WALKING THE DEAD: Exploring the Stonehenge Ceremonial Landscape

A family-friendly guided tour of the amazing collections of the Wiltshire Museum, followed by a guided walk from Durrington Walls to Stonehenge.

This full day tour is led by Museum Director, David Dawson. 28th October 2016

Tour of the galleries approx. one hour, lunch at the Museum followed by a three hour (approx. 4 miles) walk in the afternoon. Walk not suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs.

The morning visit to the Museum starts at 11am and the walk begins at 2pm. We should reach the Stonehenge Visitor Centre at about 5.00pm.

£40 (£35 WANHS members).
Over 8s welcome (£15, £10 WANHS members) - under 18s

Further details of the itinerary:

11am: The day begins with coffee and a guided tour of the Wiltshire Museum. The early story of Wiltshire is told in new galleries featuring high quality graphics and leading-edge reconstructions. On display are dozens of spectacular treasures dating to the time of Stonehenge and worn by people who worship

12.30pm: a light lunch at the Museum. Please advise of any dietary requirements, restrictions or allergies.

1pm: leave for Durrington Walls. The walk will take approximately 3.5 hours, and starts at Durrington Walls and Woodhenge, close to the River Avon. The route passes the Cuckoo Stone, a megalithic standing stone, before following the Apple Track - a WW1 light railway. The route then passes the prehistoric Cursus, before passing the Bronze Age barrows of Kings Barrow ridge.

The route then follows the Avenue - the Neolithic ceremonial route that leads to Stonehenge following the line of the solstice.

At Stonehenge, you have three options:

1. Visit Stonehenge. This is free for English Heritage and National Trust members, but is not included in the cost. If you are not a member, then you should book your visit online from the English Heritage and you should choose a timed ticket for about 4.30 pm. You can then take the English Heritage shuttle bus to the Stonehenge Visitor Centre.
2. Continue to the Cursus barrows and the Western end of the cursus, before continuing to the Stonehenge Visitor Centre.
3. Take the English Heritage shuttle bus to the Stonehenge Visitor Centre and purchase a well-earned snack and cup of tea.

At about 5.30pm, at the end of the walk, there will be car-share transport back to your car at the start of the walk, or back to the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. 

ed inside the stone circle.

Booking:

Essential.

Booking Options
Book online using Paypal (we will send an email confirming your payment and ticket details within the next few days)
Telephone – 01380 727369
Email – hello@wiltshiremuseum.org.uk
Visit – Wiltshire Museum, 41 Long Street, Devizes 

Book direct with The Wiltsthire Museum

The Stonehenge Tourist Blog

STONEHENGE CELEBRATES 30 YEARS AS A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

In 1986 Stonehenge and Avebury were among the first seven sites in the UK to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, recognising them as places of exceptional importance to all humanity.

In 2016, English Heritage, the National Trust, the Wiltshire Museum, CBA Wessex, the RSPB and others are all helping to celebrate this anniversary with events taking place throughout the year. The highlight will be a conference taking place in Devizes on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November.

Speakers will include: Dr Alison Sheridan (National Museums of Scotland), Dr Serge Cassen (University of Nantes), Prof Tim Darvill (University of Bournemouth), Prof Vince Gaffney (University of Bradford), Dr Josh Pollard (University of Southampton), Julian Richards (Archaeologist and TV Presenter) and many more. The Conference will aim to celebrate the achievements of the past 30 years and look forward to what further discoveries we may find in the future.

The Conference is open to anyone and tickets can be booked using Eventbrite.

More information can be found about the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site on the website www.stonehengeandaveburywhs.org/30th-anniversary-conference/

Over the past 30 years there have been a number of achievements by the many partners who share in the protection and enhancement of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site.

These include:

• Around 750 ha of agricultural land in WHS have been reverted to pasture with a great deal of support from Defra/Natural England. Not only does this help to protect fragile archaeological remains but has also had the benefit of enhancing biodiversity.
• A huge amount of archaeological research has revealed more about the landscapes of the WHS and expanded our knowledge and understanding of the Site
• Silbury Hill was stabilised and conserved in 2007, making good the work undertaken by antiquarians of the 18th and 19th centuries and archaeologists of the mid 20th century alike.
• In 2012 the Site was able to fulfil the UK Government’s commitment made at the time of inscription to close the A344 right next to the Stones at Stonehenge
• A new award winning Visitor Centre opened at Stonehenge in 2013 and now receives over 1.3million visitors per year.
• The governance of the WHS was strengthened with the creation of a Stonehenge and Avebury WHS Coordination Unit in March 2014 and the creation of a WHS Partnership Panel to oversee the work of the two parts of the WHS in February 2014.
• In May 2015, Stonehenge and Avebury WHS produced their first joint Stonehenge and Avebury WHS Management Plan
  

To celebrate English Heritage are offering 30 people the chance to see Stonehenge from above in a tethered hot air balloon. Visit their website for details

The Stonehenge Tourist Guide

'New Stonehenge' at Durrington Walls 'had no standing stones'

A 4,500-year-old monument experts thought was "another Stonehenge" is now understood to have not contained any standing stones at all.

NICOLA SNASHALL/NATIONAL TRUST

Image captionA dig at Durrington Walls has shown there were no standing stones at the site

Archaeologists digging at Durrington Walls - about two miles from Stonehenge - said they now believed the Neolithic site was surrounded by timber posts.

Last year they said a survey showed evidence of "a Superhenge" of more than 100 buried stones at the site.

But no evidence of stones was found during an excavation.

Pits that contained wooden posts have been found.

The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project has been surveying an area covering 16 sq km near Stonehenge for the past six years using geophysical survey techniques.

National Trust archaeologist Dr Nicola Snashall said ground penetrating radar had revealed "anomalies" that were originally believed to be buried stones.

"The response from the radar was so good that the team thought they were dealing with a whole series of stones lying on their side, buried beneath the bank of this ancient earthwork."

Two of the features have now been excavated, and the stones theory has been disproved.

"What we've discovered are that there are two enormous pits for timber posts. They have got ramps at the sides to lower posts into.

"They did contain timbers which have been vertically lifted out and removed at some stage.

"The top was then filled in with chalk rubble and then the giant henge bank was raised over the top."

Dr Snashall said it was thought the giant timber monument was was put up immediately after a settlement on the site, that belonged to the builders of Stonehenge, went out of use.

"For some strange reason they took the timbers out and put up the enormous bank and ditch that we see today."

The Durrington Walls monument, which is about 480m (1,500 ft) across, is just under two miles (3km) from the famous Stonehenge site in Wiltshire.

Artcle Source: BBC NEWS

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