Beckhampton Avenue |
| Hob Uid: 215601 | |
Location :
Wiltshire
Avebury
|
| Grid Ref : SU0876068980 |
| Summary : An alignment of standing stones which, according to William Stukeley, extended from the west entrance of Avebury before heading south west. Despite the undoubted existence of the West Kennet Avenue, also documented by Stukeley, and the rediscovery of the Sanctuary, again recorded by Stukeley but subsequently dismantled, the actual existence of the Avenue has been a subject of some debate, with excavation and geophysical survey tending neither to prove nor clearly disprove Stukeley's description. The existence of the Longstones (SU 06 NE 56) has been regarded by some as representing the last visible traces of the Avenue, but there was little to link them directly to the Avebury monument. In 1999, during excavation focused on the newly-discovered Neolithic enclosure SU 06 NE 200, a series of buried sarsens and shallow pits containing debris from the breaking-up of sarsens were found. They formed two short parallel rows, were regularly spaced, and one of the rows was aligned on the Longstones, approaching them through the large gap on the enclosure's northeastern side. The other is aligned on the southeast ditch of the enclosure SU 06 NE 200. Indeed, the enclosure ditch appears to continue the line of the stones, and it may be that within the enclosure, the avenue was reduced to a single alignment of sarsens. This all seems to represent clear evidence that a stone avenue, as described by Stukeley, existed. However, the course between these features and Avebury is unknown at present, as is the distance the avenue continues (if at all) beyond the Longstones. |
More information : Beckhampton Avenue, an avenue of stones which,
according to Stukeley, extended from the west entrance of Avebury across the Winterbourne, and on in a south-westerly direction south of the Long Stones (see SU 06 NE 56), one of which could have probably formed part of the Avenue, to a spot in the valley west of Beckhampton (SU 100690 to SU 082688, see plans (2) (3)) and called by him Beckhampton Avenue. Stukeley considered its length equal to that of the West Kennet Avenue, with the transverse and longitudinal intervals of the stones similar.
By the time Stukeley made his plans there remained only
thirty-odd stones (all but three recumbent) some in pairs, out of possibly two hundred, and by the end of the 18th century nothing remained except the Long Stones.
"On the whole, then, the grounds for accepting the former exsistence of the Beckhampton Avenue seem to be strong, though the question of its full extent and precise relationship to the Long Stones must remain open." (1)
Stukeley's theory was supported by the finding in 1968, during the inspection of cable trenches of (i) the possible robbing pit of a stone in the High Street, Avebury SU 099699 and (ii) a buried stone beside the A4 road SU 087690, both on line with the Avenue. (1-5)
No evidence of the Beckhampton Avenue remains except for the Long Stones. No further information regarding the "finds" made in 1968. (6)
A large buried sarsen at SU 08776897 and a possible stone
robbing hold at SU 08766898, 12.0m to the W, were encountered in October 1965 in a GPO trench. Identified by Mrs Vatcher as almost certainly part of the Beckhampton stone row recorded by Stukeley. (7)(7a)
Accounts of the discovery of the recumbent sarsen (8).
Extracts from this particular record (notably those prepared by R1 and F2 above) were singled out for criticism by Ucko et al (9) as an example of the 'continuing fascination in attempting to fit the occasional find of sarsens, pits, and other features into Aubrey's or Stukeley's presumed patterns'. The debate as to whether the Beckhampton Avenue existed at all is touched on in many of the items listed in the bibliography for Avebury (SU 16 NW 22) and is discussed most recently by Ucko et al, who also published the results of the geophysical survey carried out in January 1989 in the area of the Longstones (SU 06 NE 56), the findings of which 'neither disprove nor support Stukeley's firm assertion of the presence of an avenue.' Burl (10) argues for impartial independent support for Stukeley's 'firm assertion' in the work of Rev Thomas Twining.
Twining's plan is reproduced by Ucko et al (p. 38). Twining depicted a wedge-shaped pattern of avenues which he regarded apparently as representing the island of Britain as conceived by the Romans. (8-10)
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