Avebury: Stonehenge Is More Famous, But Avebury Is More Interesting

The Avebury stone circle is larger than Stonehenge in almost every dimension. The henge (the circular earthwork bank and ditch) is approximately 420 metres across. The outer stone circle originally had about 100 stones arranged within this henge; roughly 27 survive. Two smaller inner stone circles were built within the outer one, remnants of which survive. The whole complex dates to roughly 2800-2400 BCE, making it broadly contemporary with Stonehenge 25 miles to the south.

Unlike Stonehenge, you can walk among the stones at Avebury for free. There is no admission charge, no rope barrier, and no ticket queue. The village of Avebury is built inside the henge; the main road runs through the monument. Cows graze around the standing stones. The pub is inside the earthwork. This is simultaneously more chaotic and more interesting than Stonehenge’s managed archaeological presentation.

What’s Here

The Stone Circle and Henge: Walk the circuit of the outer bank and ditch (about 1.5km) and you gain a sense of the earthwork’s scale. The bank originally stood 5-6 metres above the ditch floor. The standing stones range from 2 to 5 metres tall.

Silbury Hill (1km south): Europe’s largest prehistoric artificial mound at 40 metres high, built around 2400 BCE. Its purpose remains unknown; no burial has been found inside despite multiple excavations including one that bored tunnels through the interior. You cannot climb it (it’s protected), but you can walk around it and appreciate the sheer engineering investment it represents.

West Kennet Long Barrow (1.5km from the village): One of Britain’s finest Neolithic burial chambers, dating to around 3650 BCE, predating Avebury by several centuries. You can crawl into the chambers at the end and see the original stone construction. Free and always accessible.

Alexander Keiller Museum in the village: covers the archaeology of the Avebury complex and the story of how Alexander Keiller (of marmalade fortune) purchased and partially restored the site in the 1930s, saving many stones that a 17th-century programme of stone destruction had buried.

The Red Lion Pub

The Red Lion in the village centre is one of the stranger pubs in England: it sits inside the Avebury henge, adjacent to standing stones, and was built in the 17th century during the same period that villagers were burying or smashing the neolithic stones around them. It has a medieval well inside the building.

Practical Notes

Avebury is 8km south of Swindon (30 minutes by car) and about 25km north of Stonehenge. The National Trust car park charges around £5-7. The village has limited facilities but the Circles Café does adequate food.

Visit on a weekday to have the stones with manageable numbers of visitors. Summer weekends attract significant crowds and the car park fills. Sunrise at Avebury, when you can walk the outer circle in near-silence, is one of the better early-morning experiences in Wiltshire.