Avebury Nearest town: Marlborough Avebury is the largest stone circle in the world: it is 427m (1401ft) in diameter covers an area of some 28 acres (11.5 ha). Although not so immediately impressive as Stonehenge , it is an extraordinary site formed by a huge circular bank (a mile round), a massive ditch now only a half its original depth, and a great ring of 98 sarsen slabs enclosing two smaller circles of 30 stones each and other settings and arrangements of stones. The outer bank, still very impressive, was originally 17m (55ft) high from ditch bottom to bank top. The stones, each weighing about 40 tons or more, were left rough and not dressed as were the Stonehenge blocks. They were obtained from the same place, the nearby Marlborough Downs. Now there are only 27 in place, because a few hundred years ago many of the stones were broken up by lighting fires beneath them and pouring cold water over them. They were then used to construct the present village which grew up within the earthwork (one of the buildings of the village houses the tiny but very interesting Alexander Keiller Museum, with many of the archaeological finds of the site; it is well worth visiting). Avebury is well looked after and used by today's Pagans for many rites and rituals, much as we like to think it was used by those who built it.
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