Neolithic monuments

on the Salisbury Plain. This post is picture heavy – consider yourself warned.

It is not such a far drive, just down the M3 and out the 303. An hour,  perhaps a little more and 4000 years vanish in the blink of an eye.

From the megaliths of Stonehenge

from outside the fence

as it has been for centuries

….

to the small round barrows that you pass almost without noticing

and which the sheep just ignore

Then, there is the oddity of Woodhenge

the info

stone pillar caps noting the locations from the 2004 restoration

The steeply slanting sides of Silbury Hill rise from the plain to tower over unsuspecting travelers.

Silbury Hill

from the first excavations

to what is known today

….

In contrast, the Iron Age Fort of Danbury Hill seems to attract few visitors. Just a long stone’s thrown from The Wallops (Over, Middle & Nether) and the home of British Army Air – one wonders at the structure from what was thought to be about 300 people and their animals over a 400 years period four millennium ago.

illustration of the grounds as they were

which means little

till you enter between high earthen berms

note the distance between

the inner and outer earthworks

and see the curve of wall surrounding the inner area

inner berm stretching away

Avebury

Is the largest stone circle in Europe, so large it contains the town (noted at one time to have 27 people, 5 dogs and TNTC sheep who were just visiting as well as a 1700’s chapel between the outer and next rings).

double row enters from upper right, continuing to stone circle

Walking through the open fields between the stones of the procession way

You can walk up remaining weathered stones of

the procession way

and stand next to those of the huge circle as well.

left curve of the outer ring

even given their age and wear,

they dwarf all those walking above and between

even given the wear

the weather

and the impact of modern man

Iron age builders – few tools and a lot of determination while we speed by in fossil fuel powered vehicles and high tech digital cameras in hand to capture our fleeting visit.