Exploring Avebury Competition - the results!

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 30 July 2026 Page Views: 675

Lots of entries came in, so thanks to everyone who took the trouble. History Press very kindly let us have three copies of Steve Marshall's Exploring Avebury: The Essential Guide to give away. Picking the winners was tricky, not because the entries were samey but the exact opposite - they weren't.

Thanks to everyone who entered, from Cornwall, where Nick Bailey signed off "Oll an gwella", to California - and there wasn't a dull one among them. Only three books to send sadly.

The winners

Mish - Avebury Stones

Mish opened by admitting to one visit and no having idea what any of the stones are called, but then described a night walk in such lovely detail I was entranced: "There were so many figures and faces (in the stones) watching us as we moved between them. Their presence felt overwhelming at times yet reassuring."

Not knowing the names turns out not to be much of an obstacle - hopefully a copy of Steve's book well help!

Richey Ostrowski - the Polisher, Fyfield Down

The Polisher got a single vote, which says something about how off the usual circuit it is. Richey wrote how: "the countless hours invested and the 'softness' of the grooves blows my mind every time, I get a proper dose of time-bending awe."

A practical site rather than a monument per se, the only entry to pick one.

Lee Walker (Horatio) - West Kennet Long Barrow

The longest entry we received and worthy of a prize. Drumming on top of the barrow and
inside it, at sunrises and sunsets, seven nights running one year with the incense lit. The
reasoning is all about the position - high ground, and the whole landscape visible round it from
Windmill Hill to the Sanctuary.

Printed in full below, at Lee's request.

Winners have been contacted for a postal address and their books are being sent tomorrow.

Runners-up

Rainbow Ali for Swallowhead Spring, the only entry to pick it, so a good connection to
Marshall's own argument about water - the spring as something alive that runs and then doesn't, "a betwixt and between place, here or not here." If we'd had a fourth copy this is where it would have gone.

Pete Trundell for the best-argued entry we had, making the case that Silbury's secrets will explain a good many other henges, and that henges cluster at the sources of watercourses.

Brendan for the shortest, which we reproduce in its entirety:

The Red Lion.
Beer.

Not wrong, either. The Red Lion sits inside the henge, which makes it the only pub in the country
with a stone circle for a beer garden, and nobody else thought of it.

What everyone picked

The Avenue and West Kennet Long Barrow finished level at the top, well clear of everything
else - level if you count Mogg Morgan, who named the source of the Kennet first and the long
barrow immediately above it. A couple of entries each for Silbury Hill and for the stones as a whole.
A couple more declined to be pinned to a single spot and went for
Avebury entire, one of them on the grounds that it sits at 51.42857 degrees, which is 360 dividedby 7 (!)

The gaps are more interesting than the winners. Not one vote for Windmill Hill. Nothing at all for
the Sanctuary, the Cove, Falkner's Circle, or Adam and Eve. Windmill Hill and the Sanctuary turn
up only in passing, as places people walked through on the way to somewhere they liked better,
which seems a bit hard on both of them.

The entries in full

West Kennet Long Barrow

Lee Walker (Horatio)

My favourite site in the Avebury World Heritage site is West Kennet Long Barrow, probably along with a few several hundred other people!

There are several reasons for this as my first choice amongst so many amazing monuments.

Firstly as a bad sufferer of SADS and living in Wales at the bottom of a valley I really really struggle to see much sky mainly because of the terrible weather most of the year and this affects me and hence my long suffering wife. The main reason I spend so much time around Pentre Ifan under the open skies and landscape.

Anyway back to WKLB, this I have spent many a day drumming on top (and obviously inside) of during beautiful sunsets and sunrises as I do around all our ancient sites, but at WKLB being on high ground with the surrounding views of the ancient landscape all around from Windmill Hill to the Sanctuary and beyond it just makes a very special and atmospheric place even more 'special'.

It is here like Pentre Ifan (but more so) that I feel that real connection to our ancestors and puts me back into the Neolithic but not only that, it's a place that I feel really grounds me, re charges me, cleanses me and instills a deep sense of great gratitude to not only our ancestors but to being alive to appreciate everything, nature, the seasons, Mother Earth, the sun the moon, the universe etc and it is whilst being here I really do feel at one with the universe and almost part of something a lot larger than me, a mere speck of a human being on this planet for such an infinitesimal amount of time.

I also get this feeling inside the chamber when drumming which I've often done in inclement weather or when it has gone dark outside. I light some incense and drum quietly away in appreciation feeling the vibrations going through my body, this is something I did for seven nights on the run (last year's week holiday in Avebury after the sunset).

I said there are several reasons for this as my choice but I won't go in to the others as I'm using a mobile to type this (forgive me my spelling mistakes and grammar) so it's taken me a while to write this already.

But I have given the number one reason why I have chosen WKLB as my favourite site, this explanation above I get (the feelings of) at the majority of our ancient sites but never so much as at WKLB and hence why it is my favourite place in the Avebury World Heritage Site.

Jeremy Day

My nomination is West Kennet Long Barrow.

It was the highlight, (amongst many) during a day of walking in the Avebury landscape with my dear friends of 40+ years from uni; we reunite annually for a walking weekend.

I put together an all day circular route which included the Circles and Henge, some of Ridgeway, the Sanctuary and the Avenue.

The view from the Barrow towards Silbury Hill late afternoon, with the sun going down was simply magical. My plan had worked, my pals would now always share my love of ancient stone culture!

I would love this book to help stir wonderful memories and help to plan my return visit.

James Dorrington

West Kennet Long Barrow is my new favourite landmark in the Avebury area having been there for the first time this April for my birthday (despite being to Avebury twice prior) as a bonus, I ran into Maria Wheatley there and had a lovely chat with her. Truly unforgettable.

The Avenue

Carol Kubicki

My favourite feature in the Avebury World Heritage Site is: The West Kennet Avenue. I like this because of the sarsen stones and for the missing stones and gaps. I also enjoy the sense of connection, of walking in the footsteps of people from the past.

Bill Rukeyser

We have returned to Avebury several times in over half a century (whenever we're in southern UK we try to get there.)

Without a doubt I am most impressed and the strongest images are created when I can stand by one of stones on the West Kennet Ave and gaze down its length.

The entire district is impressive, but the Avenue stands out.

Jude

My favourite monument is the avenue because walking between the stones makes me feel like I am walking in the footsteps of our ancestors. I feel a close connection to the past as I walk and although I have visited many sites few give that feeling quite so intensely.

Gerri Davin

My favourite views/ thoughts of the Avebury complete site is the beautifully but plain avenue, which draws us to the great beautiful labyrinth of stones far too many to quote, what an out of this world experience every time. Every time a mind blowing, yes for always.

Silbury Hill

Pete Trundell

My favourite monument in the Avebury complex is Silbury Hill.

I believe its secrets will help us understand the reasoning behind many of our megaliths and henges. Silbury is sited beside springs which supply the Kennet and, ultimately, the Thames which
could have been the conduit by which the Neolithic peoples accessed these lands and may have been revered as part of the Ancestor belief. Many other henges are located by the source of watercourses some of which hold evidence of now-lost mounds.

Bogusia Serafin

My favourite feature in the Avebury World Heritage Site is Silbury Hill.

It was a glorious September day when I visited. The mound stood clearly against blue sky and you could hear the birds singing. The space was open wide, the sky vast and welcoming. It felt peaceful and serene.

I hope to return to Silbury Hill one day again.

The stones themselves

Mish

I have only visited Avebury once (so far) and I do not know the specific names of the stones, but I especially enjoyed the large outer stones.

Myself and a friend took a walk amongst them at night and we were both very moved. There were so many figures and faces (in the stones) watching us as we moved between them. Their presence felt overwhelming at times yet reassuring.

I would love to go back again

Sally

The stones themselves at Avebury are amazing. They always seem so majestic and awe inspiring despite not being as tall as Stonehenge. They seem to have a vibrant "buzz" to them - how do you
describe that in real terms?!

I also love that so many of them seem to have shapes or faces in them. I could spend hours
examining the whole circle!

Water

Rainbow Ali

My favourite place isn't the obvious and was much more hidden, once you had to pick your way
carefully to get there, and no one else used to visit. Since that time someone made a living willow sculpture and there seems to be more of a path. I love the sacred spring (swallow head spring) because she moves, she is still alive and sometimes she runs and other times she doesn't. Similarly sometimes there is water in the beginning of the Kennet and other times there is not. So a betwixt and between place, here or not here, yet within view of Silbury and West Kennet long barrow. I now live on a canal boat on the Kennet and Avon canal so a deep flowing connection with her, as she moves within the waters as they move up and down the canal.

Mogg Morgan

My favourite spot is the source of the river Kennet, One of hardest to visit ...

And above that the west Kennet long barrow, good viewpoint to megalithic astronomy, with the ancestors in their chamber below. I've sung to them many times, was initiated into Avebury from there, many moons ago.

Elsewhere in the landscape

Richey Ostrowski - the Polisher, Fyfield Down

Whenever I'm in the area I always try and stop by 'The Polisher' polissoir up on Fyfield Down - the countless hours invested and the 'softness' of the grooves blows my mind every time, I get a
proper dose of time-bending awe

Keith Macdonald - Avebury itself

My favourite Avebury moment?

Discovering that Avebury is one of the World Portal sites, on 1/7th of latitude.

Notable sites appear at fractions of 1/7th of the 90 degree quadrant.
Thebes (in Egypt) is 2/7ths (25.7 deg)
Delphi is 3/7ths (38.5 deg)

What may come as a surprise is that Avebury is 4/7ths (51.42 deg) or 360/7. To be more exact,
360/7 is 51.42857

The position of Avebury was the one that surprised me the most. Put that position in a geosite as
the longitude and what do you get?

The center of Avebury is 51.42857

Richard - Avebury, where the lines cross

My interest in Avebury goes back to 2008. I was travelling round sites and eventually followed energy to Avebury. As I entered, it hit me - the energy cross over. I settled. This place was so layered.

I eventually did sound work, gong baths, with a local group on the energy lines, opening the place. My last visit was a good while ago now, having gone to other sites, but Avebury will always be my place.

Martin Wells - Wayland's Smithy

Favourite Monument - Wayland's Smithy

Brendan - the Red Lion

The Red Lion. Beer.

David Ingle

I do not as yet have a favorite site in or around Avebury since I've not been there in person -but that's going to change soon. Starting in September, I'm teaching a course at Oxford and plan to take my 10 students on an outing to Avebury. Steve Marshall's book would be a huge help! I
could add it to my growing collection which already includes The Avebury Cycle and a few others.
Thanks for all you do.

Contributor Bio for Andy B: Megalithic Portal Founding Editor.

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