Stonehenge vs. Avebury Stones

In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history
Lived a strange race of people: the Druids

No one knows who they were or what they were doing
But their legacy remains
Hewn into the living rock
Of Stonehenge
— “Stonehenge” by Spïnal Tap

Two henges, or stone circles, lie in Wiltshire, England. Stonehenge is by far the most famous, well-known throughout the world. When our kids found out we were taking them to England, the first place they mentioned they wanted to go was Stonehenge. Avebury Stones, however, are a much larger arrangement than Stonehenge (14 times the size, according to one of the guides). We visited both today.

(I know someone is going to complain that a henge is not a stone circle, and that I’ve misdefined the term in this blog. They are, technically, correct, but the correct definition does not materially change the substance of this post. Avebury Stones and Stonehenge are both stone circles and henges.)

(I know, someone somewhere is going to point out that, technically, Stonehenge is not a henge at all. They are right, too, but for the purposes of family-friendly travel, it is an unnecessary distinction.)

At Stonehenge, you park a mile or two from the monument at the visitors’ center, and take a trolley to the stones. You do get a preview of them driving in on the A303, but they really are worth visiting in person, rather than just doing the driveby. Melinda can fill in the details about how to organize tickets, since she arranged all that. I just drove and enjoyed.

At Stonehenge, they provide little audio things that you can hang around your neck and give you commentary and explanations as you walk around the monument. These are helpful, because without them, you may not notice the numerous barrows in the surrounding countryside, and you’ll miss interesting discoveries like that of the Stonehenge Archer. At the visitor center, they also have a mock-up of a neolithic village, where you can go in the huts and see how comfortably people of Stonehenge lived.

And finally, for the military buffs among you, there were frequent flybys of military helicopters from the nearby army base: I saw a Chinook, a Blackhawk, and an Apache buzz us while we were there.

However, the main drawback of Stonehenge is that visitors cannot walk among the stones and touch them. Not so at Avebury. Avebury is far less crowded, and you can park at the carpark and walk right up to the stones, which are spread out around the village of Avebury.

Because of the size of the Avebury stone circle, it is not possible to get a view of the whole circle at once. This is where Stonehenge’s compactness is good for the tourist. However, because it is less famous, the Avebury Stones have fewer visitors and fewer rules. You are absolutely free to touch the stones and climb on some of them. (Perhaps you are permitted to climb on all of them, but most of them are not practical to climb on.) You can tromp all through the fields, going from stone to stone — just watch out for the sheep dung; there are sheep grazing in those very same fields. Surely it must be remarkable for the residents of Avebury who have actual big, massive standing stones in their back yards. Some of the best views of the Avebury stones can be found by climbing to the top of the henge and looking down on them.

So which is better?

• Avebury is bigger, but bigger isn’t always better when you’re trying to fit everything into a photograph.
• Stonehenge was more lovingly crafted. The builders of Stonehenge shaped their stones and actually put a lot more work into balancing the lintels (the top stones) on the uprights.
• You can walk right up to and touch and climb on the Avebury Stones. Bring a picnic and enjoy the country. Can’t do that at Stonehenge, surrounded by thousands of people, as it is.
• More traffic approaching Stonehenge. Apparently, everyone who visits England visits Stonehenge. Most visitors have not heard of the stone circle at Avebury.

My recommendation is to visit both. They are not too far apart, and we had the fortunate happenstance of seeing one of the famous Wiltshire White Horses carved into the hillside on the drive from Avebury to Stonehenge. They are different experiences, and we left Avebury thinking Stonehenge could hardly be better (seeing as you couldn’t walk right up to the Stonehenge stones), but we were wrong, because Stonehenge was just as good.

If you have to visit just one, definitely visit Stonehenge. Stonehenge’s compactness makes it a much more spectacular sight, and when your friends back home ask if you visited Stonehenge, you’re going to want to say yes.