Silbury Hill

Standing 30 metres tall and 160 metres wide, it has been estimated that it took 4 million hours and half a million tonnes of chalk to build Silbury Hill. It is another record-breaker; the largest artificial prehistoric mound in Europe, constructed around 2,470-2,350BC.

It’s astonishing to stand beside it, though bizarre to simply find it lurking in a field and beyond a basic gate. Many theories abound as to the uses of the hill, which at one time was surrounded by ditches as the reconstruction drawing below indicates. No, one conclusion has yet been drawn as to what happened at Silbury Hill and this gives it an air of elusiveness. You can ‘feel’ its secrets hovering around you like invisible spirits as you stand and gawp at the enormity of it.

woman versus mound

You cannot climb it for it is fenced off from the public, but it is possible to stand within a couple of metres of the base. There is a fairly visible spiral ridge climbing up around the hill, similar to the Tor at Glastonbury, though on a smaller scale. My companions and I wondered whether it had once been possible to walk clockwise up the hill to perhaps an altar raised on the top. With so many burial mounds in the surrounding area, could it have been an access platform to become closer to sky gods during funerary rituals? We shall never know.

A reconstruction drawing showing Silbury Hill under construction, surrounded by a massive ditch
© Historic England (illustration by Judith Dobie)

Later that day we drove on to the village of Avebury…




FACTS: COURTESY OF ENGLISH HERITAGE WEBSITE [link]

E S MOXON has had a lifelong passion for history and writing. A childhood filled with family visits to ancient burial sites and stone circles fuelled her imagination. Inspired by classic medieval tales and Norse sagas, Elaine imagined herself inhabiting these Dark Ages and exploring the landscapes in her mind and continues to do so through her novels. The first in her ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series is ‘WULFSUNA’ and books two and three will be out soon. When not lost in pages of the past, she lives in the Midlands with her family and their chocolate Labrador.

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

They come to honour a Warrior-Lord’s dream,

An ancient saga weaving their destiny,

But a treacherous rival threatens their fate.

The Wolf Sons are coming.

WULFSUNA

West Kennet Longbarrow

Meditators on the mound

In 2016 I spent a marvellous weekend in Wiltshire with my sister and her friend. The three of us were looking forward to a couple of days without the children and some social and spiritual replenishment. We found both, as well as plenty of exercise. We were off to burial sites and stone circles nestled amidst rolling countryside and open skies. Before we’d barely unpacked our bags at the guest house (after mentioning we were there to see Avebury and Stonehenge), the owner asked us if we were going to see West Kennet Longbarrow. Apparently, it was only ‘over the hill’ from where we were staying. We dutifully dropped our bags in our rooms and headed straight back out with the idea that it would build us up to walking around Avebury. It did indeed!

West Kennet Longbarrow is “one of the largest, most impressive and most accessible Neolithic chambered tombs in Britain” [English Heritage] dating from 3,000-2,600BC. That is certainly true, for as we drove round a curve in the road Silbury Hill leapt into view, which is opposite the barrow. We dashed into a layby and parked. Access seemed to be through a stile and into a field planted with a cereal crop. After a steep climb through the field we reached the brow of the hill and the barrow was before us. It stands 10.5 feet high, 82 feet wide and 328 feet long! It would originally have been a real eye-catching landmark covered in bare chalk, but today it’s turfed over and the side ditches almost filled in by generations of ploughing. Inside, four burial chambers would have held cremations and partial remains of at least 46 male and female deceased of varying ages. Grave goods of pottery, beads, stone implements and a dagger have been found.

windswept author at the entrance stone

detail of thistle growing in a notch in the entrance stone

The entrance is guarded by a massive Saracen stone, filled with curious holes. I assumed these were either used for poles when moving the stone, or were perhaps holes made for offerings, for minute objects persisted in some here, as well as at Avebury stone circle. I am immensely claustrophobic, but with assistance from my two companions, I managed to enter the tomb and walk a few metres into the cool, dark interior. Contrary to what I imagined I might feel, it was intensely calm and restful. Back outside, the view is amazing. You can turn in any direction and see other burial mounds on the landscape, as well as the striking Silbury Hill, which was our next conquest...

FACTS: COURTESY OF ENGLISH HERITAGE WEBSITE [link]

E S MOXON has had a lifelong passion for history and writing. A childhood filled with family visits to ancient burial sites and stone circles fuelled her imagination. Inspired by classic medieval tales and Norse sagas, Elaine imagined herself inhabiting these Dark Ages and exploring the landscapes in her mind and continues to do so through her novels. The first in her ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series is ‘WULFSUNA’ and books two and three will be out soon. When not lost in pages of the past, she lives in the Midlands with her family and their chocolate Labrador.

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

They come to honour a Warrior-Lord’s dream,

An ancient saga weaving their destiny,

But a treacherous rival threatens their fate.

The Wolf Sons are coming.

WULFSUNA