Abury, A Temple of the British Druids, With Some Others, DescribedStukeley, William
History
Abury, A Temple of the British Druids, With Some Others, Described
Stukeley, William
Avebury (England) -- Antiquities; Druids and Druidism
In _Bekamton_ town, near the termination of _Bekamton_ avenue, or the
snake’s tail, is such another place, call’d _Old Chapel_ or _Chapel
field_. ’Tis full of great stones, many buried under-ground. _Richard
Fowler_, that great depopulator, told me, he demolished one stone
standing near the hedge of the pasture. Near it a great stone lies upon
the mouth of an old well, as they say, but never remember that it was
open, only speak by tradition. This field belongs still to the church.
There is another very pretty place of this sort (for ought I know)
between the _Wansdike_ and _Via Badonica_, running up _Runway-hill_.
’Tis a charming pleasant concavity. An oblong square, with another
lesser, as a _prætorium_ within. In the _vallum_ are many gaps at
equal intervals. You will see a large part of it in plate XI. called
the model of a camp. ’Tis abusing our time to be tedious, either in
descriptions or enquiries, about these matters, of which ’tis
scarce possible to arrive at any certainty at this time of day. The
pleasure arising from them, is in being upon the spot, and treading the
agreeable downy turf, crowded with these antiquities; where health to
the body and amusement to the mind are mingled so effectually together.
[Illustration:
TAB. XXV.
_A View near the spot of the Termination of_ Bekampton avenue _Iuly
19. 1723._
_Stukeley delin._
_The Snakes tail._]
In _Monkton-fields_, directly north-east from _Abury_, is a monument
of four stones, which probably is a _kist-vaen_. I have exhibited a
print of it in table XXXVII. These seem to be what Mr. _Edward Llwyd_
calls _Kromlechon_, or _bowing-stones_. I believe it was a sepulchral
monument, set on a barrow, tho’ chiefly now plow’d up; and that the
great covering-stone is luxated.
Table XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV, are views of another eminent work of this
sort, in _Clatford-bottom_ between _Abury_ and _Marlborough_, which
require no further description.
Table XXXV, two old _british_ urns found at _Sunbury_ by the _Thames_,
shewn at the antiquarian society some years ago. The inscription on the
monument of _Chyndonax_, an archdruid among the _Gauls_, of which a
large account publish’d in _french_. Father _Montfaucon_ questions the
genuineness thereof, but I think his objections are trifling.
In table XXXVI, I have etch’d the bit of the king’s bridle found in
_Silbury-hill_, the founder of _Abury_, in my possession. Underneath is
the _british_ urn which I dug up in a barrow on _Windmill-hill_ north
of _Abury_. This plate is consecrated to the memories of Sir _Robert
Halford_, knight, and _Charles Tucker_, Esq; who were very solicitous
in preserving these noble antiquities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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