the beautiful girl turned back to the three brothers and told them she would marry the one who could bring her the moon. Each brother looked at the girl and then at each other, and with heads hung low they went their separate ways, wondering as they went how they could bring the girl they loved the moon.

And so it happened that on the following night there was a full moon at Beckhampton, and as it rose big and bright over Waden Hill the beautiful girl and all the villagers gathered at the foot of Silbury to see which of the three brothers could bring the girl the moon and make her his wife.

The first brother arrived in a wagon pulled by two white horses (it is said that this is how the Waggon and Horses pub at Beckhampton got its present name) and in a loud and clear voice declared that he had brought with him all his gold and silver and that he planned to give it to the barrow wights of the West Kennet Long Barrow if they would only bring him the moon for the night. The villagers shuddered at the mention of the West Kennet barrow wights but waited patiently as he climbed up to the tomb. Soon he returned empty handed but with a deathly expression upon his face; and it is said that the first brother was never seen to smile again.

Then the second brother arrived and announced that he would climb Silbury Hill and from its summit would pull down the moon with the rope and iron he had slung over his shoulders. The villagers shook their heads but waited patiently as the second brother climbed Silbury and watched as he stood there alone casting his rope and iron again and again towards the moon but never drawing even an inch closer to it. Soon the second brother returned empty handed while the moon still hung bright and round in the sky, and it is said that he was never able to lift his arm again.

Finally the third brother arrived; all he carried was a bucket in one hand and a rake in the other, and with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his lips he waded into the Winterbourne to a place where the full moon was reflected in the water. The villagers and the beautiful Beckhampton girl watched curiously as the third brother dipped his bucket into the stream and raked in the moon's reflection. Then he climbed out of the stream, and with the bucket full of water, strode over to where they all waited. He placed the bucket at the feet of the beautiful girl and as the water settled down the moon's reflection slowly appeared bright and full within it.

"The moon, my love," said the young man, "tis yours for the taking."

Oh, and there's a postscript; to this day it is said that pieces of gold and silver are sometimes found around the West Kennet Long Barrow, and sometimes, on low moonlit nights, a long silken rope can be seen winding its way down from the top of Silbury Hill.

Silbury: Set in a sea of rolling green Downland

2009-01-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

It's difficult to imagine the impression Silbury Hill would have made on our Neolithic ancestors as they travelled up and down the Ridgeway, or along other nearby tracks. Perhaps they travelled alone, carrying items to trade, or perhaps they travelled with their family and friends or with herds of cattle or swine. The route these travellers used would have taken them past (or to) the Avebury stone circle, which itself must have been one of the great centres of their cultural, if not their commercial world, and further on to places like Durrington Walls and Stonehenge. Even today, walking or driving within the Avebury area, Silbury will unexpectedly appear in the landscape - almost as if it had been designed to do so.

Imagine then Silbury's impact on a people who had rarely, if ever, seen a structure higher than the one-story roundhouses most of them dwelt in. In the first years of its completion Silbury would have stood as a gleaming white monolith set in a sea of rolling green Downland - a beautifully proportioned structure, sitting serenely in its sacred landscape. Even today Silbury has the power to take one's breath away.

For some two and a half thousand years Silbury Hill remained untouched and undamaged. Even when the Romans arrived there, and built a thriving little town in its shadow, they appear to have treated the structure with respect, deviating their road slightly around it and allowing it to remain at the centre of a (possibly) still active pre-Roman community. It is astonishing to imagine such an ordered little Roman town, with the enormous, indigenous monument of Silbury at its centre, but that seems to be what it was like there some two thousand years ago.

Though we cannot be sure, the Romans do not seem to have tunnelled into or changed the monument in any significant way. The first major change to the structure appears to have been made by the Anglo-Saxons at the beginning of eleventh century when the top was possibly levelled off and the flattened summit then used for defence purposes. After that nothing much seems to have happened until 1776 when Colonel Drax and the Duke of Northumberland, with a team of Cornish miners, dug a shaft from the summit to its centre. This shaft was the beginning of Silbury's 'shame' as it was not properly backfilled. 73 years later, in 1849, Dean Merewether dug a horizontal tunnel - also to the centre of Silbury. This tunnel too was not properly backfilled. Other excavations by William Cunnington and John Lubbock in 1867, Alfred Pass in 1886 and by the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie in 1922 followed. The result was now a worm-holed time bomb waiting to implode - all it needed was for a third major tunnel to be dug to light the fuse.

Silbury by Richard Colt Hoare (1758-1838)

2009-01-21T09:32:00.000-08:00

Silbury: The shame I

2009-01-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

Silbury (Silbury Hill) stands at the side of the old Roman road to Bath, about a mile from the Avebury stone circle on the A4 heading towards Marlborough. There is a small car park close to the structure and information panels in the viewing area there detail the general history of the monument. It is not possible (nor desirable) to climb Silbury and the information panels in the viewing area explain why.

Recent estimates place the final phase of Silbury's construction at some 2,400bce. In other words, Silbury is nearly four and a half thousand years old. Until the modern age it was the largest manmade structure in Europe. When the final stage of Silbury was completed it would have appeared as a huge white 'pyramid' set in a green and gentle Downland valley. At certain times of the year Silbury would, as it still sometimes does today, appear to float at the centre of its own artificial 'lake' and been visible from not only the nearby Ridgeway (possibly the oldest track-way in Europe) but also from many other vantage points on the surrounding Downs - some of these vantage points are as far away as Winterbourne Bassett.

Silbury at the centre of its own artificial lake. Image credit Thelma Wilcox

2009-01-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

Silbury: The shame II

2009-01-21T09:15:00.000-08:00

In 1968, the BBC's Chronicle series commissioned a 'dig' of Silbury Hill. The dig was lead by one professor Richard Atkinson, the series was conceived by David Attenborough with Magnus Magnusson as the commentator. Atkinson's methods and recordkeeping were appalling even for the time and the BBC's involvement in this debacle (a tunnel dug horizontally to the centre of Silbury) is a sorry stain on its broadcasting history. The outcome of this Atkinson/BBC dig of Silbury did not result in the discovery of the gold or silver treasures they were hoping for; in fact little was discovered at all, and the real archaeological 'treasures' that Atkinson and his team may have found seem to have been either lost or dismissed as unimportant. Atkinson and the BBC did leave something behind at Silbury however - a dank and dangerous tunnel to its heart, a tunnel that was not properly backfilled and was shorn up with dozens of corroding metal supports - many of which were deemed too dangerous to remove during English Heritage's 'conservation' project of 2007-2008. Many of those metal supports are still there - deep within Silbury; a reminder perhaps to future generations of the self-serving conceit of the 20th and 21st centuries. If those words sound strong consider this: even at the beginning of 2008 English Heritage were not only considering leaving in place the concrete lintel (bearing the date 1968) and the metal door with its S logo, intact and at the entrance to the Atkinson/BBC tunnel, but had also decided that a 21st century time capsule should be placed within Silbury. The idea of a time capsule was vehemently opposed by heritage groups, conservators, members of the public and many in the pagan community. Even Lord Avebury himself (owner of Silbury) wrote a strongly worded letter to the Guardian newspaper expressing his disapproval for a time capsule. It seems extraordinary now that English Heritage should have considered such an idea but it is perhaps indicative of this organization's detachment from cultural reality; a detachment that is still sadly seen in the ongoing Stonehenge saga, where roads continue to destroy the tranquillity of the site, and a tacky visitor centre selling fast food is allowed to continue in business just a few metres away from perhaps our most important national treasure.

Some of the iron struts removed in 2008 from the Atkinson/BBC tunnel of 1968

2009-01-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

Silbury: The shame III

2009-01-21T09:09:00.000-08:00

In a last ditch attempt to save Silbury from collapse, English Heritage undertook a 'conservation' project during 2007-2008 to stabilise the structure and remove the detritus of previous tunnelling. Sadly, not only has much of this detritus been left within the structure, but parts of the original monument (eg the sarsen stones pictured below) seem not to have been returned to their original position within Silbury Hill. The present location of these stones remains unknown to the general public.

Disregarded sarsens from the centre of Silbury

2009-01-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

Like some great beacon in the night

2009-01-08T14:53:00.000-08:00

Nearly four and a half thousand years ago, a great six-tiered mountain of chalk was being slowly raised among the green downlands of southern Britain. Hundreds of men, women and children laboured day after day to complete their task, and when it was finished their mountain stood gleaming white, a symmetrical island set in a sea of gently rolling hills. It stood taller, larger and prouder than anything else man had ever built before in Europe.
High above, on a nearby track known as the Ridgeway (itself perhaps the oldest road in Europe), this six-tiered mountain of chalk must have presented a truly awesome sight to the warriors, pilgrims and other travellers who ploughed their way back and forth along that ancient highway to what was then, surely, the centre of prehistoric Britain.
Contemporary with the Pyramids, larger than St Paul's Cathedral and containing more than twelve million cubic feet of chalk and rubble (all hewn by hand with no more than antler picks and shovels), that mountain still stands today fast and proud, a testimony to the skill and dedication of its builders. Today it is known simply as Silbury Hill, a silent and mysterious monument set on a quiet valley floor a few kilometres south of the great stone circle of Avebury in Wiltshire, England and less than 30 kilometres from its more famous grandchild, Stonehenge (both Avebury and Stonehenge are World Heritage Sites).
For many, their first glimpse of Silbury Hill is from the old Roman road (now the A4) just as it would have been for travellers and Roman legions nearly two thousand years ago as they made their way between Cunetio (Mildenhall) and Aquae Sulis (Bath). It seems probable that Silbury was used by Roman surveyors as a geographical marker for their road to and from Bath and there is geophysical evidence of a substantial Roman settlement between Silbury Hill and the Swallowhead Spring. At Silbury however, perhaps as a mark of respect for the structure and its ancient builders, the Roman road veers slightly round the structure rather than cutting through it. Travelling by road today Silbury looms out at you as you pass by and there is hardly time to take it in. A small carpark just off the A4 is one of the closest points from which one can view Silbury and parts of its manmade valley floor. From this official viewing area one can gain some idea of the sheer mass of the structure. At the edge of the viewing area there are explanations of Silbury's history, construction and condition set there on plaques by its present guardians, English Heritage.

The Silbury carpark however is not the only place from which to see this astonishing structure, in fact the further one travels from it the more one is able to understand its unique place in the surrounding landscape and to appreciate how beautifully it sits within that landscape.

But what is it? What was it used for? Perhaps, most of all, what's inside? These are questions that have niggled away at antiquarians, archaeologists, gravediggers, treasure hunters and, more recently, television crews for several centuries. Beginning with the so-called Dax Shaft of 1776 several tunnels have been dug into Silbury in an attempt to discover its secrets. This, and subsequent excavations have revealed remarkably little - little that is in material remains. Numerous theories have been, and continue to be, advanced as to the meaning of Silbury but in the end we may never know for sure what it stood for. Silbury does not seem to be a burial mound. It appears to contain no tomb and certainly no gold or silver; no treasure at all except for the few archaeological treasures from its earliest stages - that is to say plant and animal remains, 'rope' and small sarsen boulders.
Whatever Silbury was intended for its sparse contents seem unable to provide the answer. Perhaps the Silbury Secret lies not within it but without; in its beautifully proportioned size and shape, and in something far more intangible - something that many sense when they first see it, and which pulls them back again and again - like some great beacon in the night.