of _Stonehenge_, which is compos’d of the very same stones, fetch’d
from the same _Marlborough-downs_, where they lie on the surface of
the ground in great plenty, of all dimensions. This was the occasion,
why the Druids took the opportunity of building these immense works in
this country. The people call these great stones, _sarsens_; and ’tis a
proverb here, _as hard as a sarsen_; a mere _phœnician_ word, continued
here from the first times, signifying a _rock_. The very name of _Tyre_
is hence derived, of which largely and learnedly _Bochart_, _Canaan_
II. 10. This whole country, hereabouts, is a solid body of chalk,
cover’d with a most delicate turf. As this chalky matter harden’d at
creation, it spew’d out the most solid body of the stones, of greater
specific gravity than itself; and assisted by the centrifuge power,
owing to the rotation of the globe upon its axis, threw them upon
its surface, where they now lie. This is my opinion concerning this
appearance, which I often attentively consider’d. ’Tis worth while
for a curious observer to go toward the northern end of that great
ridge of hills overlooking _Abury_ from the east, call’d the _Hakpen_,
an oriental name too, that has continued to it from _Druid_ times.
A little to the right hand of the road coming from _Marlborough_ to
_Abury_, where are three pretty barrows, and another dish-like barrow,
if we look downwards to the side of the hill toward _Abury_, we discern
many long and straight ridges of natural stone, the same as the gray
weathers, as it were emerging out of the chalky surface. They are
often cross’d by others in straight lines, almost at right angles. For
hereabouts, it seems, that the chalk contracting itself, and growing
closer together, as it hardened, thrust the lapidescent matter into
these fissures. ’Tis a very pretty appearance. This is near that part
of the _downs_ call’d _Temple-downs_. There are no quarries, properly
speaking, nearer _Abury_ than _Swindon_, and those have not long been
dug. In _Caln_ they dig up a paltry kind of stone, fit for nothing
but mending the highways. But our gray weather stone is of so hard a
texture, that Mr. _Ayloff_ of _Wooton-basset_ hewed one of them to make
a rape-mill stone, and employ’d twenty yoke of oxen to carry it off.
Yet so great was its weight, that it repeatedly broke all his tackle in
pieces, and he was forc’d to leave it. It may be said of many one of
our gray weathers,
_Est moles nativa, loco res nomina fecit.
Appellant saxum, pars bona montis ea est._ Ovid.
Lord _Pembroke_ caus’d several of these stones to be dug under, and
found them loose, and detach’d. My lord computed the general weight of
our stones at above fifty tun, and that it required an hundred yoke of
oxen to draw one. Dr. _Stephen Hales_ makes the larger kind of them
to be seventy tun. Mr. _Edward Llwyd_, in his account of the natural
history of _Wales_, _Phil. Trans. abridg’d_, Vol. V. 2. p. 118. writes,
he found a strange appearance of great stones, and loose fragments of
rocks on the surface of the earth, not only on wide plains, but on the
tops too of the highest mountains. So the moor stones on the wastes and
hill-tops of _Cornwall_, _Derbyshire_, _Devonshire_, _Yorkshire_, and
other places, of a harder nature than these, and much the same as the
_Egyptian granite_.
[Illustration:
TAB. IX.
_The Roman road leading from Bekampton to Hedington July 18. 1723._
_Stukeley del._ _Vᵈʳ. Gucht. Sculp._]
As to the internal texture of this stone, when broke, it looks whitish
like marble. It would bear a pretty good polish, but for a large
quantity of bluish granules of sand, which are soft, and give it a
grayish or speckled colour, when smooth’d by an engine. It consists,
as all other stones, of a mixture of divers substances, united by
lapidescent juices, in a sufficient tract of time. Sometimes in one
stone shall be two or three colours, sometimes bits of flints kneaded
amongst the rest. In one stone fetch’d from _Bekamton_ avenue, near
_Longstone barrow_ (as commonly call’d) and which was broken and
made into a wall, at the little alehouse above _Bekamton_, in the
_Devizes_ road, I saw several bones, plainly animal, part of the
composition of the stone. This I admir’d very much, and concluded it
to be antediluvian. The stone in general is shining, close, and hard,
little inferior to common marble; yet the effect which time and weather
has had upon it, far beyond what is visible at _Stonehenge_, must
necessarily make us conclude the work to be many hundred years older
in date. In some places I could thrust my cane, a yard long, up to the
handle, in holes and cavities worn through by age, which must needs
bespeak some thousands of years continuance.
CHAP. IV.
_The figure of the temple of_ Abury _is a circle and snake._
Hakpen, _another oriental word still preserved here, meaning
the_ serpent’s head. _The chorography of_ Abury. _A description
of the great circle of stones_ 1400 _foot in diameter. Of the
ditch inclosing it. The vallum form’d on the outside, like an
amphitheater to the place. This represents the circle in the
hieroglyphic figure. Of the measures, all referring to the
ancient eastern cubit which the Druids us’d._
The situation of _Abury_ is finely chose for the purpose it was
destin’d to, being the more elevated part of a plain, from whence there
is an almost imperceptible descent every way. But as the religious
work in _Abury_, tho’ great in itself, is but a part of the whole,
(the avenues stretching above a mile from it each way,) the situation
of the intire design is likewise projected with great judgment, in a
kind of large, separate plain, four or five miles in diameter. Into
this you descend on all sides from higher ground. The country north of
_Abury_, about _Berwick-basset_ and _Broad Hinton_, is very high, tho’
not appearing so to be, and much above the level of _Abury_ town. In
a field of _Broad Hinton_ the water runs two ways, into the _Thames_
and _Severn_, and they pretend ’tis the highest ground in _England_.
’Tis indeed part of that very great ridge of hills, coming from
_Somersetshire_, and going hence north-eastward, to the _white-horse
hill_. So that the ground northward and westward, tho’ not much
appearing so, is still very high, a cliff descending that way; and
whilst guarded to the east by the _Hakpen_, yet it may be called like
the _thessalian_, of the same name,
——_Zephyris agitata Tempe._ Hor.
The whole temple of _Abury_ may be consider’d as a picture, and it
really is so. Therefore the founders wisely contriv’d, that a spectator
should have an advantageous prospect of it, as he approach’d within
view. To give the reader at once a foreknowledge of this great and
wonderful work, and the magnificence of the plan upon which it is
built, I have design’d it scenographically in TABLE VIII. the eye being
somewhat more elevated than on the neighbouring hill of _Wansdike_,
which is its proper point of sight, being south from it.
When I frequented this place, as I did for some years together, to take
an exact account of it, staying a fortnight at a time, I found out the
entire work by degrees. The second time I was here, an avenue was a
new amusement. The third year another. So that at length I discover’d
the mystery of it, properly speaking; which was, that the whole figure
represented a snake transmitted thro’ a circle; this is an hieroglyphic
or symbol of highest note and antiquity.
In order to put this design in execution, the founders well studied
their ground; and, to make their representation more natural, they
artfully carry’d it over a variety of elevations and depressures,
which, with the curvature of the avenues, produces sufficiently the
desired effect. To make it still more elegant and picture-like, the
head of the snake is carried up the southern promontory of the
_Hakpen_ hill, towards the village of _West Kennet_; nay, the very name
of the hill is deriv’d from this circumstance, meaning the head of the
snake; of which we may well say with _Lucan_, _lib._ IV.
_Hinc ævi veteris custos, famosa vetustas
Miratrixque sui signavit nomine terras,
Sed majora dedit cognomina collibus istis._
Again, the tail of the snake is conducted to the descending valley
below _Bekamton_.
[Illustration:
TAB. X.
_Stukeley d._
_Prospect of the Roman Road & Wansdike Just above Calston May 20.
1724.
This demonstrates that Wansdike was made before the Roman Road._]
Thus our antiquity divides itself into three great parts, which will be
our rule in describing the work. The circle at _Abury_, the fore-part
of the snake, leading towards _Kennet_, which I call _Kennet-avenue_;
the hinder part of the snake, leading towards _Bekamton_, which I call
_Bekamton-avenue_; for they may well be look’d on as avenues to the
great temple at _Abury_, which part must be more eminently call’d the
temple.
This town is wrote _Aubury_, _Avebury_, _Avesbury_, sometimes _Albury_:
’tis hard to say which is the true. The former three names may have
their origin from the brook running by, _au_, _aux_, water, _awy_ in
_welsh_; the old _german_ _aha_. The latter points to _Aldbury_, or
_old work_, regarding its situation within the _vallum_. Nor is it
worth while to dwell on its etymology; the _saxon_ name is a thing
of so low a date, in comparison of what we are writing upon, that we
expect no great use from it; unless _Albury_ has regard to _al_, _hal_,
_healle_, _gothicè_ [symbols] a _temple_ or _great building_. There
are two heads of the river _Kennet_ rising near it: one from a little
north-west of _Abury_, at _Monkton_, runs southward to _Silbury-hill_;
this affords but little water, except in wet seasons. At _Silbury-hill_
it joins the _Swallow_ head, or true fountain of the _Kennet_, which
the country people call by the old name, _Cunnit_; and it is not a
little famous among them. This is a plentiful spring. It descends
between _east_ and _west Kennet_, by the temple on _Overton-hill_,
which is properly the head of the snake: it passes by _Overton_, and so
to _Marlborough_, the _roman_ _Cunetio_, which has its name from the
river.
To conduct the reader the better through this great work, I must remind
him of what I wrote in the account of _Stonehenge_, p. 11, concerning
the Druid cubit or measure, by which they erected all their structures,
that ’tis 20 inches and four fifths of the _english_ standard. For this
purpose I have repeated the plate wherein the _english_ foot and Druid
cubit is compar’d to any lengths, which must necessarily accompany
us in the description. A ready way of having the analogism between
our feet and the cubits is this, 3 foot 5 inches and a half makes 2
cubits. A staff of 10 foot, 4 inches, and a little more than half an
inch, becomes the measuring-reed of these ancient philosophers, being 6
cubits, when they laid out the ground-plot of these temples; where we
now are to pursue the track of their footsteps which so many ages have
pass’d over.
The whole of this temple, wherein the town of _Abury_ is included I
have laid down in TABLE I, the frontispiece, done from innumerable
mensurations, by which means I fully learn’d the scheme and purport of
the founders. ’Tis comprehended within a circular ditch or trench above
1400 foot in diameter, which makes 800 cubits, being two _stadia_ of
the ancients. A _radius_ of 400 cubits, one _stadium_, struck the inner
periphery of the ditch, in the turf. This is done with a sufficient,
tho’ not a mathematical exactness. They were not careful in this great
measure, where preciseness would have no effect, seeing the whole
circle cannot be taken in by the eye on the same level. The ditch is
near 80 foot, which is 45 cubits broad, very deep, like the foss that
encompasses an old castle. The great quantity of solid chalk dug out
of it, is thrown on the outside, where it forms a mighty _vallum_, an
amphitheatrical terrace, which hides the sight of the town as we come
near it, and affords a good shelter from the winds. ’Tis of the same
breadth at bottom as the ditch at top. The compass of this, on the
outside, Mr. _Roger Gale_ and I measured about 4800 feet, _August 16,
1721_.
The included _area_ of the temple containing about 22 acres, I observ’d
to have a gentle descent, from the meridian line of it to the east,
and to the west: carrying the rain off both ways. The north point is
the highest part of the whole. About 35 feet or 20 cubits within the
verge of this circular ditch, is a great circle of _great_ stones.
The epithet may well be redoubled. These great masses are really
astonishing, if we contemplate a single stone, and consider how it was
brought hither, and set upright in the ground, where it has stood, I
doubt not, 3 or 4 thousand years. But how is the wonder heightened,
when we see the number one hundred, which composes this mighty circle
of 1300 foot diameter! The stones of this circle, tho’ unhewn, are
generally about 15, 16, or 17 foot high, and near as much in breadth.
About 43 _English_ feet, measures regularly from the center of one
stone, to the center of the other. Look into the scale and we discern
these measures of the height and breadth of the stones. 17 feet is
ten cubits; 43 feet the central distance from stone to stone, is 25
cubits of the Druids; so that the interval between is 15 cubits. Tho’
this be the general and stated measure, which was proposed by the
founders, where the stones suited, and of the largest dimensions, yet
we must understand this, as in all their works, with some latitude. The
ancients studied a certain greatness: to produce an effect, not by a
servile exactness no way discernible in great works, but in securing
the general beauty; especially we must affirm this of our Druids,
who had to do with these unshapely masses, and where religion forbad
them applying a tool. But the purpose they proposed, was to make the
breadth of the stone to the interval, to be as two to three. They very
wisely judg’d that in such materials, where the scantlings could not
be exact, the proportions must still be adjusted agreeable to their
diversities, and this both in respect of the particulars, and of the
general distance to be filled up. These stones were all fetched from
the surface of the downs. They took the most shapely, and of largest
dimensions first; but when ’twas necessary to make use of lesser
stones, they set them closer together, and so proportion’d the solid
and the vacuity, as gave symmetry in appearance, and a regularity to
the whole.
Therefore tho’ 25 cubits be the common measure of the interval between
center and center of the largest stones of this circle, yet this is not
always the rule; for if we measure the two stones west of the north
entrance (which entrance was made for the convenience of the town, by
throwing the earth of the _vallum_ into it again) you will find it to
be about 27 feet. This is but 16 of the Druid cubits, and here us’d,
because these stones are but of moderate bulk. The next intervals are
43 feet as usual, being of the larger kind of stones, so plac’d 25
cubits central distance, and then they proceed. This is in that call’d
pasture IIII. in the ground plot.
I have always been at first in some perplexity in measuring and
adjusting these works of the Druids, and they seem’d magical, ’till
I became master of their purpose. Therefore to make it very plain
to the reader, I shall repeat what I have deliver’d in other words,
concerning this great circle, which is a general rule for all others.
[Illustration:
TAB. XI.
Rundway hill 18 Iuly, 1723.
_Stukeley del._
A. _Bekhampton._ B. _the Model of a Camp._ C. _Celtic barrows._
D. _the way to_ Verlucio.]
As to the construction of this circle, by diligent observation, I found
this to be the art of the Druids. ’Tis not to be thought, they would
be at the trouble of bringing so many mountains together, of placing
them in a regular form, without seeking how to produce the best effect
therein, and thus they obtain’d their purpose. As it was necessary, the
stones should be rude and native, untouch’d of tool, and that it was
impossible to procure them of the dimensions exactly; they consider’d
that the beauty in their appearance must be owing to their conformity,
as near as may be, and to the proportion between the solid and the void
interval. This _ratio_ with judgment they chose to be as two to three:
two parts the breadth of the stone, the interval three. And this they
accommodated to the whole circle. So that they first brought 100 of
their choicest stones together, and laid them in the destin’d circle,
at the intended distances, according to that proportion: and then
raised them into their respective places.
Hence I find, that where the stones are 15, 16, or 17 feet high above
ground, and as much broad, as for the most part they are, about 43
_English_ feet measures, from the center of one stone to the center
of another; there the square of the solid or stone is ten cubits, the
void or interval is 15: the whole central distance 25. Therefore the
proportion of the solid to the void is as two to three.
But before I found out this key to the work, I met with a good deal of
difficulty, because the central intervals and the voids were different,
for they proportion’d these to the breadths of the stones, as above.
Still they chose whole numbers of cubits for that proportion; for
instance, in the stones at the northern and modern entrance, where
they are but of a moderate bulk, you measure but about 27 feet central
distance. This is 16 cubits.
Further I observ’d, they took care to make a reasonable gradation,
between greater and lesser stones, not to set a great stone and a
little one near one another, but make a gradual declension; by this
means in the whole, the eye finds no difference. The proportion of
solid and void being the same, the whole circle appears similar and
altogether pleasing.
I thought it adviseable to give a plate of a very small part of this
magnificent circle, being 3 stones now standing _in situ_. ’Tis a most
august sight, and whence we may learn somewhat of the appearance of the
whole.
I observ’d further, that as these stones generally have a rough
and a smoother side; they took care to place the most sightly side
of the stone inwards, toward the included _area_. For this vast
circle of stones is to be understood, as the portico inclosing the
temple properly. Between this circle and the ditch is an esplanade
or circular walk quite round, which was extraordinary pretty when
in its perfection. It was originally 25 cubits broad, equal to the
central distances of the stones. The quickset hedges now on the place,
sometimes take the range of the stones, sometimes are set on the verge
of the ditch. Further I observ’d they set the largest and handsomest
stones in the more conspicuous part of the temple, which is that
southward, and about the two entrances of the avenues.
Out of this noble circle of stones 100 in number, there was left in the
year 1722, when I began to write, above 40 still visible: whereof 17
were standing, 27 thrown down or reclining. Ten of the remainder all
contiguous, were at once destroy’d by _Tom Robinson_, _anno_ 1700, and
their places perfectly levelled, for the sake of the pasturage. In the
north entrance of the town one of the stones, of a most enormous bulk,
fell down, and broke in the fall.
——_nec ipso
monte minor procumbit_.—— Virg.
It measured full 22 feet long. _Reuben Horsall_, clerk of the parish,
a sensible man and lover of antiquity, remembers it standing. And when
my late lord _Winchelsea_ (_Heneage_) was here with me, we saw three
wooden wedges driven into it, in order to break it in pieces.
In the great frontispiece plate, I have noted many dates of years, when
such and such stones were demolished, and took down the particulars of
all: some are still left buried in the pastures, some in gardens. I was
apt to leave this wish behind;
_Pro molli viola, pro purpureo narcisso
Carduus, & spinis surgat paliurus acutis!_ Virg.
The seat of many is visible by the remaining hollow; of others by a
hill above the interr’d. Of many then lately carry’d off the places
were notorious, by nettles and weeds growing up, and no doubt many
are gone since I left the place. But the ground-plot representing the
true state of the town and temple, when I frequented it, I spare the
reader’s patience in being too particular about it.
When this mighty colonnade of 100 of these stones was in perfection,
there must have been a most agreeable circular walk, between them and
the ditch; and it’s scarce possible for us to form a notion of the
grand and beautiful appearance it must then have made.
[Illustration:
TAB. XII.
_A peice of the great circle, or
A View at the South Entrance into the temple at Abury Aug. 1722._
_Stukeley delin._]
CHAP. V.
_Of the two great temples included in the area of the great circle
of stones. Each consists of two concentrick circles. One has a
central obelisc or ambre, a very high stone in the center. The_
Egyptians _called an obelisc an ambre. The other temple has a
cove in the center, compos’d of three stones of a stupendous
bulk, set in a nich-like figure. A short history of the
destroyers of this noble work, but a very few years ago._
The great circle of stones last described, together with the ditch
and rampart inclosing all, may be esteemed as the _præcinctus_ of the
temple, not properly the temple; but including the area thereof. There
are strictly within this great compass, two temples, of like form and
dimensions: each temple consists of two concentric circles. The line
that connects their centers, runs from north-west to south-east: which
line passes thro’ the center of the whole area. The outer circles
of them consist each of 30 stones of like dimensions with those of
the outer circle, and at like intervals. The inner circles of both
consist each of 12 stones, of the same size and distances. The geometry
therefore of them, when laid down on paper, shews, the inner circle
must be 100 cubits in diameter, the outer 240.
The centers of these two double circles are 300 cubits asunder. Their
circumferences or outward circles are 50 cubits asunder, in the nearest
part. By which means they least embarrass each other, and leave the
freest space about ’em, within the great circular portico (as we may
call it) inclosing the whole; which we described in the former chapter.
There is no other difference between these two temples (properly)
which I could discover, save that one, the southermost, has a central
obelisc, which was the kibla, whereto they turn’d their faces, in the
religious offices there performed: the other has that immense work in
the center, which the old _Britons_ call a cove: consisting of three
stones plac’d with an obtuse angle toward each other, and as it were,
upon an ark of a circle, like the great half-round at the east end of
some old cathedrals: or like the upper end of the cell at _Stonehenge_;
being of the same use and intent, the _adytum_ of this temple. This
I have often times admir’d and been astonish’d at its extravagant
magnitude and majesty. It stands in the yard belonging to the inn. King
_Charles_ II. in his progress this way, rode into the yard, on purpose
to view it.
This cove of the northern temple was undoubtedly the _kibla_ thereof.
It opens pretty exactly north-east, as at _Stonehenge_. It measures 34
foot, from the edge of the outer jambs; 20 cubits: and half as much
in depth. _Varro_ V. _divinorum_, writes, altars were of old call’d
_ansæ_. So _Macrobius saturn._ II. 11. It seems that they mean this
figure before us. And I suppose ’tis what _Schedius_ means; _de dis
germ._ c. 25. speaking of altars among the old _germans_ set in a
triangle, he says, the Druids understood a mystery thereby. Perhaps
they intended it for a nich-like hemispherical figure, in some sort to
represent the heavens. _Sex. Pompeius_ writes, the ancients called the
heavens, _cove_. The altar properly lay upon the ground before this
superb nich. That, no doubt, was carry’d off long ago, as not being
fix’d in the earth, and one of the wings is gone too, the northern. It
fell down 1713, as marked in the ground-plot.
_Fit sonus ingenti concussa est pondere tellus._ Virg.
They told me it was full seven yards long, of the same shape as its
opposite, tall and narrow. We measur’d this 17 foot above ground,
10 whole cubits; 7 foot broad, two and a half thick. These were the
_ansæ_ or wings of this noble ellipsis. That on the back, or in the
middle, is much broader, being 15 foot, as many high, 4 thick; but
a great piece of one side of it has been broke off by decay of the
stone. We cannot conceive any thing bolder, than the idea of those
people that entertain’d a design of setting up these stones. The vulgar
call them the _devil’s brand-irons_, from their extravagant bulk, and
chimney-like form. These coves, as _Maundrel_ says of the _turkish
kiblas_, shew the Druids’ aversion to idolatry, expressing the reality
of the divine presence there, and at the same time its invisibility; no
doubt a most ancient and oriental custom.
Of the exterior circle of this northern temple but three stones are now
left standing, six more lying on the ground, one whereof in the street
by the inn-gate. People yet alive remember several standing in the
middle of the street; they were burnt for building, _anno_ 1711. That
at the corner of the lane, going to the north gate of the town, not
many years since lying on the ground, was us’d as a stall to lay fish
on, when they had a kind of market here. The ruin of the rest is noted
in the ground-plot, and so of the others. But they told us, that about
a dozen years ago both circles were standing, and almost entire. Those
in the closes behind the inn, were taken up a year ago; (this was when
I first went thither, about 1718,) farmer _Green_ chiefly demolished
them to build his house and walls at _Bekamton_. Of the southern temple
several stones were destroy’d by farmer _John Fowler_, twelve years
ago; he own’d to us that he burnt five of them; but fourteen are still
left, whereof about half standing. Some lie along in the pastures, two
let into the ground under a barn, others under the houses. One lies
above ground under the corner of a house, over-against the inn. One
buried under the earth in a little garden. The cavities left by some
more are visible, in the places whereof ash-trees are set. All those in
the pastures were standing within memory.