<< Our Photo Pages >> Silbury Hill - Artificial Mound in England in Wiltshire

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 07 December 2023  Page Views: 73072

Multi-periodSite Name: Silbury Hill
Country: England County: Wiltshire Type: Artificial Mound
Nearest Town: Marlborough  Nearest Village: Beckhampton
Map Ref: SU10016853  Landranger Map Number: 173
Latitude: 51.415701N  Longitude: 1.857449W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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I have visited· I would like to visit

eirrac5 Traumrealistin would like to visit

rvbaker2003 visited on 10th Nov 2024 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 5

WanderingGoat visited on 10th Sep 2024 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 View from lay-bys or West Kennet Barrow also interesting view from the barrow

Shalaa visited on 19th Aug 2024 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4

hallsifer visited on 2nd Aug 2024 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4

Couplands saw from a distance on 12th Sep 2023 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 4

hallsifer visited on 1st Aug 2023 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5

Twiff13 visited on 15th Jan 2023 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Went up to visit Silbury Hill to see it in flood and it's not too far from home. It was very wet and muddy underfoot, controversial to perhaps mention but visitors climbing the mound were clearly causing unnecessary erosion because the ground was so waterlogged; and it was tricky for some as one person had slid down some way, leaving a mud slide. However, Silbury was spectacular looking surrounded by the flood waters so well worth the drive to visit it.

aolson visited on 24th Jun 2022 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 3 Access: 5 Somewhat disappointed that there is no pedestrian access, but it is understandable.

Phillwhite visited on 2nd Sep 2021 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

TheCaptain visited on 25th Sep 2020 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Good views of Silbury today, so I decide to walk to it along the path in the fields north of the busy A4 road. It looks lovely in this light, sometimes in the sunshine and sometimes in the shade. With the bright green grass of the fields blowing around in the wind, it looks to be floating in a sea of green. Beautiful, and strangely compelling. From here I walk towards Avebury along the stream, but see people walking over Waden Hill, so decide to go over that and down to the Avenue, so as to approach Avebury along the West Kennet Avenue. There are fabulous views of Silbury Hill in its plain from up here, probably the best views of it there are to be had.

TheCaptain visited on 18th Sep 2019 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4 A quick look on the way after day at Avebury before going home.

michelle_b007 visited on 13th Aug 2019 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5

Hodur visited on 29th Dec 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

southdownsancientsites visited on 18th Dec 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4

Chappers60 visited on 6th Aug 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

elad13 visited on 4th Jul 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 5

SandyG saw from a distance on 7th Aug 2016 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 4 Access: 5

achiersnakes visited on 14th Mar 2016 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4 Clearly visible hill from West Kennet Long Barrow. Public access on the hill is denied as it is suffering from erosion, I believe. It is a remarkable site nonetheless. The closest you can get to the hill is either through a water-logged field or the picnic area.

trystan_hughes visited on 22nd Dec 2015 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 5

mlc visited on 15th Nov 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Access: 3

emerald visited on 20th Oct 2015 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 No access on the hill, a viewing point is available at the side of the hill or a great view can be obtained walking up to West Kennet Long Barrow

XIII visited on 13th Aug 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

alchemille visited on 5th Jun 2014 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 5

wildtalents visited on 4th Jun 2014 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Passed by many times, stopped for a while quite a few, dating back to the 1960s. Silbury is timeless, commanding the landscape. I like that it is so enigmatic, I love how at certain points within the southern circle at Avebury the very top of Silbury is just visible above the henge bank. At moments like those it is easier to imagine yourself back in the distant past when some sudden flash of a mirror in the sun, or a fire on the twilight horizon, alerts you to a world beyond the ceremonial complex, yet a part of it.

Chrus visited on 1st Jan 2014 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 3

NorthernerInLondon visited on 9th Sep 2013 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 2 Access: 5

TwinFlamesKiss visited on 1st Aug 2013 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4 Viewable directly from car park opposite. Narrow winding dirt path up around hill.

KimIannucci visited on 1st Jan 2013 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4

ModernExplorers visited on 21st Dec 2012 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4 An interesting shaped hill, I find it hard to believe that this is the result of years of farmers depositing soil.

TheCaptain visited on 11th Jul 2011 A quick look on the way between WKLB and Avebury.

ulrike saw from a distance on 19th Jun 2011 Unfortunately I was too young to appreciate this one, though my dad was very excited about it. I will come back for you Silbury Hill I will appreciate you next time.

johnstone visited on 30th Jun 2010 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

graemefield visited on 1st Jan 2010 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5

WaylandS visited on 21st Dec 2009 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5 Have visited Silbury Hill on numerous occasions. Each time it doesn't fail to deliver.

Richard13 saw from a distance on 1st Jul 2009 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 5

SteveC visited on 26th Oct 2008 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

Woode visited on 21st Dec 2007 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 3

jeffrep visited on 30th Sep 2005 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 5 First visit on September 30, 2005. Second visit on May 26, 2011.

Andy B visited on 12th Dec 2004 The last great prehistoric monument according to Neil Oliver, shown as part of discussion of the new Beaker culture in Episode Four of BBC's History of Ancient Britain

jhice visited on 14th Jul 2004 While chasing crop circles ;) Very nice experience !

RedKite1985 saw from a distance on 1st Jan 2002 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4

MartinJEley visited on 15th May 2000 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 The hill is impressive when seen from the road but I did not have the opportunity to determine if it was possible to get closer. The potential linkages of this structure with the sites in the area are not easy to understand. The effort put into the construction makes it clear that it held particular significance for our ancestors.

TheCaptain visited on 4th Oct 1998 Visit lots of ancient sites on a long off road cycle tour from Avebury to Windmill Hill, along the Wansdyke and back up Kennet Avenue

Chrononaut1962 visited on 1st Jul 1994 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4 Visited with a girlfriend in June or July 1994. Access to the top was still available then. Unfortunately I neglected to take any photos! Also visited with my Dad, i think about 15 or 20 years previously.

woodini254 visited on 29th Dec 1993 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 4 Access: 5

BolshieBoris visited on 1st Jun 1989 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4

bat400 saw from a distance on 1st Oct 1987 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4

Orcinus saw from a distance on 1st Jan 1987

coldrum visited - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5

lucacdo1 visited - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5

Estrela visited This is a most impressive site. I like the theory that it was meant to represent a snail shell, to signify the beauty and impermanence of life, and the transience of this existence. Bone and shell are the same substance, a reminder, in life of death. A superb spot to see Avebury, Windmill Hill, the Seorfen Barrows and West Kennet barrow, alsp the Avenue stretching from Avebury henge to the Sanctuary.

Twistytwirly visited - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5

coin saw from a distance - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 5

NickyD visited - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

Klingon saw from a distance - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4

FrothNinja saw from a distance

Lazulilou visited - their rating: Cond: 4 Access: 5

CoppellaiaMatta ScottHK neolithique02 Ogham Bladup myf PAB DrewParsons ForestDaughter TimPrevett AngieLake TheCaptain h_fenton hamish JimChampion TheWhiteRider Orcinus sirius_b mdensham NDM ArchAstro Wazza12 hevveh mrcrow have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.8 Ambience: 4.13 Access: 4.43

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by MikeyB : Reflections of Silbury Hill (Vote or comment on this photo)
The largest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe, Silbury Hill is 39m high, covers an area of 2.2 ha and is estimated to have taken 18 million man-hours to construct. Notice in our photos below how the terrace near the top lines up with the horizon, when seen from West Kennet Long Barrow.

The terrace also lines up from high ground on the other side of the mound. I think this is significant. People have dug into the mound several times, but no burials have been found, only strange sandwiched layers of chalk and soil. A complete mystery.

In the Alexander Keiller Museum in Avebury village are samples of the winged ants excavated from the centre of Silbury Hill in 1969, showing it was started in late July / early August.

For more information see Pastscape Monument No. 220743 and Historic England List ID 1008445. The Journal of Antiquities also includes an entry for Silbury Hill, Beckhampton, Wiltshire which includes a description, a photograph, a drawing of the hill by William Stukeley and a brief discussion as to its purpose and context.

Trespassers on rain-soaked Silbury Hill are causing "spectacular" damage says archaeologist Jim Leary. Please don't climb the hill!

Note: Silbury's moat has returned and Steve Marshall has published a paper explaining what is happening with the waterscape in the Avebury area. It's linked from the comments here
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 More pictures in our eGallery: Silbury Hill

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by h_fenton : Silbury Hill. exposure: 294seconds @ f5, ISO200 22 December 2011 @ c.12.46am (7 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by pennymoon : Category *B* The clouds are low as we begin our day dowsing the crop circles and formaitons in Wilstshire..now I do not mind if you believe these are man made or not; I try to keep and open mind. This shot, taken with Silbury Hill close by created a connection between the modern and unknown...the circles - and the ancient and unknown...the hill! (Vote or comment on this photo)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by hamish : It's late spring, but it was a must for a Photo. Cat/A. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by TysonM : A windy day for some foreground trees at Silbury Hill. A cloud passed over the man made hill creating an interesting silhouette of the mound. (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by mikeyb : Silbury Hill sitting in the Wiltshire Landscape. Taken in January 2014 with the customary moat.

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by mishkin : Cat.B. The little bridge over the Winterbourne river that circles Silbury Hill.

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by h_fenton : Silbury Hill viewed from north (roughly). Kite Aerial Photograph 30 August 2010

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by LivingRocks : Late afternoon 12-03-05. From the viewing area. (6 comments)

Silbury Hill Aerial View
Silbury Hill Aerial View submitted by Andy B : Aerial photo of Silbury Hill taken by English Heritage in February 2001. Copyright English Heritage Photo Credit Damian Grady

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by andyb456 : Silbury Hill. Why not take an afternoon to walk from Avebury, down the West Kennett Avenue, then along the footpath to Silbury Hill and just opposite is West Kennett Long Barrow!! In heaven, or what !

Helicopter repairs Silbury Hill 3
Helicopter repairs Silbury Hill 3 submitted by Andy B : Photo by Pete Glastonbury. (2 comments)

Helicopter repairs Silbury Hill 2
Helicopter repairs Silbury Hill 2 submitted by Andy B : Photo by Pete Glastonbury (2 comments)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by graemefield : Silbury Hill reflection in the flood water (2 comments)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by pab : Silbury Hill, from the path up to West Kennet Long Barrow. The dark sky delivered what it promised - hail stones by the time we got to West Kennet. All this really needed was a rainbow.... Photo taken 28 August 2009 (2 comments)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by h_fenton : Silbury Hill, looking back towards Avebury and Windmill Hill (to left of top of Silbury Hill). Photo taken using a camera lofted by a kite, flown from near West Kennet Long Barrow. 12 July 2009 (1 comment)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by croppy : Silbury Hill at sunset (2 comments)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by NDM : Lovely spot on a lovely day

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by MikeAttwell : April 1979 (2 comments)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by Horatio : Silbury Hill as viewed from the south coming down from West kennet Long barrow

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by hairytabs : Silbury Hill.

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by Ewan : Taken using a DJI Inspire RPV. The Swallowhead Spring had flooded the base of the monument almost completely.

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by Bladup : Silbury Hill. This Original Artwork in a glass frame is £39.99 + Postage (Just whatever it costs), and is 18 cm x 12 and a half cm. A Limited (to a 100) edition print in a 8" x 10" glass frame would be £19.99 + £2.90 postage, E-mail me at [email protected] if interested. (2 comments)

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by Flickr : Silbury Hill www.facebook.com/bencphotographyuk /www.bencphotography.co.uk / www.flickr.com/bencremin Image copyright: BenCremin (Ben Cremin), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill submitted by neolithique02 : Avebury - Silbury Hill Back from the long barrow Image copyright: Néolithique02, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

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 439m SSE 168° Swallowhead Spring* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SU101681)
 639m ESE 106° Silbaby* Misc. Earthwork (SU1062668354)
 689m SSE 161° West Kennet Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU10246788)
 929m SSE 148° West Kennett Long Barrow* Long Barrow (SU10506774)
 1.0km NE 42° West Kennet Avenue* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SU10696928)
 1.0km ESE 109° West Kennet Palisaded Enclosures* Ancient Village or Settlement (SU110682)
 1.1km NNE 31° West Kennet Avenue polisher* Polissoir (SU10576947)
 1.2km NE 51° Falkner's Circle* Stone Circle (SU10986931)
 1.2km NW 306° South Street Long Barrow* Chambered Tomb (SU09006927)
 1.3km N 360° Alexander Keiller Museum* Museum (SU100698)
 1.4km NW 305° Longstone Cove* Standing Stones (SU0888769301)
 1.4km S 186° Beckhampton Penning circle* Stone Circle (SU09876713)
 1.4km N 359° St. James's Church (Avebury) Ancient Cross (SU0997669968)
 1.4km WNW 295° Longstones Barrow* Long Barrow (SU08706914)
 1.5km N 10° Avebury* Stone Circle (SU10266996)
 1.5km N 9° Avebury - The Cove* Standing Stones (SU10257002)
 1.5km E 86° Overton Hill barrow cemetery* Barrow Cemetery (SU11526863)
 1.5km SSW 206° Beckhampton Penning barrows Barrow Cemetery (SU09356717)
 1.7km WNW 294° South of Penning Barn* Round Barrow(s) (SU08506921)
 1.8km WNW 294° North of The Grange Round Barrow(s) (SU08346928)
 1.9km ESE 106° The Sanctuary.* Stone Circle (SU11836802)
 2.0km E 101° The Sanctuary Barrows* Barrow Cemetery (SU11966816)
 2.2km WSW 249° Bishops Cannings 88 Bell Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU0793367741)
 2.3km W 269° Beckhampton Bowl Barrow Round Barrow(s) (SU07726847)
 2.3km WSW 250° Bishops Cannings 89 Bowl Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU0785467757)
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"Silbury Hill" | Login/Create an Account | 76 News and Comments
  
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Avebury’s Waterscape by Steve Marshall by Andy B on Thursday, 07 December 2023
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Steve Marshall writes: I recently had a paper published in Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine about the fieldwork I did on Avebury's springs and rivers in 2012-13. It's similar to what is in my book, but more detailed and explains what is happening now at Silbury with the ditch flooding etc.
The paper is accessible for free on Academia here, follow the link below.

Avebury’s Waterscape by Steve Marshall
A 2012 computer modelling study concluded that water levels in the Avebury area in 4400 BP were 2m to 5m higher than they are today. Indications of how this may have affected the landscape were revealed by unusually wet weather and snow in the winter of 2012/13, when the author conducted extensive fieldwork between Calne and Marlborough. Spring sources were identified for Avebury's rivers; previously unknown springs were discovered flowing into Silbury's ditch, and the process of the ditch's filling with water was examined in detail. More springs were identified in the area around West Kennett, with implications for the palisaded enclosures and the supposed course of the West Kennet Avenue. Measurements taken from a well suggest that Avebury's Great Ditch may originally have been dug into the water table.
http://www.academia.edu/110654335/Aveburys_Waterscape
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Silbury Hill Moat by Runemage on Thursday, 16 November 2023
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Silbury's moat has returned
www.bbc.co.uk/articles/c9w3e7yrgkgo
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/silbury-hill/
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Re: The moon rolling up Silbury Hill from Facebook by AngieLake on Sunday, 14 August 2022
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See this link for amazing image:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10228704113052599&set=gm.1381510712372058
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Re: Silbury Hill by SteveC on Sunday, 21 June 2020
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Hi all,
A drone video from this mysterious place.
Please visit and leave a comment.
Link below:

HERE
Regards Steve
[ Reply to This ]

The Mystery of the Hill - Jonathan Last by Andy B on Sunday, 03 May 2020
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The Mystery of the Hill - Jonathan Last
2010, from Round Mounds and Monumentality in the British Neolithic and Beyond

https://www.academia.edu/38316424/The_Mystery_of_the_Hill
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Re: Silbury Hill by AngieLake on Sunday, 01 December 2019
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A couple of good photos of Silbury Hill online today:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7741319/Britain-shrouded-freezing-fog-temperatures-set-plunge-chilling-10C.html
Scroll down to near the end of list.
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Avebury Art Project, Bath Artists’ Studios 30th Sept to 13th Oct 2019 by Andy B on Friday, 27 September 2019
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An exhibition of site specific work by studio holders at Bath Artists’ Studios
Monday 30 September to Sunday 13 October 2019
Roper Gallery, Bath Artists’ Studios, The Old Malthouse, Comfortable Place, Bath, BA1 3AJ.

The World Heritage site of Avebury in Wiltshire, UK is place that has a deep history of human engagement. During the latter half of 2018 and throughout 2019, artists from Bath Artist’s Studios have been visiting the site collectively and individually as a field based methodology that focuses on site specific making, collaboration and creative conversations. This exhibition presents the outcome of some of that work as well as some of the conversations that took place in this ancient landscape.

Featuring the work of 11 Artists using various media, including:
Felicity Bowers
Artist and printmaker. I teach drawing and printmaking at Bath Artists’ Studios. I have been visiting Avebury and other megalithic sites for 40 years, studying and pondering their significance and the layers of time they represent.

Mary Caron-Courtney
The mystery and timeless layering of the landscape evoke exploration of surface. Trodden and embedded markings create their own narrative to be developed through a range of contemporary media.

Beverley Ferguson
I am a Textile and Mixed-Media artist. Surfaces and textures intrigue and interest me. Through the exploration of textiles I find myself, encounter others and inhabit landscapes around me.

Simon Ferguson
I wanted to express my feelings about Avebury using multimedia, something modern technology has made more accessible. I have found the landscape and its sites have provoked so many thoughts in me that I wanted to do more than just make photographs. It has meant learning new software and experimenting so I feel that this is an ongoing project rather than a finished piece.

And many more, details here
http://bathartistsstudios.co.uk/avebury-project/

Opening Reception Thursday 3rd October 2019 6-8pm then 4th October to Sunday 13th 12-5 daily. All welcome.
Parking along the Upper Bristol Road or Victoria Park if available and also Charlotte Street Car Park.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Friday, 19 July 2019
Silbury Hill lies at 190 degrees from the practical center of the Avebury Henge mechanism for good reason, to see it's part in the geometry of the general Avebury landscape & it's positional relationship with Windmill Hill with regards to Avebury Henge follow this link;
https://ancientwhisperspenwith.blogspot.com/2018/11/avebury-geometry-pt-2-a.html
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Re: Silbury Hill by 4seasonbackpacking on Thursday, 15 November 2018
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Ways of understanding prehistoric Silbury Hill by Jim Leary and David Field by Andy B on Saturday, 03 December 2016
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from Silbury Hill: the largest prehistoric mound in Europe by Leary, J., Field, D. and Campbell, G. (2013) English Heritage Publishing, Swindon

Chapter 7: Ways of understanding prehistoric Silbury Hill by Jim Leary and David Field

This chapter focuses on interpretations of Silbury Hill. It is argued that previous interpretations have tended to take a top down approach to the Hill, concentrating on its final form and emphasising its large size. However, the archaeological evidence from the tunnel has given us a far more nuanced understanding of the construction of the Hill, giving us a sense of continuous developments and changing roles. This bottom up approach accentuates the process of construction as much as it does the form. Recording the variety of materials used as the mound developed has also led us to beg the question: 'why these materials?’ leading to a discussion of the materiality of stone, antler and soils used in the mound. The ditch, an important but rarely mentioned element of the monument, is then discussed. The chapter ends on an examination of the locality of Silbury, highlighting its low-lying position next to rivers and springs.

https://www.academia.edu/23163703/Silbury_Hill_the_largest_prehistoric_mound_in_Europe (free registration required)
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The Silbury Revelation book by Andy B on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
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'The Silbury Revelation' by the former Avebury henge tour guide John Drews is now available at the henge shop and at http://www.thesilburyrevelation.com. (Archive Link)

John says: "At last, an entirely plausible solution to Britain's greatest archaeological mystery!"
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"On Silbury Hill" by Adam Thorpe is BBC Radio 4's "Book of the Week" by JimChampion on Thursday, 21 August 2014
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Adam Thorpe's book "On Silbury Hill" has been abridged and is being read in 15-minute long programmes on BBC Radio 4 this week. You can 'listen again' to the programmes within a week of the original broadcast.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04dk84p
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Silbury Hill trespassers causing 'spectacular' damage by Anonymous on Tuesday, 08 January 2013
Trespassers on a rain-soaked monument in Wiltshire are causing "spectacular" damage, an archaeologist has warned.

Heavy rain has led to standing water around Silbury Hill in Avebury and very soft ground which is being eroded by people climbing the monument.

Jim Leary, an archaeologist for English Heritage, said that illegal climbers on the sodden hill were "leaving some really rather hideous scars".

The hill dates back to 2400 BC and is the largest man-made mound in Europe.

Mr Leary said access to the mound had been prohibited for a number of decades and people should not be attempting to climb it.

"They are going up and it is very wet and they are eroding the side of the hill," he added.

"I would really ask people not to go up the hill. It is leaving some really rather hideous scars and eroding our beautiful monument."

'Common phenomenon'
According to English Heritage, the purpose and significance of Silbury Hill - which is part of the Avebury World Heritage Site - remains unknown.

The hill itself is made mostly from chalk and stands 40m (131ft) tall.

Recent heavy rain has led to it being almost completely cut off by a moat with surrounding fields also underwater.

But Mr Leary said, as far as the monument was concerned, the flood water was nothing to worry about.

"It is not a very common phenomenon but it has happened before in 2007 when it was very wet, and also in 2000.

"The mound has been there for 4,500 years and I'm sure it will continue to stand despite the weather."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-20931078
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    Re: Silbury Hill trespassers causing 'spectacular' damage by neilbev on Wednesday, 09 January 2013
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    Trespassers?! What an outrageous concept. Let's have good sense and a respectful attitude with restraint while the monument is vulnerable; but don't spout pompous nonsense about implied ownership by someone - English Heritage or anyone else. It's an ancient neolithic site, owned by everyone or no-one, that should be accessible by anyone; and it's our responsibility to maintain it if any damage does occur. What would the ancients have thought...
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      Re: Silbury Hill trespassers causing 'spectacular' damage by bat400 on Wednesday, 09 January 2013
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      The word choice seems to be by the BBC, but "What would the ancients have thought" ... What a loaded question. Possibly --- "Let's kill the next commoner who climbs up there!"
      [ Reply to This ]
        Re: What would the ancients have thought by Andy B on Thursday, 10 January 2013
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        What would the ancients have thought?

        The ancients may or may not have approved of climbing the hill, we don't know. Most likely they would have been in awe of such a construction. Either way there weren't that many of them in the local area and they obviously didn't do car-enabled sightseeing in their hundreds of thousands. So the issue of damage probably didn't come up (but you never know...)
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    Re: Silbury Hill trespassers causing 'spectacular' damage by davidmorgan on Wednesday, 09 January 2013
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    "Strictly no access to the hill itself." - http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/silbury-hill/prices-and-opening-times
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      Re: Silbury Hill trespassers causing 'spectacular' damage by Runemage on Thursday, 10 January 2013
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      But who would look at that before visiting? You just drive to the nearest parking spot then get out and walk to it. There are no kiosks asking for an admission fee. Does anyone know if it's fenced off at all or if there are any Closed or other EH signs nearby explaining the situation?

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    Re: Silbury Hill trespassers causing 'spectacular' damage by Anonymous on Sunday, 29 September 2019
    I climbed Silbury only once, on my first visit in Oct 1984, 35 years ago. Not too much to see from there. Nearby Waden Hill is actually higher and over looks Silbury. Spectacular flooding can occur on chalk uplands after heavy rain.
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Illegal climbers are damaging rain-sodden Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Tuesday, 08 January 2013
A leading archaeologist has warned that illegal climbers are damaging Silbury Hill.

Heavy rain has led to standing water around the monument and the sodden ground is being eroded by trespassers climbing the hill.

Access to the man-made mound, which dates back to 2400 BC, has been prohibited for a number of decades.

Jim Leary, an archaeologist for English Heritage, said: "I would really ask people not to go up the hill. It is leaving some really rather hideous scars and eroding our beautiful monument.

"They are going up and it is very wet and they are eroding the side of the hill."

The hill is almost completely cut off by a moat with surrounding fields also underwater due to the recent heavy rain.

However, Mr Leary said that as far as the monument was concerned the flood water was nothing to worry about.

He said: "It is not a very common phenomenon but it has happened before in 2007 when it was very wet, and also in 2000.

"The mound has been there for 4,500 years and I'm sure it will continue to stand despite the weather."

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/headlines/10145136._/
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King Sil of Silbury Hill by Andy B on Saturday, 14 July 2012
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Gerry Palmer writes: In 1663, the writer John Aubrey was showing Charles II the Avebury henge, when his Majesty “..cast his eye on Silbury-hill about a mile off; which they had the curiosity to see.”

He was told that, according to local tradition, King Sil, was buried there on horseback, and that ”..the hill was raysed while a posset of milke was seething.”

In the way of all good traditions, the story King Sil grew over the centuries and the posset or bowl of milk somehow became a golden horse.

The history of the many archaeological excavations at Silbury is an interesting story in its own right, and we will turn to it shortly, including the work done by English Heritage between 2007 and 8 which has been particularly insightful and has overthrown many previous theories and speculations.

But first a little about the hill itself.
http://www.archaeologyinmarlow.org.uk/2012/03/king-sil-of-silbury-hill/
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Re: Silbury Hill by Sunny100 on Saturday, 11 December 2010
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I was just thinking Silbury Hill reminds me of a flying saucer UFO. Wonder if the people that built it thought the same ? or had they seen a UFO and copied its shape. Makes you think !
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    Re: Silbury Hill by TheCaptain on Saturday, 11 December 2010
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    Have you seen many Flying Saucers then Sunny? ;)
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    Re: Silbury Hill by Sunny100 on Saturday, 11 December 2010
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    No not myself, but I spoke to a local farmer who told me he had seen one over Thursden Valley, not far from where I live. He was quite certain about it. But myself I am yet to be convinced.
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    Re: Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Wednesday, 30 January 2013
    There was some particularly clean and spectacular acid doing the rounds in 1976. It was a minute copy of the Hill and must have been the arse end of The goodly Ricky Kemps offerings. There were a great many UFOs around that year!
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BBC Chronicle, Silbury Dig: The Heart of the Mound by Andy B on Tuesday, 07 December 2010
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Silbury is one of the largest prehistoric earthworks in Europe, possibly dating to 2400BC. In this programme, originally broadcast live, Magnus Magnusson meets the archaeologists who have uncovered a tunnel that leads into the heart of the mound.

FIRST BROADCAST 27 July 1968

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/chronicle/8607.shtml
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Re: Silbury Hill by davidmorgan on Sunday, 14 March 2010
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Street View

View Larger Map
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New find in the British Library relating possible timber post inside Silbury by Andy B on Wednesday, 03 February 2010
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New information has emerged from letters written in 1776 about excavations at Silbury Hill and published for the first time in the new volume of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine.

Local historian, Brian Edwards tracked down two letters, written in 1776 by Edward Drax to his friend, Lord Rivers, about excavations at Silbury Hill. Edward Drax from Bath , had hired a team of miners from the Mendips to dig a shaft from the top of Silbury Hill, to the centre of the hill, 125 feet below.

The letters record that at first, the miners found little but large chalk blocks and deer antler. However, at 95 feet, some 30 feet above they expected the base of the mound to be, the miners discovered what Drax records as a 'perpendicular cavity' that was 6 inches across, and that 'we have already followed it already about 20 feet, we can plumb it about Eleven feet more'. He says that ‘something now perished must have remained in this hole to keep it open’.

These letters, preserved in the British Library, suggest that a great timber post once stood in the centre of Silbury Hill, and matches a later account that fragments of oak timber were found at the centre of the mound. The timber may have stood over 40 feet above the earliest low mound which was one of the earliest phases in the construction of Silbury Hill.

Edward Drax went on to write 'I wait with impatience ... and then I hope shall make a further Discovery'. Unfortunately, no later letter survives at the British Library.

This article is one of 11 articles published in the Magazine, which is available only to Members of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. Membership can be purchased online at http://www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk. Other articles include an analysis of fragments of bluestone found near Stonehenge, and new research about a Neolithic Jadeite stone axe in the collections of the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes.

Source: http://wiltshireheritagemuseum.blogspot.com/2010/02/silbury-hill-new-find-in-archive.html
see also http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/4884791.Long_lost_theory_on_Silbury_Hill_is_uncovered/?ref=rss
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    Re: New find in the British Library relating possible timber post inside Silbury by Thingy on Sunday, 21 February 2010
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    Andy, thanks for this additional info., which is very, very interesting. If we take these letters as possible evidence of a wooden post in an early stage of Silbury Hill's construction, then the suggestion is that the builders were aiming for a height that the earthen mound alone could not achieve; possibly to attain intervisibility with other vantage points such as the Avebury circle, the Sanctuary, etc. Subsequent building of the mound higher in later stages was possibly because the desired height could not be achieved with a low earthen mound and wooden structure alone. It is possible that the construction of the final stage of the earthen mound eventually reached its engineering limit and, thereafter, the climb to the desired height was achieved using a wooden post, 'totem pole', or tower .

    As stated in an earlier post, Waden Hill is probably the best local vantage point as it doesn't require any construction work. So the building of Silbury Hill, if designed to achieve intervisibility with other vantage points, suggests it's precise position was most important. I'm sure a boffin could test if this precise position and height allowed someone on the platform to see everything in the area, particularly processions along the avenues. Alternatively, it could have been designed just to achieve greater height than anything else in the area, in the same way that today's architects add metal pylons to the top of skyscrapers so they can get in the record books for building the tallest structure.

    There is a theory that Silbury Hill's purpose was to compete with the neighbours at Stonehenge, who were probably raking in more of the tourist income (as they still do today). In this respect, Silbury Hill is a greater physical achievement and might have attracted more visitors, but this theory could diminish its suspected importance as a ritual site. As I said, very, very, interesting...
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      Re: New find in the British Library relating possible timber post inside Silbury by Anonymous on Monday, 22 February 2010
      everyone seems to be making assumptions based on the reports in the press.
      If you actualy read the letters in WAM is says nothing about a totem pole.
      It says that 95ft down they found a hole 6inches across that plumbed to a depth of 30ft.
      There are much more fascinating details in the letters if only people could be bothered to actualy read them and not base theories on the press reports about them!
      PeteG
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        Re: New find in the British Library relating possible timber post inside Silbury by golux on Thursday, 10 January 2013
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        If the cylindrical hole was made by one large object now perished, then this could only have been a tree trunk. And Bronze Age burials of complete uprooted tree trunks have been found before.
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Re: Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Monday, 01 February 2010
no. It is lower than surrounding hills and no fire damaged chalk was found on the summit on any of the digs.
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    Re: Silbury Hill by Thingy on Friday, 05 February 2010
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    Yes, the lack of charcoal or other evidence for fire seems to blow the theory - but only if the 'ceremonies' occurred at night. While on the summit of Silbury Hill I was struck by the flatness of it, looking as if the tip of a cone had been neatly sliced off. It is probably not easy to ascertain if the original mound was designed to be flat-top or whether this flattening occurred later. But I did consider the top of the mound to be a perfect base for a wooden platform, raised on 'scaffolding' posts. The shaft dug into to top of the hill could have erased any evidence of post holes that might once have been there. A wooden viewing platform, or beacon mount, might possibly deal with the lack of charcoal on the surface, and also the problem of the hill not being quiet high enough. Just another idea...
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    Re: Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Friday, 05 February 2010
    well that doesn't really hold up because anything burnt on a wooden platform would have fell to earth and there would have been evidence of that in the excavation trenches.
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    Re: Silbury Hill by Thingy on Friday, 05 February 2010
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    I had thought of that. Any burning on a wooden platform could have been done on stone slabs or a hearth without any damage to the structure. The ashes might have been removed to be buried elsewhere as part of some ritual. Our ancestors weren't the dumb club-wielders that cartoons depict, and they wouldn't waste a perfectly good wooden tower by burning it to the ground every time they had a party. We could go on speculating about possibilities forever, limited only by our imaginations. I think the issue about fires and lack of evidence for these is distracting. The original hypothesis was the purpose of Silbury Hill being a link in a chain of vantage points, and I think this still has legs. Another thing to consider is why they made the job harder by constructing the mound in a natural depression. Why not put it on Waden Hill instead, a far better vantage point as you correctly suggest? I think Waden Hill must have played an important role in whatever was going on atop Silbury Hill. I also think the precise location of Silbury Hill is significant but can't suggest why (leaving aside for the moment the obvious possibility of a link with Swallowhead Springs). It's height is obviously significant, and it's this position and height that continues to draw me toward the idea of it being linked to other high (viewing?) points. Another consideration is the link with The Sanctuary. Visually they are the same height (our ancestors probably wouldn't have realised that Silbury is 17m higher). I have some good pictures taken from both locations that demonstrate a link between the sites, if only visually. I'll post these pics when I get time to process them. In the meantime, I'd like to hear more about your 'warning beacon' idea. Was there a need, military or otherwise, for 'instant messaging' at that time?
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Re: Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Monday, 01 February 2010
Silbury Hill need not be such a mystery. The mound was raised exactly the right height to recieve and transmit fire signals over the surrounding hills. The need for long distance communications has always been required for defence purposes. Mounds were often used for fire beacons, and Silbury Hill is simply a very large fire beacon. All organised societies required defence systems, and early warning of danger has always been the first line of defence. Avebury was probably an important political centre, and required communication access to the coast in all directions.It is possible to find the links in the beacon chain in all directions.
Roger B. Hutchins
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    Re: Silbury Hill by Thingy on Tuesday, 02 February 2010
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    I can't discount your theory, other than the building of Silbury Hill seems too difficult a task just to link a series of beacons. On a visit to the area last year I thought about Silbury being a viewing point that links the main structures of Avebury, The Sanctuary and West Kennet Long Barrow, and possibly the series of rings to the east of silbury that were constructed from wooden posts. In this respect, Silbury is an almost perfect point from which to view all the other sites. I tested this by climbing the hill (I know I shouldn't) and I was impressed with how Silbury could have been the focal point for activities, perhaps ceremonial, taking place simultaneously at all the main sites in the area. The Avebury ring in not directly visible from Silbury Hill but a bonfire there certainly would be. Perhaps ceremonies during particular nights that encompassed the stars, each site in the area marked by a bonfire, and torchlit processions between the sites were viewed or controlled by an elite standing on Silbury Hill. Such a thing would certainly be spectacular, and I am more inclined to believe that the extraordinary work that went into constructing Silbury Hill was probably to facilitate important ceremonial activities, rather than for any 'practical' purpose. This might also suggest an answer to the greatest question about Silbury Hill: why was it built, and why there exactly?
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      Re: Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Tuesday, 02 February 2010
      thats just imposing Juadeo Xtian values on an older relgion.
      Silbury is not as good a viewing plaform as Waden hill is.
      Many more monuments can be seen from there than from ontop Silbury
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      Re: Silbury Hill by Thingy on Tuesday, 02 February 2010
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      I'm not 'just imposing' anything onto anything else. I'm merely suggesting that your theory on Silbury Hill being a link in a chain of sites that are intervisible with each other is an interesting one that, given the work involved in constructing it, is possibly more realistically associated with ritual rather than practicality. Nevertheless, a link in a chain is still a good theory that might help answer the magnificent mystery that is Silbury Hill. I don't recall mentioning religion, of any kind. Indeed, our modern concept of 'religion' may not necessarily be linked to any such concepts held by our ancient ancestors. Ritual, ceremony and religion are not necessarily the same thing, even in our supposedly knowledgeable times.
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Write-up of Silbury Hill lecture by Jim Leary by Andy B on Thursday, 28 January 2010
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Alex Down, via the Eternal Idol blog writes:
It was an alarming situation. In May 2000, a large hole appeared in the top of what’s one of the most important archaeological monuments in Europe: Silbury Hill, in the care of English Heritage. The subsequent repair and restoration work gave Jim Leary, the archaeological director for English Heritage throughout the work, unique insights into possibly the most enigmatic of British prehistoric monuments. He talked about the findings and his ideas in a presentation to the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society in Devizes on 23rd January.

Jim briefly covered previous investigations that all involved significant mining and tunnelling operations. In view of all the activity, it’s not surprising that torrential winter rains caused a slumping of the chalk into the voids left by the excavators. To prevent any further damage, major engineering work was needed, and this presented a wonderful opportunity for archaeological investigation where the engineers worked, using the latest techniques.

Silbury is very low-lying in its landscape, near the Swallowhead Spring, and at the junction of at least three different geological deposits. Cut from the end of a natural chalk spur, it is surrounded by a huge ditch with causeway-like bridges, and what is termed a “ditch extension” that may have had a spring in it. The last excavation was directed by RJC Atkinson, clever archaeologist, but poor at documenting his work, so there are unfortunately few records of the dig. He proposed a long three-stage model of development, starting with a small proto-Silbury, of a few metres in diameter and, later, two further large additions.

Jim’s work completely overturns this model, proposing instead an incremental approach (with as many as 20 stages) over what seems a very short period of 100 years, around 2400BC. While the original Atkinson phase 1 gravel mound is still the core of the new interpretation, Jim showed a thin layer of soil across the site which seems to show that the area was stripped of turf and soil in a preparatory phase. What remained appears to have been beaten flat and hard by hundreds of stamping feet.

Read the full write-up at Eternal Idol
http://www.eternalidol.com/?p=6179 (Archive Link - you will need to stop your browser reloading the page as it automatically redirects to a dead link. If this happens, reload the page and press 'X' at the top to stop)
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    Re: Write-up of Silbury Hill lecture by Jim Leary by Anonymous on Saturday, 30 January 2010
    I wasn't at the devizes talk but I assume it was the same as the one Jim leary gave here.
    I asked about mr Prices claim that was the last archaeologiast to go into Silbury and was told it was cpmplete nonesense.
    Mr price visited for a few hours one afternoon during the whole of the 18 month dig.
    he never visited the EH offices and didn't talk to any of the working archaeologists on site.

    His claims of being an Expert on Silbury are pure self delusion and agrandisement to promote his silly book.
    Elly
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Silbury Hill Mystery Soon {?} to be Resolved by bat400 on Saturday, 28 March 2009
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Submitted by coldrum, a strangely mis-titled story from the Telegraph.

It is said that there is a greater concentration of ancient monuments in the Wiltshire countryside between Marlborough and Avebury than anywhere else in Britain. Many present an eternal puzzle to archaeologists ..., but Silbury Hill out-puzzles them all. There it sits by the A4, an outlandish sight dwarfing the cars that stream past its circular base. It is the largest man-made mound in Europe, but in silhouette it looks like an alien spaceship from a sci-fi movie.

It is, in fact, more than 4,000 years old, and its purpose has been a well-kept secret for at least half that time. Suggestions range from the legendary, to the barmy, to the halfway plausible. One has it that the devil built it to hide a gold statue while on the way, for some unknown reason, to Devizes, another that it was the resplendent burial chamber of the mythical warrior king Sil and his horse. ...And then there is a hypothesis that, because of high levels of contamination of the water supply by grazing sheep, it formed a kind of reservoir of pure water, with rainfall percolating through its chalk structure to gather in the surrounding ditch. This one sounds practical until you learn that its making would have involved more than four million man-hours....

Silbury Hill is in the guardianship of English Heritage, in whose laboratories recent fascinating new finds are being investigated. Several years ago, a hole appeared at the summit of the Neolithic monument, around the spot where the Duke of Northumberland had sunk a shaft to carry out excavations in 1776. Further investigation showed that other tunnels from later digs were also unstable. Contracting a team of engineers to stabilise the internal structure also provided a chance to gain a greater insight into date and function. The work was only completed last winter... it seems Silbury had a part to play in later history.

Archaeologists found a series of medieval pot-holes on top of the hill, indicating a large building. ... There is speculation, too, that Silbury was originally dome-shaped, and that its current flat-topped aspect was the result of later lopping off to create its military function.

So the mound wasn't simply some ghostly feature that became abandoned in prehistoric times, says Rob Harding, the English Heritage project manager for the site. According to Harding, there is also evidence of Roman usage in the platforms along the side of the hill. "Often, the Romans adopted the local gods and forms of worship when they arrived in new countries, so we think it would have had some sort of ceremonial function for the Romans. ...."

As Harding admits, none of this brings us remotely closer to finding a conclusive explanation for why it was originally built...

Bit by bit, archaeologists are piecing together elementary facts of how Silbury Hill was built. There were, it seems, three main phases. The first used stacked turf capped with clay; the second used piled rubble chalk and was undertaken soon afterwards, around 2,400BC. It is possible there was a gap of a few hundred years between this and the completion of the third phase. It's worth remembering, as we admire the soft, turfy outline of Silbury today, that in its original conception it would have been stark white.

Of course, we probably will never know what really went on in the minds of prehistoric men. It's almost as unbridgeable a chasm now as it was in the 17th century, when John Aubrey was delving around earthworks and bemoaning the lack of concern for "antiquities". New Age folk rather like the uncertainty. It means they can project all kinds of wild notions onto the likes of Silbury Hill. For the rest of us, it merely increases our sense of awe and wonder.

For more, see telegraph.co.uk.
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Re: Silbury tunnel finally closed by Anonymous on Sunday, 18 May 2008
An esoteric insight into the original purpose of Silbury Hill, and other ancient monuments, is provided by psychic Grace Cooke in a book entitled, 'The Light in Britain'.
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    Re: Silbury tunnel finally closed by Anonymous on Sunday, 18 May 2008
    I've read it, its completely Bonkers!
    Paul Wills
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Silbury tunnel finally closed by Andy B on Wednesday, 14 May 2008
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Silbury gives up its final secret

The secret of Silbury Hill, the most enigmatic prehistoric monument in Europe, isn't the monument but the monumental effort which went into building it, according to the archaeologist who has spent most of the last year slipping around on wet chalk deep in the heart of the hill.

On a sunny morning last week a local druid scattered Wiltshire grass and wild flower seed on the summit of Silbury, to mark what engineers and archaeologists devoutly hope is the completion of a project to prevent the 4,500 year old hill from collapsing - 10 months and £1m over budget.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2279497,00.html
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Radar and sonar reveal sarsen stones buried under Silbury Hill. by Andy B on Tuesday, 26 February 2008
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Giant Mound Is Like an 'Underground Stonehenge' [groan - MegP Ed]

Radar and sonar reveal sarsen stones buried under Silbury Hill.
by David Keys

Silbury Hill, a 4,400-year-old, 130-foot-high mound of chalk and dirt about 80 miles west of London, has finally yielded its ancient secrets. It is not the tomb of the long-forgotten King Sil nor the resting place of a golden knight. And it is not, despite the folklore, a dumping ground for the devil’s dirt, forced to drop there by the magic of priests. The story behind the mysterious hill is much less colorful. Silbury Hill is a shrine filled with rocks that, for Stone Age Britons, probably represented the spirits of ancient ancestors.

The physical excavation (video) of Silbury Hill, along with studies using ground-penetrating radar and seismic sonar equipment, has shown that there is not a single human bone in the mound. Instead, dozens of sarsen stones, a type of sandstone that is also used for Neolithic stone circles like Stonehenge, are buried there.

Local geologists think that during the Stone Age, the landscape around Silbury Hill contained hundreds of thousands of sarsen stones. Because the area is made mainly of chalk, prehistoric people would have seen no apparent natural origin for the stones. Archaeologists think the locals endowed these rocks with a spiritual importance that Silbury Hill still embodies. The area itself is considered sacred by modern pagans, who still make offerings at a nearby spring. Due to conservation laws, the prehistoric holy hill is out-of-bounds to pagans and tourists alike.

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/feb/the-mystery-of-silbury-hill
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Re: Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Saturday, 03 November 2007
what an idiot!
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Re: Silbury Hill by Andy B on Saturday, 03 November 2007
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Cripes, it's Terry the Druid in the Daily Mail. Compellingly crap personality Journalism. Oh and don't forget Silbury Hill
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=491447&in_page_id=1770
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Re: Another article about Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Friday, 02 November 2007
What ever the actions of English Heritage are to stop the hill from caving inwards because the tunnels were not closed in the correct manner before.The end result at this moment in time is Silbury Hill, and West Kennet Long Barrow, and Woodhenge, and Glastonbury Tor are all removed from the LEY LINE system that feeds all ancient sites here in the UK..Taking out all the metal supports and sheeting MAY allow the energy to return, since the metal work has grounded all Ley power passing through Silbury Hill.The Atkinson work started the demiss of SH, and English Heritage finished it off this summer,so what else can go wrong I ask..Not to mention those Skanska people working inside Silbury Hill exposed to the energies rushing about with NO direction anymore, I think all of them with suffer illness in the coming years from this exposure.At its height the energy is FAR greater than experienced in genuine crop circles in the fields, so it remins what affect this will have on the people who worked inside the tunnels.My dowsing of the waste flint and anter horn was 150 years out to the carbon dating, not bad and cost me nothing to find,dowsing is the best fun ever....mmike.
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Re: Another article about Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Friday, 02 November 2007
Why the mystery over Silbury Hill? It is on the beacon chain that starts at St Michaels Mount, and was built to raise the watch and signal station above the local hills. It is exactly the right hight to give a view over these hills, and to get beacon signals out. This chain of beacons is part of complex defence communication system set up by the builders of Avebury. Avebury was a political centre and needed to be informed of any imminent danger. Watch and signal positions were set up on the coast and beacon chains passed the information to the political centre.
All organised societies need a defence system, and intelligence is the first line of defence. Watch and signal stations were set up from the earliest prehistoric times wherever an organised society developed, and this realm was no exception. Like all long distance communication systems, it started as a simple chain, but soon became more complex. Stonehenge was a similar political center, with communication capability in all directions.Defence of the realm has always been nunber one priority for organised societies, and much of our ancient landscape has been misinterpreted as religious/ceremonial /sepulchral. ROGER B HUTCHINS.
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    Re: Another article about Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Thursday, 08 October 2020
    If you wanted to build a beacon hill, build it at the TOP of the nearby hill, not the bottom!

    Silbury Hill is built at the very lowest point it can be for the surrounding area, right next to the water, which floods the area around it so well that it does not look to be an accident but by design
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Another article about Silbury Hill by Andy B on Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Last week experts from English Heritage, using pioneering tunnelling technology from the engineering company Skanska, reached its centre, 40 metres beneath the summit. Their primary purpose was not archaeology but preservation. Because of numerous botched explorations – from the Duke of Northumberland’s piratical attempt to dig for “hidden treasure” in 1776 to a BBC-funded dig in 1968 that was curtailed when nothing sensational (in TV terms) was discovered – the hill has developed alarming craters. So the present £1 million plan is to stabilise Silbury by backfilling the various tunnels and shafts with chalk.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/richard_morrison/article2771879.ece
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Re: Silbury Hill by Andy B on Friday, 26 October 2007
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Thanks to Rus for these:

In pictures: Inside Silbury Hill:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7059882.stm Discoveries include
medieval postholes on top of the hill and iron arrowheads, indicating there
may have been a huge military building there during the Saxon or Norman
periods. One theory is that the top of the hill was lopped off around the
time of the Battle of Hastings or even earlier.

Last chance to solve puzzle of ancient hill:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2733437.ece
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Metaphoric souls are bared Silbury Hill dig by bat400 on Thursday, 25 October 2007
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"Spirit Tomb" theory summarized.

"Researchers have long been mystified as to why the giant prehistoric mound in Wiltshire was built. But following one of the UK's most extensive and expensive digs, they appear to have found their answer: Silbury Hill may well have been a tomb, not for bodies, but for the souls of the dead.

"The English Heritage dig, which cost £1m, tunnelled 85 metres into the 40-metre-high man-made hill, discovering that its Neolithic builders had incorporated hundreds of heavy sarsen stones into its matrix. Sarsen, the silicified sandstone still found in great quantities in Wiltshire, was also used to build Stonehenge and Avebury. Heavier than other types of stone, archaeologists have long suspected that the material was regarded as sacred by Neolithic man.

"Stones have been seen by many cultures as spiritually and physically interchangeable with humans – with a belief that particular stones contained the souls, spirits or even the transformed mortal remains of the dead. The belief was widespread, occurring all over the world.

"Silbury Hill, researchers believe, could well have been built as a sort of spiritual tomb, filled with spirits rather than skeletons.

" 'The new information we are obtaining from inside Silbury Hill is transforming our understanding of the site,' said the English Heritage archaeologist Jim Leary, who led the three- year investigation. 'The discovery of sarsen stones inside the final phase of the monument has also been a surprise. Given the almost certainly religious and ceremonial nature of Silbury, it is likely that these stones had some symbolic importance, potentially representing the spirits of dead ancestors.' Radio-carbon tests on the mound have also revealed the age of Silbury Hill for the first time. Archaeologists now believe construction on the primary mound started about 2400BC, which would mean it was built at the same time as Avebury and the first phase of Stonehenge."

For more, see the article in The Independent.
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    Guardian prints story Portal linked to earlier this year. by bat400 on Thursday, 25 October 2007
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    See this link.
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    Re: Metaphoric souls are bared Silbury Hill dig by Anonymous on Saturday, 23 May 2009
    yes... i think the same... have had some very unusual experiences regarding silbury and, throughout my life, have been visited by many people and beings who have just died and seem to be moving somewhere.... often singular but sometimes in twos or groups... a few years back, i was fortunate to be referred to a shaman who conducted a healing ceremony for me. i found myself inside the interior of silbury. i had descended down, through a hole at the surface, anti-clockwise, to an area reminiscent of a womb. from the shadows a pterosaur appeared and councelled me. the advise he gave me, worked immediately and continues to this day...

    what is really interesting, is the fact that when the shaman was asking me to step into each of the four directions, one after the other, i could only step to one particular direction.... before entering the hill, and each time i have subsequently imagined myself sat atop silbury, i am facing in that same particular direction but with a slight angle to it (i won't specify which angles these are here, as i believe that information to be personal to me...

    i hope, one day, archaeologists wiil think to survey UNDER silbury as it has a lot in common with other pyramids, and clues as to their roles, were found BELOW the surface of the earth, on which the structures were built, and i hope they will realize the links in the materials used in the construction of various pyramids world-wide... i am no academic. i come from a feeling/intuiting/experiential perspective, so please feel free to make me aware of any known facts that could contradict anything i have written here.... many thanks, prismyd


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Guardian recommend climbing Silbury Hill by Andy B on Thursday, 19 July 2007
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Fans of the Guardian may change their minds about what a great newspaper it is to read that according to them it's now OK to climb Silbury Hill (see near bottom)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/family/story/0,,2123895,00.html

This got a reply from Lord Avebury no less:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,2129468,00.html
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Re: Film clip of the repair of Silbury Hill by PAB on Sunday, 10 June 2007
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Thanks Andy - good to see EH sharing this clip, definitely worth adding to web sites to follow up!
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Film clip of the repair of Silbury Hill by Andy B on Sunday, 10 June 2007
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Film clip of the repair of Silbury Hill, the first of a series:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.17512
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Re: Weekly Updates by Anonymous on Monday, 28 May 2007
I wonder how ot's going. As you guys are probably aware, their are several (possibly many more unregognised or misinterpreted as tumuli) similar mounds in UK - most well known is the Marlborough mound. I hear claims that Marlborough mound is 2nd largest after Avebury - really? Anyone know about the mound in Lewes, Sussex? Also a couple in scotland, and Gib Hill next to Arbor Low, may be suspect. I'd be interested if anyone knows of other possible "Avebury type" mounds or can help on this.

Nice site :)
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Weekly Updates by coldrum on Monday, 21 May 2007
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Weekly Updates
As the conservation project at Silbury Hill progresses, weekly updates will be available to download here. Each Friday, starting with the 18th of May, a new PDF will be made available which will show how far we have got into the tunnel, with images from inside Silbury Hill and an update on the key progress and findings from that week of the project.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.17511
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Silbury stabilisation by Aluta on Friday, 11 May 2007
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Pete Glastonbury is taking photos of the process as it unfolds and is posting them here.
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Re: Did the Romans worship on the great hill? by TimPrevett on Friday, 11 May 2007
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Engineers are to re-open a tunnel that goes deep inside the ancient monument of Silbury Hill in Wiltshire.

The tunnel, dug in 1968, was the last made over many centuries by archaeologists exploring the site.

Engineers are planning to stabilise the 5,000-year-old structure, which is believed to be the world's largest man-made prehistoric mound.

More here at the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/6645367.stm
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Re: Did the Romans worship on the great hill? by AngieLake on Monday, 13 November 2006
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There are some interesting pictures and reports on Silbury Hill on the Eternal Idol website.
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    Re: Did the Romans worship on the great hill? by AngieLake on Monday, 13 November 2006
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    Help! (Andy/Admins!):
    I didn't intend my last comment to come up under that title! Why can't Silbury info be kept under one simple heading?
    When I went to the list of possible files to open for this comment I DID choose one that was a general file, yet having added the comment, it somehow came up under the wrong heading!
    (In the past I've also had trouble finding the right general file for Stonehenge. Is it me, or is the system for popular sites a bit muddling?)
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Did the Romans worship on the great hill? by Andy B on Thursday, 27 July 2006
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traveller writes: New research has shed interesting evidence that the Roman’s may have used Silbury Hill for ritual activity. It had been thought that the hill was used purely during the Neolithic period, but now test are revealing its Roman links, and possibly late Iron Age too.

Geophysical survey work to the east of the hill shows a series of enclosures, leading experts to tie this in with Romano-British settlements. Out of the four discovered. One may have been a double-ditched one containing pits, two single-ditched enclosures, of which one contained evidence of a circular structure within, and a large polygonal enclosure.

English Heritage plan to carry out detailed analysis of all Roman finds from around the hill. Objects found include fragments of pottery and animal bone, some coming from the surrounding moat.
There is evidence of sacred wells around the hill, four are known of, and two seem to be closed up late during the Roman period.

Roman masonry has been found in the wells along with earth, and other rocks, suggesting a deliberate back fill. Did these wells form part of a religious complex? Was it the work of anti-pagan Christians?

Read the full article in BBC History magazine, August 06 edition.

Every time I visit Silbury It always leaves me wondering why and what for, I know it’s not on the scale of Stone Henge for effort or time scale. Part of the draw I guess, not knowing, is part of the mystery that keeps us interested.

Trav
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Re: Ancient hill's holes to be filled by Andy B on Thursday, 08 December 2005
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See also Heritage Action's report here: http://www.heritageaction.org/?page=heritagealerts_silburyhill
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Ancient hill's holes to be filled by Andy B on Monday, 28 November 2005
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Plans to stabilise the ancient Silbury Hill mound in Wiltshire have been unveiled by English Heritage.
The man-made monument, believed to date to the Neolithic period, developed a hole at the top five years ago after the collapse of infilling in a shaft.

There are proposals to remove an inadequate backfill from this and other cavaties and replace it with chalk.

English Heritage said it would preserve the long-term stability of the hill while minimising further damage. The organisation is also looking at how to fund the project.

Regional director Bob Bewley said: "If all goes to plan we're probably looking at some small amount of work during 2006 and then it'll probably happen in the summer of 2007.

More: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/4477192.stm
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The Silbury Lament - ttto the famous hymn :) by Andy B on Monday, 24 October 2005
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There is a green hill down our way a prehistoric mound
There¹s a car park for the visitors and fences all around

We may not know, we cannot say what¹s happening in there
But the Powers That Be assure us that we really needn¹t care

In seventeen seventy six was dug a shaft from top to toe
T¹was just a Duke¹s amusement, but t¹was eight feet wide you know

They dug it deep with pickaxes to find a glorious king
With golden throne and chariot - they didn¹t find a thing

The spoil heap stood for centuries and soon became quite thin
The hill was capped with wood and chalk but no-one filled it in

Another shaft was tunneled deep - again the finds were thin
They propped it up with pit supports - but never filled it in

In sixties Britain you¹d have thought we¹d know best what to do
But the Powers That be allowed it, so the BBC dug too

The show was fun, the nation gasped as camera teams went in
But you know, when they had finished it they didn¹t fill it in

Atop the hill the weathering was taking many tolls
>From the thousand feet of visitors and from the rabbit holes

And then one day a void appeared no rabbit hole was that
The Powers That Be leapt up the hill and covered up the gap

They took their surveys, hummed and hawed, and fenced off hole and mound
Meanwhile, a set of idiots from Holland abseiled down

They moved the cap, they scraped the side, they damaged it for sure
And when the next few rainstorms came the hole had grown some more

The Powers That Be eventually decided they must act
They employed a firm called Skanska to collect up all the facts

They surveyed here, they poked down there, they used some seismic shocks
And then they took the contract, filled the shaft with plastic blocks

We¹ve read the website ­ very nice - we¹re really quite impressed
At the way the Powers That Be have shown they¹ve always done their best

But here we stand, four years have gone, our mound looks calm and still
But the Powers That Be still seem to care f*** all for Silbury Hill

[Jezreell©2004]
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Silbury Hill Public meeting by Anonymous on Friday, 21 October 2005
English Heritage will be holding a public meeting about the repair of Silbury at the Study centre in Avebury on November 26th. Entrance is by (free) ticket, via [email protected]

The proposed venue has limited space so may be altered depending on demand but early booking would probably be advisable.
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Re: Silbury Hill by Jc on Sunday, 03 October 2004
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I think "anonymous" forgot to take away the number he/she first thought of!

Jc
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Re: Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Tuesday, 26 February 2002
I have visited Silbury Hill several times and now believe that its purpose was to hold the bodies of
sacrificed individuals on the top for easy viewing by the ancient megalithic Gods. After a period of time, I suggest the bones were removed to West Kennet long barrow. From the top of Silbury Hill you will see that WKL Barrow is at the same level as the Hill. Multiply the number of bodies in WKLB by 18.6 (cycle of lunar standstill) you will get an amazing correlation to date 1st and last body was interred.
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    Re: Silbury Hill by Condros on Wednesday, 14 May 2008
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    This is by far the best explanation I have seen so far on one of the purposes of Silbury Hill, But I would go a bit further, in saying that the bodies placed for decomposition, were the important members of the local populace. and not just "sacrificed individuals".
    I'm totally amazed at the number of sites this theory implements throughout many other locations from ancient settlements-to "avenue areas"-to decomposition areas-and internment of skeletal remains.

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    Re: Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Wednesday, 14 May 2008
    Really?
    Complete nonsense if you ask me...


    Paul Wills
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Re: Silbury Hill by Anonymous on Sunday, 25 November 2001
A scrap of antler has proved that Silbury Hill, the largest man-made mound in Europe, was completed around 4,500 years ago.
The first scientific evidence for the date of one of the most puzzling of our ancient monuments is one of two antlers found at the summit of the 128ft hill. It was discovered as archaeologists agonised over how to fill a gaping hole which had threatened the collapse of the Wiltshire monument.

The fragments are the broken tips of the picks with which the monument was built, that were thrown into the top of the hill as the last gaps between the blocks of cut chalk were filled with rubble.

While the first phase of building at Silbury may be centuries older, the dating of the antler proves the structure was complete almost 1,000 years before the last arrangement of the boulders at Stonehenge.

The dating, by the Oxford University radiocarbon unit, yields a late Neolithic date of about 2490-2340BC, with 95% certainty of accuracy. Earlier attempts to date Silbury Hill were based on educated guesses of 2800-2000BC: its form is so unusual there is almost nothing to compare it with. "An archaeologist shouldn't say this, but it is the result we were hoping for," said Amanda Chadbury, English Heritage's ancient monuments inspector for the area.

Although the Roman coins and the scraps of medieval horse harness also found in the excavation looked more intriguing, it was the antlers which caused most excitement. They were the first organic finds from a previously undisturbed part of the mound.

Amateurs have been burrowing into the mound over centuries, the main cause of the huge shaft that opened up last winter.

The monument remains as enigmatic as ever. Its construction was estimated to have taken more than 3m working hours. Despite a legend concerning a king buried on his horse - the target of generations of treasure hunters - no evidence was found of that.

The question is still whether the monument was built before, after, or as part of the same project as nearby Avebury - where nothing giving such a reliable date has been found.

The hole in the mound has been closed with blocks of polystyrene and a layer of chalk, and a seismic study, due within weeks, will show if Silbury is still unstable and in danger.

Source: Guardian
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