by Ancient Britain: Avebury
Last of our destinations during our day long tour of Ancient Britain was Avebury. Like Stonehenge, Avebury is very well-known and many believe it is the superior stone circle. Certainly it is the largest of its kind by area and number of standing stones. I’ve read conflicting information on the original number of stones of which many have been lost or damaged, one site says 98.
My personal impression of the Avebury stone circle was of some disappointment. I was not able to feel the magic I felt at Stonehenge. Certainly it was accessible, being able to walk into the enclosed pastures and right up and among the stones. Their sizes varied quite a bit, from small to a bit over human height, and the shapes from tall and slim to chunky and square, and all placed at some distance from each other. I knew it would be quite different from Stonehenge’s smaller circle of bigger standing and horizontal stones.
But… there is a road and a town breaking up the circle so we could not see the whole. We were able to walk around one area, much too slowly because we were taking photographs while also stepping carefully around dozing sheep and their droppings. Pastoral and pretty, yes. I wondered if we had gone the best way around for we noticed most of the others walking elsewhere including on the surrounding henge. Perhaps our guide could have been a bit more helpful in suggesting the best walking route. We had arrived late in the day behind schedule, so there was not enough time left to see it all. We finally had to rush for a much-needed bathroom break and a take-out cup of coffee before returning to our van to head back to London. Anyway, essentially it was far too short a time to capture the spirit of the place. That can be and usually is the way with guided tours, I know with some small experience.
As for photography, it seems that the best atmospheric photos are taken early or late in the day or during mist and rain. Almost four years ago I wrote about Avebury linking to a beautiful and informative site that I’m happy to see is still up: Avebury – A Present from the Past. It includes gorgeous photos, stories and information including other related sites in the area, but I can’t judge for the scientific accuracy. Also, this aerial view helped give me a better sense of the Avebury, Silbury Hill and West Kennet Barrow area – wish I’d had it with me on the tour.
As has been said in some of the earlier articles by me and some commentors, a first time tour really is to give general impressions, an overall picture and is helpful in showing what one wants to revisit alone in greater depth. It’s unlikely that we would have been able to cover so many places in one day on our own, which is one reason of course why we took this tour. I would love to spend more time in these ancient places of mystery and power so hopefully there will be another chance for me to revisit these sites, as well as many more, in the future.
I’m so very grateful to my husband for taking so many great photographs on this tour, especially under the time pressures, something that inhibits me from doing it. I just wanted to absorb the feel of these places though sometimes I would point out spots that I particularly wanted photographed. He told me that he was surprised how much he enjoyed this tour which makes me glad since I desired it, researched it and booked it.
Ancient Britain Tour series of articles:
Salisbury
Old Sarum
Wiltshire Flint
Stonehenge
White Horses
Silbury & West Kennet
July 16, 2009 in Culture, History, Rock Art & Archaeology, Travel by Marja-Leena
Yes it is always difficult wanting so much to see so many places and having such a short time. I hope that over time your good memories will be encouraged by your photos and further information, while the disappointment will fade.
One of the reasons why I prefer the Avebury to the Stonehenge site is the fact that it lives amongst the current village and the roads. I like the feeling of continuation of habitation. I smell a vague whiff of tourist destination when sites are isolated for visiting. My favourite view of Stonehenge is on a misty Winter’s morning, or Summer evening, glimpsed as I drive past. Suddenly it becomes magical for me.
I still remember the great welling of delight that I experienced in the French town of Arles when I saw a Roman pillar embedded in a house wall. Somehow for me that was more meaningful than wandering round cleaned out ruins – which I do enjoy enormously – just not nearly as much.
Thank goodness we all have our little quirks, and I very much am enjoying reading about your trip.
Olga, I haven’t given up on Avebury! As I tried to say, our experience wasn’t as good as it could have been under the circumstances. And I totally agree with ‘tourist destination’, in fact I feared that the Stonehenge experience would be spoiled by just that. It could have been better but I was fortunate it turned out fairly good. Time is definitely a factor.
I know the feeling when you come across something like your Roman pillar, totally unexpected. Europe is full of those kind of happy surprises. Here, they tend to be more based in nature, like the rocks on Hornby Island.
Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my long rambling travel posts. Next time, we really should try to meet and maybe even go to Avebury together!
My thoughts strayed in similar directions … found myself wondering which came first ~ the stones, the road, or the village? Maybe the sheep were there first? No, probably not.
Hi Marja-Leena, I agree that one needs to visit and re-visit places at various times, which is why staying for extended periods in one place is so much more meaningful for people who have a sensitivity to what’s around them.
Lucky you to have your husband so willing to take photos while you got to absorb the sense of the place, fleeting as it was! Truly, taking photos or shooting with a videocamera places one ‘outside’ of the place or people. The camera is a technology that changes the dynamics, because it now becomes part of the context. You become an observer with an eye to the lens, to framing shots, and while you can notice something no one else does, you also miss much. When I get a minute I plan to write about taking photos (and not) in Lebanon and Bahrain as the intrusion of the technology is more apparent. Oftentimes I opted not to take photos at all.
Rouchswalwe, good question! Yes, I wonder if the original people who put these stones up lived amongst them? The current town is a bit younger though… and the sheep, too 🙂
Taina, glad to have you back from your Middle East holiday, look forward to your stories and photos! I appreciate your understanding and look forward to more of your thoughts on the camera’s intrusiveness.
These photographs aren’t quite so exciting as Stonehenge and some of the others but they’re lovely nonetheless. I haven’t visited you often enough to know if you’ve ever written about Andy Goldsworthy but his work is something I’d definitely like to see in place.
ps: The aerial shot made me dizzy.
Susan, yes, Avebury is quite subtle compared to the other sites.
I love Goldswothy’s work and would like to see it in real life too. I wrote a few years about a DVD of him and his series Rivers and Tides, should you be interested. Now that you bring up his name and the link, I can see how some of his work has that ancient prehistoric feel to it!
Long ago Stonehenge was accessible without fuss; one merely parked the car at the side of the road and climbed over a stile. I was greatly disappointed by the whole thing. We have a phrase, “jerry building”, which means done on the cheap by inexpert workman. Stonehenge seems a prime example of neolithic jerry-building. Hey, it was simple enough project and yet parts of it have already fallen down. After just a few centuries. No staying power, those stone-age architects; no thoughts about posterity.
Better class of architect at Avebury since most of it appears to have remained vertical (or as much of it as I saw after jogging down to the village on Thursday afternoons from nearby RAF Yatesbury). The Avebury architects can’t be blamed for the vandalistic developers who desecrated the site by putting up all those modern houses five or six hundred years ago. As Joni Mitchell said…
It’s only with this last post I realised you packed in all these visits into one day! Truly heroic touristing even if the places are all roughly in the same neck of the woods. Just getting into and out of the bus all those times must have been exhausting. Chapeau, as the French say.
Barrett, Trust you to throw in such wit and humour to this all-too-serious discussion, thanks. What is a century but a mere moment in time?
Yes, that was a very full day! The van was great actually, it was the slow trip home idling on the congested freeway, then the tube and bus trip that finally finished us. But it was worth it!
I SO want to go to these stones
To stand with my face pressed against them and listen to the stories of people past and times long forgotten but still, occasionally, glimpsed in a dream…
As soon as I sort out the car and my head I will visit them
Thank You
You packed in an amazing amount!
The spirit of ancient and special places is an elusive thing, and can’t be summoned up to order. And how much of it is in the place and how much in us?
But these are really very good photos, the light and shadow for so late in the year is not bad at all. I’ve so much enjoyed your tour of a country which I still think of as home but the reality of which is receding a little for me; your observations have often been fresh and surprising. Thanks so much.
You are right about ‘time of day’ for these stones. I remember standing next to one of the stones at 6.30am. a mist curling round the place.
It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up!
Mouse, I hope you do go visit them and write about it! When I come again, maybe we can go together.
Lucy, a guided tour is a good way to see a lot, though rather quickly for some of it. You are right, the spirits are elusive. One needs time to reach out to them, I think. It was late afternoon when we were at Avebury, on a day in early June, so the sun was still fairly high but yes, the photos turned out well, thanks. Iäm glad it’s been a nice revisit for you!
Hhb, 6:30 am with curling mist…oooh, sounds like the perfect time for the spirits!
These are lovely photos, and sorry you were disappointed, but sounds like you’re storing up a good list for a return visit when you can plan your own tours and visits where you like on your own schedule.
Leslee, I’m still very pleased that I saw even this much of Avebury, and will know better what to plan for next time for an even better experience.