Silbury Avenue – Avebury’s First Stone Avenue

June 29, 2025 Trebor2510

Contents

1 Introduction
2 Podcast
3 Author’s Biography
4 Exploring Prehistoric Britain: A Journey Through Time
5 Further Reading
6 Other Blogs

Introduction

In 2014 a third stone‑lined processional way was recognised within the Avebury UNESCO World Heritage landscape. Archaeologists have long known the West Kennet Avenue and the Beckhampton Avenue, because many of their giant sarsen uprights still punctuate the fields. Nobody had imagined a hidden counterpart until a band of subtle turf marks on Waden Hill was spotted in enhanced air‑photos and ground‑truthed on the slope (see Silbury Avenue – Avebury’s First Stone Avenue). I have provisionally christened the new line “Silbury Avenue,” because it climbs the ridge and then would have descended towards Silbury Hill.

Silbury Avenue - Avebury's First Stone Avenue — **Waden Hill showing the patch marks of stone holes under the soil** – (Silbury Avenue – Avebury’s First Stone Avenue)

Digital enhancement revealed a ribbon of greener “patches” stretching roughly 470 m up Waden Hill’s north‑west flank; if the sockets continued down to the Kennet flood‑plain the avenue would total about 1.47 km. Counting the colour anomalies indicates at least nineteen stone‑pairs, each ≈ 25 m apart and defining a corridor 15–20 m wide — essentially a match for West Kennet Avenue, whose stones stand 22–24 m apart across a path 15–17 m wide (Stonehenge Stone Transportation Hoax).

Back in 1936 Keiller & Piggott excavated the northern arm of West Kennet Avenue and discovered it had been set out as ten ruler‑straight segments, not William Stukeley’s elegant serpent (Keiller & Piggott 1936). Their plan shows the line drifting west of Avebury’s south entrance; later pairs kink back in a pronounced zig‑zag. Explanations have varied: a prehistoric surveying blunder (Burl 2002), a drafting error in Keiller’s plan (Gillings & Pollard 2004), or deliberate symbolic geometry (Sims 2009). Silbury Avenue resolves the puzzle: the earliest stones formed a direct line between Avebury and Silbury Hill; when processional emphasis later shifted south‑east toward The Sanctuary, masons grafted a dog‑leg onto that older axis.

A New Three‑Dimensional Landscape

Silbury Avenue does not take the beeline to Silbury Hill; instead it climbs the ridge crest. There, nine Bronze‑Age round barrows flank — yet never interrupt — the stone‑line, proving the avenue is older than the mounds. A 1913 water‑pipe trench near the crest cut an oval pit filled with Windmill Hill sherds, burnt flint and animal bone, hinting at Mesolithic–Neolithic activity long before the barrows rose (Whitehead & Edmunds 2012).

The ridge offered practical advantages: carts or sledges avoided the steepest gradient and travellers gained a sweeping view of the Kennet valley. That stance is exactly where Silbury Hill’s beacon would first appear to a procession leaving Avebury, tying topography to spectacle.

Where Silbury Avenue Ends

After cresting Waden Hill the socket‑line does not run straight to Silbury Hill. Instead it veers down the gentle south‑west slope and stops on the flood‑plain at a low, circular mound long nick‑named “Silbaby” (a.k.a. Waden Mound). Early engravings reproduced by Stukeley mark the same bump beside the mediaeval track, and modern LiDAR shows a raised berm about 20 m west of today’s farm lane — almost certainly the original causeway that carried the avenue to the mound (Silbury Avenue – Avebury’s First Stone Avenue).

Local researcher Pete Glastonbury re‑identified the earthwork in 2011, traced the avenue’s last sockets to it, and commissioned coring. Those cores revealed a chalk‑rich matrix and Neolithic–Early‑Bronze‑Age charcoal, contradicting a later suggestion that the mound was post‑mediaeval spoil (Glastonbury pers. comm.; Mesolithic River Avon Case Study). Because Silbaby sits on an artificial spur that channels Waden Spring into the Kennet, it would have projected into open water for much of the year, giving boats deep enough draught to lie alongside even in flood. LiDAR also shows a hard‑packed apron on the south edge. Taken together, the evidence indicates that Silbaby was intentionally constructed as a riverside loading platform—an embanked spot where sledges coming down Silbury Avenue could transfer stones or other cargo onto boats for onward travel along the Kennet.

Reading the avenue this way clarifies two old puzzles. First, the stones climb the ridge because the south‑west descent offers the shallowest haul to the only reliable harbour. Second, the stone‑pairs stop at Silbaby because onward travel switched from road to river: Silbury Hill itself, surrounded by deep winter pools, was never the quay but the lighthouse marking the approach. Silbaby is therefore the functional full‑stop of Silbury Avenue — the hinge where Avebury’s over‑land processions and its riverine trade converged.

Implications for Avebury’s Chronology

Recognising Silbaby as the avenue’s terminus shows that West Kennet Avenue’s zig‑zag is not a prehistoric “mistake” but a later splice grafted on when the harbour at Silbury Hill silted up and traffic shifted east to The Sanctuary. John Aubrey’s seventeenth‑century sketch of a matching dog‑leg at the Sanctuary end confirms that both termini are secondary (Stonehenge Stone Transportation Hoax).

Sequence now reads:

Silbury Avenue and Silbaby/Waden Mound laid out first, linking Avebury directly to its beacon‑harbour.
Round barrows added on the ridge, respecting but not intersecting the avenue.
West Kennet Avenue begun as an extension, later kinked south‑east when the Kennet receded and a new unloading ground was needed at The Sanctuary.
Beckhampton Avenue and other monuments accreted as the valley dried further.

Conclusion

Silbury Avenue transforms our mental map of Avebury. What once looked like an eccentric detour now emerges as a freight road engineered for carts, sledges, ceremony — and crucially — for a river harbour that existed only while Kennet levels were higher. Silbaby, the modest mound on the flood‑plain, turns out to be the key: loading platform where land met water, and symbolism merged with logistics.

Future trenching inside Silbaby, coupled with a full socket survey along the south‑west descent, could lock this model in place or overturn it. Either way, recognising the avenue’s true destination forces us to read Avebury’s stones not just as ritual architecture but as part of a dynamic transport system built for a landscape that is now largely lost beneath the plough.

Key sources

Blog posts: Silbury Avenue – Avebury’s First Stone Avenue; Stonehenge Stone Transportation Hoax; Mesolithic River Avon Case Study; and others listed in the blog index.Introduction

Keiller, A. & Piggott, C. (1936) Excavations at Avebury.

Burl, A. (2002) Prehistoric Avebury.

Gillings, M. & Pollard, J. (2004) Avebury.

Sims, L. (2009) ‘Decoding Avebury’.

Whitehead, P. & Edmunds, M. (2012) ‘Palaeohydrology of the Kennet and the Siting of Silbury Hill’, EH Research Report 12‑2012.

(Silbury Avenue – Avebury’s First Stone Avenue)

Podcast

Author’s Biography

Robert John Langdon, a polymathic luminary, emerges as a writer, historian, and eminent specialist in LiDAR Landscape Archaeology.

His intellectual voyage has interwoven with stints as an astute scrutineer for governmental realms and grand corporate bastions, a tapestry spanning British Telecommunications, Cable and Wireless, British Gas, and the esteemed University of London.

A decade hence, Robert’s transition into retirement unfurled a chapter of insatiable curiosity. This phase saw him immerse himself in Politics, Archaeology, Philosophy, and the enigmatic realm of Quantum Mechanics. His academic odyssey traversed the venerable corridors of knowledge hubs such as the Museum of London, University College London, Birkbeck College, The City Literature Institute, and Chichester University.

In the symphony of his life, Robert is a custodian of three progeny and a pair of cherished grandchildren. His sanctuary lies ensconced in the embrace of West Wales, where he inhabits an isolated cottage, its windows framing a vista of the boundless sea – a retreat from the scrutinous gaze of the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, an amiable clandestinity in the lap of nature’s embrace.

(The Stonehenge Code)

Exploring Prehistoric Britain: A Journey Through Time

My blog delves into the fascinating mysteries of prehistoric Britain, challenging conventional narratives and offering fresh perspectives based on cutting-edge research, particularly using LiDAR technology. I invite you to explore some key areas of my research. For example, the Wansdyke, often cited as a defensive structure, is re-examined in light of new evidence. I’ve presented my findings in my blog post Wansdyke: A British Frontier Wall – ‘Debunked’, and a Wansdyke LiDAR Flyover video further visualizes my conclusions.

My work also often challenges established archaeological dogma. I argue that many sites, such as Hambledon Hill, commonly identified as Iron Age hillforts are not what they seem. My posts Lidar Investigation Hambledon Hill – NOT an ‘Iron Age Fort’ and Unmasking the “Iron Age Hillfort” Myth explore these ideas in detail and offer an alternative view. Similarly, sites like Cissbury Ring and White Sheet Camp, also receive a re-evaluation based on LiDAR analysis in my posts Lidar Investigation Cissbury Ring through time and Lidar Investigation White Sheet Camp, revealing fascinating insights into their true purpose. I have also examined South Cadbury Castle, often linked to the mythical Camelot56.

My research also extends to the topic of ancient water management, including the role of canals and other linear earthworks. I have discussed the true origins of Car Dyke in multiple posts including Car Dyke – ABC News PodCast and Lidar Investigation Car Dyke – North Section, suggesting a Mesolithic origin2357. I also explore the misidentification of Roman aqueducts, as seen in my posts on the Great Chesters (Roman) Aqueduct. My research has also been greatly informed by my post-glacial flooding hypothesis which has helped to inform the landscape transformations over time. I have discussed this hypothesis in several posts including AI now supports my Post-Glacial Flooding Hypothesis and Exploring Britain’s Flooded Past: A Personal Journey

Finally, my blog also investigates prehistoric burial practices, as seen in Prehistoric Burial Practices of Britain and explores the mystery of Pillow Mounds, often mistaken for medieval rabbit warrens, but with a potential link to Bronze Age cremation in my posts: Pillow Mounds: A Bronze Age Legacy of Cremation? and The Mystery of Pillow Mounds: Are They Really Medieval Rabbit Warrens?. My research also includes the astronomical insights of ancient sites, for example, in Rediscovering the Winter Solstice: The Original Winter Festival. I also review new information about the construction of Stonehenge in The Stonehenge Enigma.