Location United Kingdom Criteria i, ii, iii Phone +44 870 333 1181 | Type Cultural Reference 373 UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription 1986 | |
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UNESCO region Europe and North America Address B4003, Avebury SN8 1RD, United Kingdom Hours Open today ยท Open 24 hoursSundayOpen 24 hoursMondayOpen 24 hoursTuesdayOpen 24 hoursWednesdayOpen 24 hoursThursdayOpen 24 hoursFridayOpen 24 hoursSaturdayOpen 24 hours Similar West Kennet Long Barr, The Sanctuary, Overton Hill, Windmill Hill - Avebury, Silbury Hill | ||
West kennet avenue at avebury sacred site transmission
Kennet Avenue or West Kennet Avenue is a prehistoric site in the English county of Wiltshire.
It was an avenue of two parallel lines of stones 25m wide and 2.5 km in length which ran between the Neolithic sites of Avebury and The Sanctuary. A second avenue, called Beckhampton Avenue led west from Avebury towards Beckhampton Long Barrow.
Excavations by Stuart Piggott and Alexander Keiller in the 1930s indicated that around 100 pairs of standing stones had lined the avenue and that they dated to around 2200 BC based on finds of Beaker burials found beneath some of the stones. Many stones have since fallen or are missing however.
Keiller and Piggott righted some of the fallen stones they excavated as did Maud Cunnington during her earlier work there. More recently the stones have been the subject of vandalism when red paint was thrown over some of them.
It is part of the Avebury World Heritage Site. West Kennet Avenue is in the freehold ownership of The National Trust and in English Heritage guardianship. It is managed by The National Trust on behalf of English Heritage, and the two organisations share the cost of managing and maintaining the property.