Avebury

Most people have heard of the famous stone circle at Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, England. Fewer have heard of the much bigger circle, or rather, circles, thirty miles north, at Avebury.

Avebury was built about 500 years before Stonehenge was. Work started on it around 2900 BCE, while Stonehenge was not started till about 2400 BCE.

When historian John Aubrey came upon the circle at Avebury in the 17^th Century, he declared it far superior to Stonehenge, and said it was like ‘comparing a cathedral to a parish church’.

While Aubrey did do some valuable work, he had an unfortunate habit of presenting his sometimes unsubstantiated theories as facts; a habit which confused people for generations. Modern scientists, though, make it clear that their theories are just that.

‘I think ‘may’, ‘possibly’ and ‘probably’ are the words we use most often of all’ I was once told.

Shannon at Avebury

There are no triliths … horizontal stones, balanced on two upright ones … at Avebury. These are unique to Stonehenge. Nor are there stones brought from as far away as Wales, as there are at Stonehenge. All the stones are the rough sandstone called sarsen, the nearest deposit of which is about ten miles away, on Lockeridge Down.

To transport the huge stones that distance must have required an organised society, with an influential leadership.

Avebury is much larger than Stonehenge, too. Indeed, there is a thriving village within the outer circle, and the Salisbury to Swindon bus runs right through it.

Like Stonehenge there is an Avenue; that is, two lines of standing stones marking the edges of the approach to the circle. The one at Stonehenge consists of just two shallow furrows, which an untrained person would not recognise unless it was pointed out.

Much of what we see today, we owe to Alexander Keiller. This was a man of many interests, the greatest of which was archaeology. This is the science of finding out how people lived in the past by looking for and examining the remains of their buildings or property. He was able to finance this expensive pursuit with the considerable fortune his family had made from manufacturing marmalade!

When he came upon the circle in the 1920s and 1930s, it was in very poor condition, with some of the stones fallen over, and some carried away for use elsewhere.

In the Middle Ages, many people thought that stone circles and henges, or circular ditches, were the work of the Devil, so, encouraged by the Church, people took some of the stones away, and buried them. Later, in the 18^th Century, William Stukeley recorded local people using fire and water to break up the stones for building and road making. But, he was able to make drawings, engravings and paintings, showing what he thought the circle may have looked like when it was built.

Some of the Great Stones

These were of great help to Keiller, when he located all of the missing stones he could find, transported them back to Avebury, and re-located them in their original positions. And, if a stone could not be found, a concrete obelisk was erected where it should have stood.

One thing that could not be taken away, though, was the massive henge surrounding the complex. It is always a source of wonder that this was dug out using only primitive tools … a modern civil engineer estimated that such an undertaking would take one man three years today, using a mechanical digger.

Nowadays, the ditch is covered in grass, but the original idea was just to have a circle of bare earth … which, in most of Wiltshire, is a brilliant white chalk soil. This must have been a dramatic sight!

So enthusiastic was Keiller that he actually bought the land on which Avebury stood, as well as Avebury Manor, part of which is now the Alexander Keiller Museum, where many artefacts he found on his digs are displayed; arrowheads, coins, pottery and skeletons of animals, and even humans!

Also on display are objects from almost all points on the time-line, for the village was here from the earliest times, and many people would have grazed their sheep and cattle in the fields containing the stones. They would, no doubt, have inadvertently dropped coins, knives and the like.

One skeleton, which Keiller discovered in 1938, was found to be carrying the instruments of a barber-surgeon from the Middle Ages. It is assumed he was killed when a stone fell on him, in an attempt to move it. That stone is now back in position, and known as the Barber Stone. But, although the instruments are on display, the skeleton is not. It was taken to London, and destroyed by a German bomb in 1941!

But, artefacts are not the only things to be seen in the museum. There are interactive displays and models, showing how Avebury might have looked in bygone days, and giving histories of people connected with it.

After the war, Keiller, ill, and with his money running out, sold the property to the National Trust, in whose ownership it remains, although the monument itself is now in the care of English Heritage.

The Avenue, Avebury

If you visit the site, you will be immediately aware of a modern major difference between Avebury and Stonehenge. At Avebury, you can wander around the stones as you will; at Stonehenge, unless you make a special arrangement, you must admire them from a distance. And, at Avebury, admission is free of charge, although you do have to pay to use the car park or enter the museum.

But, it is a price worth paying.

Bus Ride to Avebury

‘This is a land of fairies and giants’ says the commentary on the Snowdon Mountain Railway, and, as the little train clatters up into the mountain mists, you can well believe it. It doesn’t take much imagination to conjure up a vision of either a good witch or a malevolent troll hiding in the murk beyond the tumbling crags.

The carriages on the train are a good age; the diesel locomotives which push them up the mountain are about 25 years old, and most of the steam locomotives, which are still running, and share the duty, are over 100 years old. So, the whole thing looks old-fashioned, quaint and … I won’t say ramshackle … Tolkien-ish! There’s no exact English word for it, but the Germans have an excellent one … Tinkelbahn !!

The slopes to be negotiated are too steep for a conventional railway. This is a rack-and-pinion railway, on which toothed cog-wheels on the engine engage on the ‘rack’, between the lines. It works on almost exactly the same principle as a roller-coaster, except the cog wheels remain engaged on the rack to act as a brake on the way down, as well.

The system used at Snowdon is the Abt Rack, designed by Dr. Roman Abt, in which horizontal cog wheels are used; the other system most used on rack railways is the Riggenbach rack, in which vertical cog wheels engage in a so-called ‘ladder rack’.

The railway was the brain-child of the grandly-named George William Duff-Assheton-Smith who, in the late 19th Century, owned most of the valley and most of the northern slope of Snowdon, at 3,500 feet, the highest mountain in Wales. Although the main business of Llanberis, where the railway starts, was slate quarrying, ‘trippers’ were arriving as well. Many of these visitors wanted to climb to the summit of Snowdon, and many of them did, either on foot or on the back of a mule or a donkey.

The train changed all that. The railway, and the locomotives and carriages were commissioned from the Swiss Locomotive & Manufacturing Co. of Winterhur, Switzerland … the Swiss, having many similar railways, are rather good at this.

Now, anyone, regardless of fitness, could take the train to within 60 feet of the summit, and see for themselves if it was possible, on a clear day, to see all the countries of the United Kingdom.

I can tell you, from previous experience, it is possible. But, not today … the low cloud and rain saw to that. But, shortly after we set off, a spectacular waterfall came fleetingly into view. ‘If you look to the left,’ said the mechanical voice, ‘you can see …’ … a rain-lashed window, swirling mist and craggy rocks, which hid … what, or who? Fairies and giants, maybe?

There’s another mountain, not far from here, where it’s said if you spend the night alone on the summit, you will be either mad or a great poet in the morning. And, in this mist, it’s not hard to believe. At an intermediate station, a shadowy figure emerged from a shed; he could be anything you imagined, if it wasn’t for the reflective jacket he was wearing.

I wasn’t here to admire the view, anyway. I was going to inspect the new Hafod Eryri restaurant, station and Visitor Centre on the summit, which replaced the ugly eyesore which preceded it. Surprising, because the building was originally designed by the noted architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. But. His original design didn’t survive the first winter up there, and it had to be modified to something more functional, rather than decorative.

But, with modern technology, the new centre is both aesthetically pleasing and practical, and offers a very easy way up to it … if you book in advance at busy periods.

Find out much more about the Snowdon Mountain Railway and the new Visitor Centre at http://www.snowdonrailway.co.uk

If you like scenery, nature or just walking in the outdoors, the Greek island of Crete has much to offer. Many people walk the Samaria Gorge which, at 18 km. is the longest in Europe. But, there are over 100 lesser-known gorges on the island, and this short video is about two of them.

Gorges of Crete

Music is by Kevin MacLeod, at http://www.incompetech.com