Continuing my mission to bore everyone to death with my back catalogue of those places that were just too crap to post at the time...
Silbury Hill, lying alongside the A4 near to Avebury, is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound standing 49m high. It is the tallest pre-historic man-made mound in Europe and part of the Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's purpose is still debated; no chamber of treasures has ever been found inside it.
1. Not my photo, just putting this in so people would have an idea of what I'm talking about
HISTORY
Composed mainly of chalk and clay the hill was constructed in several stages between c.2400-2300 B.C. and displays immense technical skill and prolonged control of labour and resources. It has been calculated that it took 18 million man-hours, equivalent to 500 men working for 15 years, to deposit and shape 248000 cubic metres of earth and fill.
It has long been speculated that there's a treasure inside the hill and this has led to several excavations over the years. In 1776 Cornish miners sunk a vertical shaft from the top. In 1849 a horizontal tunnel was dug from the edge to the centre. In 1968 a team conducted an excavation that was broadcasted on the BBC. Nothing of real interest was ever found.
2. Photos of the 1968 BBC-sponsored excavation tunnel. Again not my photos, these tunnels are no more
3.
Heavy rains in the 2002 led to a collapse of the 1776 excavation shaft. Repairs were initiated by English Heritage which included the backfilling of all the tunnels made by previous excavations with hundreds of tonnes of chalk.
The purpose of Silbury Hill is still debated; with theories including: the last resting place of a King Sil or more likely a site of ritual. Wacky theories include that Silbury Hill was constructed as a landing pad for UFOs. There's actually evidence for this. In October 2009 an off-duty police sergeant was driving past when (allegedly I must add) he saw three aliens standing at the base of the hill. To add further wow factor, there was a fresh crop circle in the area too! Here are the details:
The sergeant, who has not been named, was off-duty when he saw the figures standing in a field near Silbury Hill, and stopped his car to investigate. However, as he approached the ‘men’ – all over 6ft tall with blond hair – he heard “the sound of static electricity” and the trio ran away ”faster than any man he had ever seen”. The officer returned to his home in Marlborough, Wiltshire, and contacted paranormal experts and told them he had spotted a UFO…”
In January 2010 an American tourist reported seeing "a largish, dark creature moving slowly up the mound". Guess we don't have sheep in the US then.
For the record, the Bollockbrains family have lived in the area for some time now and we have never seen any UFOs and I think we would had noticed if Silbury Hill is a Alien Heathrow.
ACCESS:
You're not allowed to climb Silbury Hill - seriously don't it's very naughty. The hill is too sensitive to erosion and is a protected archaeological site. In 2004 the hill was reclassified from "open countryside" to "building" meaning it is not ok to crawl over it. The hill is now fenced off. Err my excuse is ahem I lost my kite and needed to retrieve it honest guv.
In 2018 a music band filmed a music video on the summit and faced an angry backlash. Brother from Another (no I haven't heard of them either) said in a statement "There was only a small ‘no entry’ sign right next to a big hole in the fence, and we didn’t know or understand that it was a world heritage site or that it was private property." They went on to apologise, but if you ask me they sound thick. My wife informs me that late in 2020 people have actually been arrested for being up there.
REPORT:
4. Opps didn't see this
5. And this is the summit
6. What's left of the 1776 vertical shaft. Gosh wasn't Little One err little in those days!
7. View of the A4 from the summit
8.
Thanks for reading and sorry for boring you, but lockdown brings out all my crap.
Silbury Hill, lying alongside the A4 near to Avebury, is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound standing 49m high. It is the tallest pre-historic man-made mound in Europe and part of the Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's purpose is still debated; no chamber of treasures has ever been found inside it.
1. Not my photo, just putting this in so people would have an idea of what I'm talking about
HISTORY
Composed mainly of chalk and clay the hill was constructed in several stages between c.2400-2300 B.C. and displays immense technical skill and prolonged control of labour and resources. It has been calculated that it took 18 million man-hours, equivalent to 500 men working for 15 years, to deposit and shape 248000 cubic metres of earth and fill.
It has long been speculated that there's a treasure inside the hill and this has led to several excavations over the years. In 1776 Cornish miners sunk a vertical shaft from the top. In 1849 a horizontal tunnel was dug from the edge to the centre. In 1968 a team conducted an excavation that was broadcasted on the BBC. Nothing of real interest was ever found.
2. Photos of the 1968 BBC-sponsored excavation tunnel. Again not my photos, these tunnels are no more
3.
Heavy rains in the 2002 led to a collapse of the 1776 excavation shaft. Repairs were initiated by English Heritage which included the backfilling of all the tunnels made by previous excavations with hundreds of tonnes of chalk.
The purpose of Silbury Hill is still debated; with theories including: the last resting place of a King Sil or more likely a site of ritual. Wacky theories include that Silbury Hill was constructed as a landing pad for UFOs. There's actually evidence for this. In October 2009 an off-duty police sergeant was driving past when (allegedly I must add) he saw three aliens standing at the base of the hill. To add further wow factor, there was a fresh crop circle in the area too! Here are the details:
The sergeant, who has not been named, was off-duty when he saw the figures standing in a field near Silbury Hill, and stopped his car to investigate. However, as he approached the ‘men’ – all over 6ft tall with blond hair – he heard “the sound of static electricity” and the trio ran away ”faster than any man he had ever seen”. The officer returned to his home in Marlborough, Wiltshire, and contacted paranormal experts and told them he had spotted a UFO…”
In January 2010 an American tourist reported seeing "a largish, dark creature moving slowly up the mound". Guess we don't have sheep in the US then.
For the record, the Bollockbrains family have lived in the area for some time now and we have never seen any UFOs and I think we would had noticed if Silbury Hill is a Alien Heathrow.
ACCESS:
You're not allowed to climb Silbury Hill - seriously don't it's very naughty. The hill is too sensitive to erosion and is a protected archaeological site. In 2004 the hill was reclassified from "open countryside" to "building" meaning it is not ok to crawl over it. The hill is now fenced off. Err my excuse is ahem I lost my kite and needed to retrieve it honest guv.
In 2018 a music band filmed a music video on the summit and faced an angry backlash. Brother from Another (no I haven't heard of them either) said in a statement "There was only a small ‘no entry’ sign right next to a big hole in the fence, and we didn’t know or understand that it was a world heritage site or that it was private property." They went on to apologise, but if you ask me they sound thick. My wife informs me that late in 2020 people have actually been arrested for being up there.
REPORT:
4. Opps didn't see this
5. And this is the summit
6. What's left of the 1776 vertical shaft. Gosh wasn't Little One err little in those days!
7. View of the A4 from the summit
8.
Thanks for reading and sorry for boring you, but lockdown brings out all my crap.
