Avebury History

In the fourteenth century and probably earlier many stones are now known to have been buried by local inhabitants presumably as a result of attempts to de-paganise the site. Whatever the reason it was to prove unfortunate for one particular individual who appears to have perished under one of the stones as it was being felled into a pit. When Alexander Keiller was carrying out his excavations in the 1930s under one stone (no.9 in the south-west quadrant of the henge) was found the skeleton of a man. He is believed to have been an itinerant barber-surgeon or tailor who had suffered various injuries when the stone had fallen and trapped him, this sad incident has allowed archaeologists to date a period when stone-burial was taking place, for with the skeleton they found the remains of a leather purse containing a pair of scissors, a probe and some coins. The scissors are believed to be among the earliest examples to have ever been found and the coins were a French sterling and two early 14th.Century pennies belonging to the reign of Edward 1 or 11 depending on sources.

A few hundred metres to the east of the West Kennet Avenue at a point about one third of the way along its length are the remains of a small stone circle known as "Falkner's Circle". It was partially excavated in 2002 and evidence of burning pits and stone destruction were found. About 36 metres in diameter it was originally thought to have consisted of 10-12 stones only one of which now exists. At present the relevance of the circle to the rest of the Avebury complex remains a mystery.

The circle is named after a Mr.Falkner who was an antiquary from Devizes. He first identified the circle in 1840. Some doubt has existed as to whether he was reporting a genuine circle, some other form of megalithic structure or a random assemblage of stones. The results of the 2002 excavations seem to confirm that the feature was indeed a circle. Curiously this component of the Avebury complex was overlooked by both John Aubrey and William Stukeley.

The Avebury monuments  suffered greatly at the hands of the more recent inhabitants of the area. It is estimated that the henge and avenues originally contained well in excess of 600 stones but so many have been destroyed or used for building. Only 76 are now visible though excavations and surveys, in recent years, have revealed that at least 20 others remain buried. The source of the stones used in the construction of the Avebury monuments was the Marlborough Downs about two miles to the east of Avebury itself where thousands of naturally occurring stones lay scattered on the landscape. The stones are believed to have formed from sedimentary deposits that had accumulated on top of the underlying chalk layer.  the National Trust plantation at Lockeridge Dene  and the small valley at Piggledene preserve many of the stones and gives some idea of the abundance that was available to the builders of the henge during the neolithic period.
The sarsens at Piggledene have become a noted environment for lichens and mosses. They can be found next to the A4 road just to the west of Fyfield.