Stonehenge, Avebury, and Salisbury

After visiting Bath, we spent the next day touring pre-historic sites. The most impressive site we visited was Stonehenge. Historians and archeologists still do not know exactly what was Stonehenge's purpose, although there are some theories. The UNESCO website on Stonehenge provides a good explanation and historical background.

(Above) Jack, unimpressed with Stonehenge, hid under his blanket for most of our visit since it was cold and windy.

We started off our day by visiting the UNESCO World Heritage pre-historic sites at Avebury. In and around the village of Avebury are several Neolithic-era sites. We visited the following:

• West Kennet Long Barrow- a tomb over 5,000 years old
• Silbury Hill- a man-made mound which dates from about 2,400 B.C. and is the largest man-made mound in Europe
• West Kennet Avenue- a long row of paired stones that linked two pre-historic shrines
• A large stone circle that surrounds the village of Avebury

(Above) Jack and Lucas were on the lookout for scaaarry ghosts and skeletons.

(Above) The tomb was about a half mile away from the road, so we ended up having to walk through farm fields to get to it. On the left of the photo, you can see part of Silbury Hill.

(Above) Silbury Hill- the significance of this 4,400-year old mound is unknown.

(Above) The West Kennet Avenue

(Above) Part of the stone circle that surrounds the village of Avebury.

(Above) Harmony and her mother in the village of Avebury.

Harmony and her mother visited the the restored Avebury Manor, which is 500-year house. The BBC recently filmed a documentary about this house.

Old Sarum is an Iron Age hill fort that is believed to have been first used over 5,000 years ago by pre-historic peoples. However, other civilizations are known to have used this location as a fortress, including the Romans, Normans, and Saxons. Click here to see a great aerial photo of Old Sarum. We drove to Old Sarum after leaving Stonehenge- on our way to the city of Salisbury.

(L) The bridge across the deep moat (R) The embankments protecting the center of the hill fort were really tall

(Above) Jack and Lucas enjoyed running around and climbing all over the ruins.

(L) Walking along the edge of the ridge, overlooking part of Salisbury

(L) A view of the ruins where a large cathedral once stood. Many of the stones from this cathedral were used to construct the Salisbury Cathedral, which you'll see below. (R) A view of the fortress from the cathedral ruins

(Above) The cathedral ruins

We finished our day in the city of Salisbury, where we looked at the famous Salisbury cathedral, walked around the open-air markets, and ate Papa John's Pizza!