Avebury

Avebury lies at the heart of the Wiltshire Downs, accessible easily from the M4 motorway, and is about 6 miles west of Marlborough, along the A4 (Bath Road) at the junction of the A4361 and the B4003. Local signposting directs visitors to the official tourist car park which is situated just south of the circle itself off the A4361. There is a local village car park located in the centre of the village, but this has restricted parking for non-residents during daylight hours.

The nearest train stations are 10 miles away in Pewsey or 11 miles in Swindon.

The Trans-Wiltshire Express (service 49) offers an hourly service between Swindon, Avebury, Devizes and Trowbridge. Swindon is on the main line to London. Other buses running nearby connect to Marlborough and Chippenham.

From just west of the Henge Shop on the High Street, you can enter the south west quadrant through the sprung gate and are immediately presented with an impressive arc of re-erected stones, starting with the misshapen 'blacksmiths' stone - this one was located by Keiller in the cellar of a blacksmiths where a 17th-century antiquarian had noted it being toppled and used as building material. The 6th stone in from the road is the famous Barber Stone - when Keiller lifted this stone in the 1930s, the skeleton of a mediaeval Barber-Surgeon, with an intact pair of scissors, was revealed underneath, crushed by the falling stone.

After crossing the busy main road which goes south out of the village, the path leads you directly to one of the largest stones in the complex (about 60 tonnes) - the Devil's Chair - which has a small ledge on the outside edge where you can sit and make a wish. This quadrant also contains the remains of the inner stone circle and a central marker stone erected by Keiller to take the place of a much larger obelisk which stood there until the 17th century. At the exit of this quadrant, there is a huge sprawling beech tree on the henge, which reputedly JRR Tolkien used to sit under, and the exposed root system is certainly very Middle Earth.

Crossing Green Lane into the north east quadrant, there are very few stones revealed in this sector, mostly because Keiller ran out of money and this area was never excavated - you can be sure that many stones lie undiscovered under the grass. This sector does, however, contain the Cove stones, which are two huge flat stones perpendicular to each other - a third long lost stone once formed a three-sided 'cove'. It is interesting to note that while one of the stones is smooth, the other is very rough.

Crossing the busy main road into the north west quadrant, this sector is again heavily reconstructed and another impressive arc of re-erected stones, contains the single largest stone of the site - the Swindon Stone, which marks the way to Swindon. The exit from this quadrant leads you out to the courtyard where the Barn Museum, Tea Room, WC facilities, the Keiller Museum, St. James Church, and Avebury Manor gardens are all situated.

• West Kennett Avenue is the prehistoric processional avenue of stones which leads from the south east quadrant towards the Sanctuary on Overton Hill some 1¼ miles distant. Keiller re-erected all of the stones in this section of avenue in the 1930s and it gives a vivid impression of what it must have been like for prehistoric people to walk between the pairs of alternating stones (some theorists say representing male and female) to the ancient site of the Sanctuary. Unfortunately, Keiller only managed to re-erect 3/4 mile of Avenue and it cuts off abruptly at a fence. The National Trust have purchased the farm land beyond this boundary, but no plans for further excavation have been set. There is a small layby at the bottom end of the avenue if people wish to drive to it instead of walking from Avebury village.
• The Sanctuary is the final prehistoric destination of West Kennett Avenue and is situated on Overton Hill on the A4, just where the Ridgeway Path bisects the A4. This was the site of a prehistoric temple, far older than the Avebury complex itself. All that remains is a series of concentric circular post holes, and stone holes (the stones having been removed in the 17th century) the positions of which are now marked by concrete markers to give you some impression of the scale of the building. Standing at the centre of the circle, you can glance back towards Avebury Village and see the hole markers for the first pair of Avenue stones which eventually join up with the rest of West Kennett Avenue. Acrss the A4 from here are several later Bronze Age burial mounds.

• 🌍 Silbury Hill (north of the A4 to the south west of Avebury). The largest man-made hill in Europe (130 feet high) and is thought to be contemporary with the Avebury henge complex. It is named after a mythical King Sel, who was thought to be buried at the base of the mound, but several generations of excavations have revealed no burials. It was thought to be the final destination of the long lost Beckhampton Avenue, another processional avenue of stones from Avebury which has long since vanished (apart from two stones now stranded in the middle of a field - the Longstones - Adam and Eve, as they are known). The hill itself is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and access is restricted. There is a car park and viewing area off the A4. (updated Oct 2020)
• West Kennett Long Barrow is a neolithic passage tomb with a row of impressive sarsen stones guarding the entrance. Access to the long barrow is by a 1/4 mile footpath from a layby on the A4 just to the east of Silbury Hill. The barrow is on the brow of a chalk ridge, and is one of the longest chambered barrows of its kind in Europe. Access to the inside of the tomb is open, and well worth exploring. At the end of the neolithic, the tomb was filled with rubble and was left that way until archaeologists in the 1960s excavated the inside, revealing dozens of skeletons of all ages in the various compartments.
• 🌍 Avebury Manor, Wiltshire SN8 1RD (6 miles west of Marlborough on the A4361). A renovated Elizabethan manor house, with peaceful period gardens. It was home to Alexander Keiller, the architect who brought Avebury's archeology into sight. Owned by the National Trust, entry is by timed ticket. Summer: adult £1, child £5, family £25. Winter: adult £7.20, child £3.35, family £17.75. Autumn: adult £7.60, child £3.60, family £18.80. Car park £7 all day, £4 after 3PM. (updated Sep 2017)
• 🌍 Alexander Keiller Museum, High Street. Adults £4.40, children £2.20, concessions Free. 
• Other local areas of interest include Windmill Hill neolithic enclosure, Hackpen Hill White Horse, East Kennett Long Barrow and the Ridgeway Path.