Avebury and Silbury Hill

                                                                              Silbury Hill

We have relatives from Canada visiting us soon and we were confident that they would enjoy a trip to Avebury. We thought however that we ought to do a test walk first. We parked at the main car park and crossed the road to take a grassy path which stretched out ahead of us. Soon we saw Silbury Hill: a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury. The mound stands 40 metres (131 ft) high and covers about 2 hectares (5 acres). The hill was constructed in several stages between c.2400–2300 BC. The picture above was taken about level with the mound.

We could have continued past the mound to cross the A4 and headed up a grassy path to reach the interesting West Kennet Long Barrow, but we thought that might be overdoing it, so we took a path to the left and climbed gradually to enjoy a higher level view of the mound.

We then turned left into West Kennet Avenue, a line of paired stones with the road off to the right. They lead to the celebrated Avebury Stone Circle.

In the 1930s Alexander Keiller, heir to the Keiller marmalade fortune (!), excavated four graves, all belonging to the Beaker period (about 2500–1800 BC); three contained a single person, but the fourth had the remains of three. These were particularly important people or, possibly, sacrificial offerings in some form of ancestor worship. Elsewhere along the Avenue, excavations revealed scattered human bones, presumably also from burials. Largely thanks to the efforts of Keiller whose excavations resulted in their being found and re-erected, there are now 27 upright stones, and the sites of 37 others are marked by concrete pillars.

This aerial photo gives a clearer sense of what the avenue looks like ...

... and this one gives an impression of the stone circle with the road, rather surprisingly, going through it.

The Avebury monument is a henge, a type of monument consisting of a large circular bank with an internal ditch.This is the ditch. 

Within the henge is a great outer circle of stones. With a diameter of 331.6 metres (1,088 ft), this is one of Europe's largest stone circles, and the largest in Britain. Apologies for the intrusive finger.

The further you go into the built up area you encounter a variety of more recent buildings: a restaurant, a bookshop and a National Trust shop. There is also the 16th century manor house. Each room is furnished in a different style to reflect the times in which people lived here, from the Tudor period until the 193s.

Nearby is St James's Church. The church dates from around the year 1000 AD, and still has its tall, narrow Saxon nave, though this was later altered by the Normans, who also added aisles in the 12th century. I couldn't manage a photo of the exterior, but the stained glass was delightful.

Avebury is a wonderful site to visit and it is not surprising that it enjoys the status of a World Heritage Site.

Royal Chelsea Hospital

Today we are visiting the Royal Chelsea Hospital, courtesy of our new best friends, the Lutyens Society (see my post on Goddards and Munstead Wood). Approaching from Sloane Square we passed the very imposing main range of buildings. Apologies for my finger getting in the way!

 Here is a close-up version of of the tower and clock in the main pediment.

The Hospital was in fact the first large project designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It was started in 1682 and completed in 1692 as a retreat for veterans. The idea of a retreat, rather than the payment of pensions, was inspired by Les Invalides in Paris. Wren later expanded his design to add two additional quadrangles, known as Light Horse Court and College Court.

We entered the Hospital via the East Road Gate further along the road and immediately confronted with the main building in College Court.

 

We were escorted into a smallish room where our Guide regaled us with the life of the Chelsea Pensioners. It was an interesting presentation by a Pensioner only a few years older than I am, but my real interest was the architecture.

 We emerged into a very large space with the rear elevation of the main range on our left.

On the left side was the open-ended side wing ...

                                   

... with a rather less attractive view of the former Power Station.

Moving around Figure Court it was possible to get a closer view of the golden statue near the far corner. It depicts Charles II and was the work of Grinling Gibbons.

Now into the Great Hall and then Wren's beautiful Chapel. Apparently Margaret Thatcher regularly worshiped there.

To conclude our tour we passed the further of the two ranges, Light Horse Court. I think these are both now used as offices.