Wiltshire Wirllwind tour

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Day 3…



I managed to get a goodnight sleep even with the ruckus from other campers late into the night, and after porridge for breakfast and a black coffee I packed up a now dry tent and headed to my next Historical site.

This was the Marlborough white horse a whopping 2 miles away, the only problem was finding a place to park as usual, being early on a Sunday I decided to just park on the road, which turned out to be ideal as it was quite close to the white horse; only a round trip off around 1 mile and I had a lot to do today including the drive home.

A little history about the horse; This white horse was cut in 1804 by pupils of a boys' school run by a Mr Greasley or Gresley. The school was not Neolithichenge monument containing three stone circles, around one of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain,

Constructed over several hundred years in the Third Millennium BC during the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, the monument comprises a large henge (a bank and a ditch) with a large outer stone circle and two separate smaller stone circles situated inside the center of the monument. Its original purpose is unknown, although archaeologists believe that it was most likely used for some form of ritual or ceremony.

By the Iron Age, the site had been effectively abandoned, with some evidence of human activity on the site during the Roman occupation. During the Early Middle Ages, a village first began to be built around the monument, eventually extending into it. In the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods, local people destroyed many of the standing stones around the henge, both for religious and practical reasons. The antiquarians John Aubrey and William Stukeley, however, took an interest in Avebury during the 17th century, and recorded much of the site before its destruction. Archaeological investigation followed in the 20th century, led primarily by Alexander Keiller, who oversaw a project which reconstructed much of the monument.

Well that’s enough of the history lesson and after gentle stroll round the stones, it was time to visit Avebury Manor which luckily for me was also a National Trust property.

I wasn’t at first going to visit the property as the pub looked very tempting but also very busy, so munching on another energy bar I decided to visit Avebury Manor. If you ever get the chance to visit the Manor its worth doing so, the staff are very helpful and unlike some of the National trust you can handle everything and even encouraged to sit on the furniture, lie on the beds and play snooker in the Billiard Room. The only exception being the Chinese hand painted wallpaper in the Georgian Dining Room which will damage if touched.

Well that’s the end of my Whirlwind tour round Wiltshire, and the only thing left is the drive home. I would like to say thank you for wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk, www.nationaltrust.org.uk and www.wikipedia.org for the finer details.

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