Stonehenge Travel Forum

In Summer 2004, I was able to see Stonehenge with my daughter's choral group.
On the way back to our hotel, we drove by what I think was part of another henge. It wasn't too far from Stonehenge. I remember a curve in the road and a couple (?) of standing stones in a pasture that had sheep in it. I don't remember what our guide said about the spot. Does this vague description sound familiar to anyone? I would like to know the name of the spot.

Avebury maybe? The stones are standing in the field, no fence around them, and I remember a curve in the road shortly before getting there. I actually thought Avebury was more interesting than Stonehenge.

Avebury has more than a couple. But I don't think it is a henge as such. The stones are in a large well-space circle, with an avenue or two of stones leading to it. They are all in open land, so you can walk among them, touch them, scratch your back on them (as the cattle do), etc. I think there is also a barrow grave a short walk away, with sarsen stones.

It's a pretty and picturesque village.

The whole landscape surrounding Stonehenge (and Avebury) is covered with earthworks, tumuli, standing stones and the remains of processional ways (at least one of which was lined with standing stones). It was a 'sacred' landscape. One well-accepted theory is that this area was considered 'the land of the ancestors/dead' (no evidence of permanent occupation has been found within it); a place where the dead were taken, where the ancestors were ritually remembered, where communion with the dead could be achieved. There is evidence of feasting, but permanent occupation sites of the relevant period lie outside this area.

What you saw may have been the remains of a circle ('henge') but may equally well have been the remains of a tumulus (with its covering earth removed) or a processional way.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/stonehengeinteractivemap/

may be helpful in working out what you saw.

Alternatively, go to

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/getamap/

click on the large pink 'button' and you can get (free) the Ordnance survey map for the whole area around Stonehenge/Avebury. You can zoom in and out: the larger-scale maps have all the ancient monuments marked.

My immediate thought was Avebury too.

I have a photo on my United Kingdom page in Off The Beaten Path tips, the one called Historic stone circles. Open field, stone circle, grazing sheep and near a bend in the road.

wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henge
includes a photo of Avebury.