Avebury Reconsidered

The stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire is one of the best-known prehistoric monuments in the British Isles. Yet current understanding of it is surprisingly inadequate, despite the extensive work earlier this century of H.St George Gray, Alexander Keiller and others. More surprising still is how little proper analysis there has hitherto been of the records of the site which predate the severe damage done to it by human encroachments over recent centuries, and which often crucially supplement the findings of archaeology. In this work, the records of Avebury made by 17th and 18th century antiquarians are subjected to systematic and searching scrutiny. Two plans of the site which are of earlier date than any hitherto known are here published for the first time - one by the discoverer of the stone circle, John Aubrey, the other by a figure whose role in its history has been neglected, Walter Charleton, royal physician to Charles II. In addition, the better-known records of Aubrey and of William Stukeley are examined and their context elucidated in detail.