The vanishing of prehistoric monuments is due to various causes.
Avebury had at one time within a great rampart and a fosse, which is
still forty feet deep, a large circle of rough unhewn stones, and
within this two circles each containing a smaller concentric circle.
Two avenues of stones led to the two entrances to the space surrounded
by the fosse. It must have been a vast and imposing edifice, much more
important than Stonehenge, and the area within this great circle
exceeds twenty-eight acres, with a diameter of twelve hundred feet.
But the spoilers have been at work, and "Farmer George" and other
depredators have carted away so many of the stones, and done so much
damage, that much imagination is needed to construct in the eye of the
mind this wonder of the world.
Every one who journeys from London to Oxford by the Great Western
Railway knows the appearance of the famous Wittenham Clumps, a few
miles from historic Wallingford. If you ascend the hill you will find
it a paradise for antiquaries. The camp itself occupies a commanding
position overlooking the valley of the Thames, and has doubtless
witnessed many tribal fights, and the great contest between the Celts
and the Roman invaders. In the plain beneath is another remarkable
earthwork. It was defended on three sides by the Thames, and a strong
double rampart had been made across the cord of the bow formed by the
river.
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