Avebury - Part 1

Welcome to my other second favourite stone circle.

A very different place to Stonehenge.  At Stonehenge you have the imposing circle of stones and if you take time to stop and look round you, well you can see how the circle is positioned on the plain surrounded 360 degrees by burial barrows.
Its stunning and unique.

Imagine the power commanded at Stonehenge, the power to organise a community to build the monument, the links to Wales, the ability to feed so many people at gatherings.  Then there are the links with the other monuments so close by and of course the significance of the solstice.  Stonehenge is all power and ownership of the land indicated by ancestor burial, links to the cycle of the year by using the solstice “calendar”.

Avebury is different, but the same.  Possibly due to the village that's built around the church – purposely constructed within the old pagan site.  (Did you know that pagan simply means “other beliefs”.  It doesn’t mean devil worship and naked orgies). 

Avebury sits in a different landscape. 
The power it commands is the same and this monument also took thousands of hours of hard labour to build.

Avebury is also linked the other sites, notably by the Avenue, a long double row of stones leading to the river.  Many tourists don’t realise its here, but this is the way one should enter Avebury, so we duly walked down, chilled out and walked back (to the pub).

Man you’ve just gotta chill out and relax. 

Listen to the butterflies and hear the daisies in the wind.

Again I made a quick sketch of the Avenue and wrote down some words.

promise
wonder
excitement
what’s next?
skylarks
buttercups & daisies
hawthorn
cowparsley

I wore my necklace all day.
Yes, I got a few funny looks.
I’m at the age where I couldn’t give a stuff.
Its dried out and sitting on my dressing table as a memory of a lovely day.

A stone circle, within a stone circle.

 

DS had a lesson in archaeology and geology – how to dig ditches with bones and why the soil was white.

Imagine this bank, much higher than it is now, with no grass – imagine how this would have shone when the sun hit it.
Wow.

Our trees.

Special from the first time DH and I photographed them at 5am one cold morning 20yrs ago.
We’ve got older, but the trees are timeless.
Here they are in colour and  B&W.
Iconic.

Mother Earth being simply stunning.
Once again.