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<< Our Photo Pages >> West Kennet Avenue - Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue in England in Wiltshire

Submitted by TimPrevett on Wednesday, 14 February 2024  Page Views: 25423

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: West Kennet Avenue Alternative Name: Avebury
Country: England County: Wiltshire Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue
Nearest Town: Marlborough  Nearest Village: Avebury
Map Ref: SU10696928  Landranger Map Number: 173
Latitude: 51.422432N  Longitude: 1.847648W
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
4 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.
5 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

Traumrealistin would like to visit

Chrus visited on 1st Jan 2030 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3

Couplands visited on 12th Sep 2023 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 4

NDM visited on 1st Dec 2022 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4

aolson visited on 24th Jun 2022 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 5 Unfortunately we were able to spend all of a minute or two here before having to head back to London.

Phillwhite visited on 16th Sep 2021 - their rating: Cond: 3

TheCaptain visited on 25th Sep 2020 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4 Down to the bottom of Waden Hill and now head up the West Kennet Avenue towards Avebury. Its stones are positively glowing in the afternoon sunshine. This is obviously the way to approach Avebury, and even a herd of bullocks in the enclosure couldn't deter me from walking all the way up, although I did divert to the top of the area to avoid most of them, which meant not seeing the stone with the polishing grooves again. At the top of the Avenue, cross the road and enter the enormous henge through the entrance portal with the beautiful trees and enormous Barber Stone, which I make sure I get a sit down on. The stones of the inner circle are glowing in the bright sunshine, as I decide to go for a pint in the Red Lion.

TheCaptain visited on 18th Sep 2019 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4 Before going home, still feeling good and time to visit the Kennet Avenue, so walked up and down that, finding the second polisher stone. Beautiful day out.

michelle_b007 visited on 13th Aug 2019 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5

sba_dk visited on 18th Jul 2019 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5

Hodur visited on 29th Dec 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5

bishop_pam visited on 15th Oct 2017 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5

SandyG visited on 7th Aug 2016 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 5

XIII saw from a distance on 13th Aug 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

KimIannucci visited on 29th Jul 2015 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 3

NorthernerInLondon visited on 11th Aug 2014 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4

jeffrep visited on 27th May 2011 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5

markj99 visited on 9th Feb 2011 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4 West Kennet Avenue is one of my favourite sites. Unlike Avebury stone circles it is not surrounded by modernity. One can easily imagine a ceremonial procession up West Kennet Avenue leading to the majesty of Avebury Stone Circles.

johnstone visited on 30th Jun 2010 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 5

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

Richard13 visited on 1st Jul 2009 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 5

Woode visited on 21st Dec 2007 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5

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

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

bat400 visited on 1st Oct 1987 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4

coin visited - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 4 Access: 5 A great walk!

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

neolithique02 Ogham Bladup DrewParsons PAB hamish h_fenton TimPrevett JimChampion Andy B AngieLake mdensham NickyD FrothNinja Wazza12 hevveh have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.6 Ambience: 4.33 Access: 4.39

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by HarryTwenty : Rainbow at the avenue. The white streaks are raindrops. (Vote or comment on this photo)
The West Kennet Avenue runs for an incredible 2.5km from the Avebury circle at SU10326976 in a southeasterly direction through West Kennet and likely terminates at The Sanctuary. Burials have been found at the bottom of some of the stones. Aubrey Burl suggests that avenues such as this were built in stretches, over the years, by different generations of the population.

An occupation site pre-dating the West Kennet Avenue, Avebury, represented by a prolific artefact scatter, was identified during Keiller’s 1934 excavation of the northern third of the later Neolithic stone settings. In addition to characteristic tools such as chisel arrowheads, finely knapped scrapers, and serrated flakes, the predominantly Peterborough Ware pottery assemblage indicates that most of the material accumulated during the middle Neolithic (c. 3400–2900 bc).

Recent excavation by the Between the Monuments project (2013–15) extends understanding of the site including the nature of the artefact spread and various cut features (Refs: Keiller and Piggott 1936; Smith Reference; Smith 1965a; Gillings et al. 2015 - see the Katy Whitaker paper linked below in comments for full references).

There is possible male / female imagery in many of the stone shapes, and their arrangement in relation to one another is probably significant.

The avenue is featured on the Stone Rows of Great Britain website - see their entry for the West Kennet Avenue, which includes a description, a simplified plan of the West Kennet stone alignment, photographs, and access information.

The avenue is also recorded as Monument No. 220971 and scheduled as part of Historic England List ID 1015547 (West Kennet Avenue and an earthwork bank east of West Kennett Farm).

See also the National Trust webpage for the West Kennet Avenue (archive link).

‘Connoisseurs of Stone’ - a new paper from Dr Katy Whitaker examines non-megalithic uses of sarsen stone at the West Kennet Avenue occupation site, Windmill Hill and Marden Henge. The analysis demonstrates that 'everyday' sarsen could be just as meaning-laden as larger or more exotic material
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West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by h_fenton : The northern end of West Kennet Avenue as it approaches Avebury Henge, the positions of most of the stones here are represented by small concrete pillars. Kite Aerial Photograph 12 July 2009 (4 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by Bladup : Sharky on the West Kennet Avenue. (Vote or comment on this photo)

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by BenCremin : west kennet avenue - Sunset and shadows Image copyright: BenCremin (Ben Cremin), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by AngieLake : Nice light this particular evening highlighting the lovely greens of the landscape. 18 June. (2 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by JJ : Aerial photo copyright JJ Evendon (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by SandyG : Looking northward along the row. Avebury henge is hidden from view behind the rising ground. View from south.

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by SandyG : The southernmost surviving length. View from the north.

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by ogham : A cold day in the avenue. (1 comment)

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by graemefield : A cold morning at the avenue

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by AngieLake : Another angle on these stones, showing the almost 'modern art' effect of lichen patterns. 18 June.

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by jeffrep : The West Kennet Avenue at the Start of Dusk, Wiltshire, England.

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by DavidRaven : The stones stand out, luminous in the landscape.

West Kennet Avenue Avebury
West Kennet Avenue Avebury submitted by vicky : The excavation of the West Kennet Avenue in Avebury showing a relocated stone, September 2002.

West Kennet Avenue Horse Head Stone
West Kennet Avenue Horse Head Stone submitted by vicky : The 'horse head' stone, part of the West Kennet Avenue. (1 comment)

West Kennet Avenue polisher
West Kennet Avenue polisher submitted by Horatio : A lovely lichen and multicoloured sarsen. A shame most people wouldn't see this side as the modern path goes to the left of this stone. This view is from the hedge with my back to the road actually within the original avenue route. The polising site is about a fifth of the way up from the bottom and can be seen as a blunted, squashed elliptical area with the 3 groove (edge sharpening marks...

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by Humbucker : West Kennet Avenue in the summer. Looking south towards West Kennet.

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by SandyG : Looking northward along the row.

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by SandyG : Southern length of the best preserved section. View from the north.

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by Ogham : High summer at the avenue.

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by paulinelen : some stones seem to have a character all of their own (1 comment)

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by paulinelen : testing out the new camera's telephoto

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by AngieLake : A pair of 'male' and 'female' stones face each other across the avenue. (Taken several years ago now on old-fashioned film, saved to disk.)

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by Bladup : A smooth stone on the West Kennet Avenue.

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by DrewParsons : The Avenue viewed from the southern end. September 2009

West Kennet Avenue
West Kennet Avenue submitted by h_fenton : Early morning looking along the West Kennet Avenue, 2 June 2007. (4 comments)

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Megalithic Mysteries by Andy Burnham
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 225m NNW 328° West Kennet Avenue polisher* Polissoir (SU10576947)
 291m E 84° Falkner's Circle* Stone Circle (SU10986931)
 804m NNW 328° Avebury* Stone Circle (SU10266996)
 860m NNW 329° Avebury - The Cove* Standing Stones (SU10257002)
 862m NW 307° Alexander Keiller Museum* Museum (SU100698)
 928m S 184° Silbaby* Misc. Earthwork (SU1062668354)
 990m NW 314° St. James's Church (Avebury) Ancient Cross (SU0997669968)
 1.0km SW 222° Silbury Hill* Artificial Mound (SU10016853)
 1.1km SE 128° Overton Hill barrow cemetery* Barrow Cemetery (SU11526863)
 1.1km SSE 164° West Kennet Palisaded Enclosures* Ancient Village or Settlement (SU110682)
 1.3km SSW 207° Swallowhead Spring* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SU101681)
 1.4km NE 56° Avebury Down barrow cemetery* Barrow Cemetery (SU11877007)
 1.5km SSW 198° West Kennet Barrow Round Barrow(s) (SU10246788)
 1.6km S 187° West Kennett Long Barrow* Long Barrow (SU10506774)
 1.7km W 270° South Street Long Barrow* Chambered Tomb (SU09006927)
 1.7km SE 132° The Sanctuary Barrows* Barrow Cemetery (SU11966816)
 1.7km SE 138° The Sanctuary.* Stone Circle (SU11836802)
 1.7km N 5° Avebury Down Earthwork Misc. Earthwork (SU10837102)
 1.8km NNE 18° Avebury Downs Barn Tumuli* Barrow Cemetery (SU1125170971)
 1.8km W 271° Longstone Cove* Standing Stones (SU0888769301)
 2.0km W 266° Longstones Barrow* Long Barrow (SU08706914)
 2.1km NNE 20° Avebury Down Stone Circle* Stone Circle (SU11437127)
 2.2km W 268° South of Penning Barn* Round Barrow(s) (SU08506921)
 2.3km E 85° Down Barn* Standing Stones (SU12966949)
 2.3km SSW 201° Beckhampton Penning circle* Stone Circle (SU09876713)
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Web Links for West Kennet Avenue

Megalithic Mysteries by Andy Burnham
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Archived Web links for West Kennet Avenue

Stonecentric by Frank Wayman
From Watford Gap to Camelot by David Craig

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‘Connoisseurs of Stone’: Everyday Sarsen Stone in Neolithic Britain - Katy Whitaker by Andy B on Monday, 06 February 2023
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‘Connoisseurs of Stone’: Everyday Sarsen Stone in Neolithic Britain by Katy A Whitaker, University of Reading

Sarsen stone boulders are familiar components of numerous British Neolithic megalithic monuments. Non-monumental uses of sarsen stone are, however, less well understood. This paper focuses on non-megalithic sarsen and its roles for communities, using case studies from three sites spanning the Neolithic in Wiltshire. Published data from Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure and analysis, using a new methodology, of recently excavated material from the West Kennet Avenue occupation site, and Marden henge enclosure are used to explore the varied ways in which sarsen was used.

Rather than being an expedient ‘mundane’ stone this analysis demonstrates that non-megalithic sarsen could be just as meaning-laden as other more ‘attractive’ (larger, exotic) material. Daily encounters with sarsen stone for different purposes and in varied quotidian contexts afforded it with values which likely contributed to its use in monumental contexts. The importance of attending to sarsen in its multiple forms and contexts is thus made clear.

The West Kennet Avenue occupation site

An occupation site pre-dating the West Kennet Avenue, Avebury, represented by a prolific artefact scatter, was identified during Keiller’s 1934 excavation of the northern third of the later Neolithic stone settings. At the east-facing foot of Waden Hill, the scatter extends over c. 70 m north–south roughly from Avenue stone pair 27 to 31 (the full east–west extent remains undefined).

In addition to characteristic tools such as chisel arrowheads, finely knapped scrapers, and serrated flakes, the predominantly Peterborough Ware pottery assemblage indicates that most of the material accumulated during the middle Neolithic (c. 3400–2900 bc). The ceramics and high proportion of tools among the unpatinated flint assemblage indicate the presence of an in situ artefact spread largely at the base of the subsoil resulting from settlement activity. Some tools, such as grouped scrapers, had been placed amongst the spread. Recent excavation by the Between the Monuments project (2013–15) extends understanding of the site including the nature of the artefact spread and various cut features. (See Figs 4 and 5. in the paper for details)

WHITAKER, K. (2022). ‘Connoisseurs of Stone’: Everyday Sarsen Stone in Neolithic Britain. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 88, 97-122. doi:10.1017/ppr.2022.9

Read More at https://doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2022.9 - Open Access / Creative Commons Paper
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Which Way Forward for Archaeoastronomy? West Kennet Avenue as a Test Case Lionel Sims by Andy B on Thursday, 07 July 2016
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Which Way Forward for Archaeoastronomy?
West Kennet Avenue as a Test Case by Lionel Sims

Neither statistical 'green' nor ethnographic 'brown' European and American styles of archaeoastronomy have so far provided convincing interpretations of the meaning of prehistoric monument alignments as related to cosmology. Statistical tests of the null hypothesis never reach the level of meaning, and contemporary ethnographic data cannot be equated with the cultures of prehistory. Gains have been made.

Since the 1980's European archaeoastronomy has established rigorous field work methods and scientific procedures that guard against the over-interpretation of prehistoric monument alignments that characterised the discipline in preceding decades. However, the discipline still has to embrace those procedures that can interpret unique prehistoric monuments rather than just regional groups of monuments, and to interpret a growing data base which includes many combined alignments on lunar standstills and the sun's solstices.

These hesitations seem to flow from a reticence to provoke an otherwise sceptical archaeology establishment. This paper argues that archaeoastronomy can perform an invaluable function with four-field anthropology (archaeology, social anthropology, biological anthropology and linguistics) as a keystone discipline within such a multi-disciplinary arch.

The paper demonstrates such a role through a critique of the present archaeological interpretations of the paradoxical approach of the West Kennet Avenue to the Avebury circle and henge in Wiltshire, England. It finds that the archaeology of cattle-herding monument building cultures and the anthropology of brideprice subverting brideservice can be synthesised with the archaeoastronomy of lunar-solar combined alignments to confirm an emergent model of an elite cattle-owning male-dominated cosmology which both continues and displaces an ancient lunar-governed hunting and gathering ritual system onto a solar timescale.

http://journalofcosmology.com/AncientAstronomy107.html

see also

Theoretical Sampling of Simulated Populations at West Kennet Avenue, Wiltshire, England: Transcending the Individualistic Fallacy in Archaeoastronomy by Considering Monument Design and Landscape Phenomenology as Coupled Systems

The dominant methodology in archaeoastronomy is the statistical testing of regional groups of monuments. Such tests for the null hypothesis cannot be used for unique monuments like Stonehenge and Avebury monument complexes in England, nor do they raise inquiry to the level of the meaning of these or even regional groups of monuments. To interpret the collective representations of the ancient monument builders an additional method for archaeoastronomy is to treat monument design and landscape context as a terrain of choices and, together with skyscape, as coupled systems. Competing models of meaning can then be tested by theoretically sampling these domains.

https://www.academia.edu/22251902/

Interpretation through emergence: reconstituting the lost complexity of the late
Neolithic/Early Bronze Age cosmovision by multi-disciplinary method.
PhD (by publication and production) Lionel Sims
University of East London, February 2013

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.568.1697&rep=rep1&type=pdf
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Re: visiting by emerald on Saturday, 21 November 2015
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Is there a good place to park nearby so l can walk the avenue? I have visited the stones at avebury but not walked these, solstice visit l think....
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    Re: visiting by Andy B on Sunday, 22 November 2015
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    Hello Emerald, last time we visited there was a small amount of parking by the side of the B4003 road near Waden Hill.
    [ Reply to This ]

Not to be outdone, the West Kennet Avenue dig has also found periglacial stripes by Andy B on Wednesday, 11 September 2013
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On August 2nd Nick Snashall wrote: We’re digging a site first discovered by Alexander Keiller in 1934 when he was excavating the West Kennet Avenue. (more details) It was day off on the dig today but that doesn’t mean all work stops. Step forward Dr Mike Allen (Allen Environmental Archaeology) and Professor Charly French (Cambridge University). Mike is our guru on all things relating to chalkland soils and land snails and Charly is the expert on using micromorphological techniques to interpret buried landscapes (or our super-guru as Mike describes him.)

Charly and Mike are also rather fond of our periglacial stripes in Trench 2. These chalk stripes, which formed when areas further north were glaciated, are really well preserved. In fact Charly and Mike have rarely seen their like before on the chalk. What does this mean? Well for a start it means that the area we’re looking at hasn’t been deep-ploughed for centuries.

More here, with photos of the periglacial stripes
http://ntarchaeostonehengeaveburywhs.wordpress.com/tag/periglacial-stripes/

This summer’s fieldwork on the Between the Monuments Project is at an end. But that’s not the end of the story. Over the coming months we’ll be analysing the results of our Avebury Dig and going back to Alexander Keiller’s records and finds (in the archive of Avebury Museum) to try to make sense of what we’ve found. The project as a whole runs until 2019.

More at
https://web.archive.org/web/20131023012403/https://ntarchaeostonehengeaveburywhs.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/avebury-dig-and-now-what/ (archive link)
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Street View by coldrum on Wednesday, 17 March 2010
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