In the heart of the English countryside stand the remains of a grand megalithic temple. Who built it and when? What religious rituals were performed there? Did the standing stones form a kind of prehistoric power centre?

Britain's most important group of Neolithic monuments is clustered around the village of Avebury in the undulating landscape of north Wiltshire. Within sight of one another lie the largest prehistoric tomb in England, the highest manmade hill in Europe and the world's most extensive henge enclosure. This Avebury complex is situated beside one of the country's ancient roads, the Ridgeway, which linked the trade routes running from Dorset to the Norfolk flint mines.

The scale of the henge at Avebury is breathtaking. One of its earliest investigators, the 17th-century antiquary John Aubrey wrote that it 'did as much excel of Stonehenge as a Cathedral does a Parish Church'. Covering 11.3 hectares (28 acres), the henge is formed by a boundary ditch 15m (50ft) deep which runs between two high banks - the outer bank has a perimeter of more than 1km (0.6mi). The henge originally held a large circle of about 100 standing stones - only 27 remain - enclosing two smaller circles represented today by random stones.

In the 14th century, Christians wishing to 'deconsecrate' what they saw as a pagan temple systematically toppled many stones in and around the henge. More destruction followed in the 17th and 18th centuries when stones were broken into pieces using fire, cold water and hammers. Many stones were used for building houses, particularly in the village of Avebury which has grown up inside the henge. The records of extensive work by the 18th- century antiquary Dr William Stukeley have enabled archaeologists to piece together the henge and its surroundings.

AVEBURY:

AN ANCIENT

FERTILITY

CENTRE

(Atlas of Mysterious Places – Marshall Editions Ltd - 1987)