The Silbury Hill.... you never heard about!
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Go buy Jims book here: uk.bookshop.or...
Welcome to this weeks video. We have heard that Silbury Hill has a smaller counterpart... a Baby. In fact it goes by the name Silbaby (Or Wadon Hill). The question is though, is it pre-historic? If it is, what context does that have in the landscape, if not, who made this mound and why!?
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Videos To Watch Next:
• Did one Man Start The ... - Did one man start the Bronze age?
• The Day Silbury Hill C... - The Day Silbury Collapsed
Usual notices:
1. We are not historians or Academics. We enjoy researching and learning, and with that we enjoy sharing our journeys with you. That said, sources for information often listed below with credits.
2. Corrections. Whilst we make every attempt to not include any errors, research, and piecing stories together from dozens of sources sometimes leads to one or two. I will note here if any are found:
Errors
1. For reasons unknown I didn't alter the music level at the end of the video. I swapped in a track and forgot to alter the levels! Apologies.
Credit and thanks for assets
Both Pete Glastonbury and Jim Leary for their time.
Long UK Maps: mapswire.com/m...
Filter: Snowman Digital and Beachfront
B-Roll Maps: Google Maps and Google Earth Studio
Maps: National Library of Scotland Maps:
OS Maps. Media License.
Stock Footage: Storyblocks
Music: Storyblocks, epidemicsound and artlist
Old Map: NLS - www.nls.uk/
Credit for images/footage:
Pete Glastonbury - Youtibe videos with original footage.
Thumbnail credit: Andy Wright. CC
Silbury Diagram: James Ferguson
Sources:
Jim Leary and Pete Glastonbury
www.avebury-we...
exploringavebu...
Go buy Jims book here: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/footmarks-a-journey-into-our-restless-past-jim-leary/7404134?ean=9781837730254
already got it, signed , from when he visited Buxton Festival Fringe , 50 Shades of Archaeology!
Did you report the 15' hole yet?
This is proper archaeology. No wild speculation, just a theory, tested and corrected. Perfect.
Summer Solstice 1987 I was on a history / hippy ramble in the area & although I was atop Silbury for sunrise I visited West + East Kennet barrows & everything else interesting including the Swallowhead spring as i was just after reading Michael Dames---The Silbury Treasure. I'm sure i read that Roman finds were found in the spring as offerings & back then i found it interesting that the Roman rd bent around Silbury which was how early antiquarians knew that the hill was old. That years sunrise was very clear & from the summit the sun rose bang on top of a distant barrow on the Ridgeway! BTW About 50 or 60 people were on Silbury that year as it was in the years when Stonehenge was off limits & guarded like Fort Knox: How times have changed? Thanks Paul for your interesting channel which I recently discovered & am enjoying loads. Happy new year & all the best to every1.
I agree about Swallow Head spring The name is was before the romans. Any who were going blind came as pilgrims to put their head in the water and pray for eyesight to be restored, also for religious visions.
Just imagine those workmen moving all that clay and deciding let’s make a mini Silbury just to bamboozle some guy in a tweed suit in the future!
I don't think you can find anything more British, than the pub in the middle of Avebury Rings. Just thinking about it, puts a smile on my face!
nice - love the heritage of the landscape around this area! Climbed silbury as a kid, played on the stones at stonehenge - all now inaccessable and for the best as the importance of all these places in our history is becoming more and more appreciated
I love the fact that Pete's name was Glastonbury
Still is 😉
Nominative determinism.
Was? It is.
Changed by deed poll?
@@ericreese7792 My cousin's name is Chip Fryer. He's a dentist 🤣
Great video Paul! - not the conclusion I was expecting :) - fascinated by the neolithic landscape around Avebury and Silbury - one of my favorite places!
Likewise. I had to rewrite the script after chatting with Jim!
New subscriber from the USA, but have been watching your videos for about a year. Love the way you and team present information!
Also watching from the States, love his "walkabouts" and subscribed too
Brilliant video as per Paul.....been to the area a lot since the 60's and living in Portsmouth....my lovely Dad was fancinated by our Island History and He passed that interest to me....Fantastic to keep finding more wonderful Ancient features
That was really great! Surprise ending too.
Keep these videos coming, they are SO interesting. 😊😊😊😊
I remember that area from sproggdom. As a pre-teen on a pushbike i got everywhere around there (dropped bike and walked over most of the fields, climbed Silbury Hill, etc). I still get back there when I can (the top of West Kennet Long Barrow is strangely calming and peaceful - slept there a few times). These days i'd get the traditional "gerroff my land" if I tried what I got away with back then 😂
Anyone who's not been here (the whole area, that is, not just one little bit if it) and can, should. Highly recomended.
Cheers paul, i'd almost forgotten about this spot.
I remember climbing Silbury Hill as a kid, and exploring the barrows and other features nearby. I had an uncle farming close by, and as he was a keen historian and interested in archaeology he would take us up the hill when we went to visit. This would have been in the late sixties and early seventies. I think they had to stop visitors going up it in the mid-seventies. As a kid from London it was a very different world, and I was also introduced to milking cows by hand there, although they already had a (fairly simple) modern milking parlour.
thankfully people definitely do not climb that hill anymore, those well worn tracks are just from large mammals trekking up to take a look:) It is a special place that I wish I could have seen in the 60's like yourself as things would have been much quieter there no doubt.
I don't remember many people being around, there wasn't nearly the same car culture that we seem to take for granted now. At least no one has tried to take a 4x4 up it, I hope.
I climbed Silbury back in the late fifties early sixties but don't remember the "moat" being flooded, is it bad memory or was it deliberately filled with water? What do you remember?
@@chrisstephens6673 that moat is only filled because the last couple of years has been so incredibly wet. Prior to that it was flooded sometimes during wet spells but never long term like this. It is beautiful like that though.
@matthewbooth9265 glad that this old"ish" brain wasn't failing me.😉
Thank you, Paul, climbed Silbury Hill many times in the 1950s en route to christenings, weddings and funerals in Bristol. A treasured memory now that we live in Australia!
Drove past there today and saw the one in Marlborough school for the first time. Have driven through Marlborough several times in the last 2 years as my daughter now lives in Cherhill.
Marlborough school, I believe is a motte and Bailey castle mound. Norman.
It's Neolithic but was repurposed by the Normans as a motte and bailey castle.
@davidholden2658 didn't know that. Thanks!
Jim is great isn't he! I am still marginally sceptical about dumping spoil next to a spring which seems to add a bit of friction to this activity; also the fact that Silbury was built on a spring too seems too much of a coincidence considering their proximity. Of course, I am talking as a layman with no investigation but I just think there's so more to the story of Silbury that we haven't yet considered, and this to me must play a part. Great, thought provoking video Paul, enjoyed that.
Cheers Hedley
Lovely video Paul! I love that the landscapes of Britain still hold so many secrets, even in heavily scrutinized areas like Avebury. Who knows what else is out there?
That was very interesting. A truly misterious journey with a surprising, for some maybe sobering, but clearly explainable ending. Loved the video!
Great fun to see this, as I was out cycling and walking on those paths three weeks ago. I didn't spot the "new" hill though, as December's short day had me walking back to Silbury in dark. :-D
Intriguing and thought provoking video again....great job in getting through that undergrowth 😊
That was a nightmare!
I grew up around there, Waldon hill is like you say a platform that allows you to see Silbury, the barrows, etc - I'm pretty sure that they were all rudimentary comms beacons, you can also see silbury along the valley from Devizes way.
PS - check out Pickledean (lockeridge) and Greyweathers (fyfield) if you're looking for more if the glacially deposited stones (inc blue stone) that were used to construct both Avebury(market and hospital) and Stonehenge (which was a laundrette!)
As a child i was taken by my grandmother to see hills in the US that were built by the original native Americans. It was in the state of Georgia i believe. I have seen photos of a "hill" in the northern part of the country that wasn't seen for a long time due to trees covering it. It is in the shape of a wiggly snake. I like that one! There were more mounds (what they call these hills here in the US) in the middle of the country near the Mississippi river. One was supposed to be huge! Supposedly the ruling class dwelt on it and some important people, we assume they were important, were buried in it. I think it is no longer there due to people digging in them looking for treasure. As for the mounds near the Mississippi river, I don't know what the anthropologists theorize as to why they were built, but I think it was mainly because of the spring flooding by the Mississippi river. People had to go somewhere to get out of the water.
Thanks for this. I worked with Jim Leary on the publication of Silbury Hill, and also on the Marlborough Mound. So it's interesting to get the context of this particular "mound" feature that he investigated at a later date.
Thanks, Edward.
Thanks
Thank you Pauline
Paul I’m really glad your channel is starting to take off, I’ve been watching for a while and it’s very informative, videos are interesting and well made, keep up the good work
Much appreciated
Great film as ever Paul, you certainly put yourself out, being attacked by savage bushes, and almost falling into Alice's rabbit hole! Book ordered and looking forward to reading it soon. Thank you for all your hard work enlightening and entertaining us, greetings from ever sunny Wales.
@@welshboyoo715 thank you. Very kind. Those bushes.... ooh my.
Aww bless. "Trespass".. keep up the good work, love from Orkney... beyond Scotland.
What a great closing of a mystery, even if it is a bit mundane. Thank you, Paul
nice one again Paul, very interesting and entertaining , well done and thank you 😊
Cheers Davie.
It's my personal opinion that this video ended with a spectacular possible revelation as to this hill's origins! My shoulders sunk when you stated mid-video that, perhaps it's location next to the spring had some ceremonial or spiritual meaning, when in the end the most likely origin was that it's probably just a scrap and waste depository. Honestly, that enlightened me immensely! I'm weary from the tsunami of, "it's ceremonial" conclusions we all too often assign something we don't have a definitive answer for. I'm SO glad you made this video.
Hi Paul, happy new year !!
Thank you for yet another informative video, looking forward to the coming year......
Cheers Paul. And to you
Thanks, Paul-- interesting as always. It's fascinating how close the ancient works were, in sight to each other.
It really is!
Had a look at this on the Lidar map, it has the same sort of flat angled slopes around as Silbury, so probably contemporary, maybe it was an earlier version or abandoned for some reason. It looks like there was once a cottage to the side with a well.
Love your shows Paul. I watch from Australia, so apart from all the very enjoyable and interesting, information delivered by your good-self, I get a lovely warm emotion connection with “home”. So a multilevel thank you and a big fat Happy New Year to you and yours.
You're right. If this mound had been present in antiquity, it would already have been mapped and studied. Try the archive at Devizes to see what, if anything, they have on it. The well is clearly mapped and likely medieval. The reason for the deposit here, in relation to the landscape, is most likely intended as a viewing platform for tourists at the time of the 'Enlightenment' c.late C18/early C19, from which to view the relationship of ancient features in the landscape. Remember, there was no aerial photography in those days. I'd be interested to know if that bears out.
I have been to the Marlborough Mound .As it's in the grounds of Marlborough College you have to ask their permission to visit .I didn't know about this potential other one.
If you look at the Lidar for this mound there is a long access ramp that leads from the east from the Kennet to the top of the mound, partially cut off at the top by the A4, also looks like the spoil could be from some land at the bottom of the ramp that has been leveled at some point to put the big farm and Manor house down on flat ground.
Also that hole is marked as a well on OS 6inch 1830-1880 county layers,and it also shows a building being there and no mound, and it being orchards or gardens.
Love your channel! always educational and well produced !
Much appreciated!
It's all history, Paul, and although Silbaby may not be ancient, it should still be considered a monument to the ever-changing landscape of England.
I drive along the A4 past that site at least twice a week and never knew it was there.
That hole is an old well, as seen on old maps
Yup. When I went to find the road for the maps, I realised there were some houses there 100 years or so ago.
Ha! I was convinced it was prehistoric and then….!
Actually, the seemingly very flat top possibly gave it away as not being that old.
It’s good to cover these sort of examples. It warns us not to get carried away and to pause.
Okay - a potentially huge question answered all in one go. Useful, and thanks for doing that walking, yes the well (cylinder) does look treacherous.
A few yards to the east, there was also a West Kennet Brewery. Visible on the old 25 inch OS maps. The brewery was later demolished for road widening.
After driving past new lake construction work near Latton off the Ermine Way yesterday, that looks so similar.
You always have interesting content well presented. I appreciate your informative content. Thanks for the hard work.
I believe swallowhead is a bit further west. It's on private land but I've accessed it previously. Very pretty spot.
I agree about Swallow Head spring The name is was before the romans. Any who were going blind came as pilgrims to put their head in the water and pray for eyesight to be restored, also for religious visions.
If that's an old spoil heap, i wonder if anything interesting got dumped into that at the same time, old bottles and stoneware from that era, clay pipes and the such. Not that I am proposing going there to dig it up, though I wouldn't mind dragging something there to put over that hole.
Fantastic content as always Paul. You could have come unstuck with your hedge diving and that well.
It was quite the surprise. Guessing the tree had hidden it previously.
Love it …. Well done Paul and A HNY ⚔️👁️👋⭐️
I have an 1832 edition of John Bathurst Dean's "The Worship of The Serpent". It shows Silbury, Karnak, Aubury and other sites. With fold outs. Karnak is quite a large place. Most of the rocks were being removed even in c. 1830
Swallow Head Spring is in the little wood down hill to the north west from the longbarrow/almost due south from Silbury Hill. Lovely spot - there's a giant stepping stones thingy there.
I can't recall which, but an early map maker marked this one down
@@pwhitewick Hmmm - Stukely's engraving of 1743 shows what he calls Kennitspring - what we know as Swallow Head in line with the Long Barrow and Silbury Hill. I can't find anything earlier but all other maps both old and new locate the spring where it is, not at Waden.
Yeah swallowhead is definitely not there.
At 4:55 seconds, the hole is a well, marked as a well on the 6 inch OS map of 1888=1913
Yup, cheers. I realised this when I got home and started to edit using the maps.
something should be put over that then to stop animals and even humans getting into trouble.
Really enjoyed that thanks Paul. Please take care
Thanks Linda
If you did a calculation of the spoil from the base of Silbury hill which is the land mass excavated to form the moat, I suspect that would be roughly the same amount to form that mound. Congrats, you found the spoil heap.
Wow this takes me back! I was part of the megalithic community at the time and was shown Silbaby 🙂
That hole - I think I might mention it to the police. When I was young, out for a walk with my dad, and coincidentally not far from you (just along the old Coach Road from Chiselbury rings, south Wiltshire), I discovered amongst thick gorse bushes a very neat hole dug in the chalk down, very similar in size to this one. My dad commented that it looked the right size for a safe. He contacted the farmer, who knew nothing, and then told the police.
And it turns out my dad was right. This was part of the story of what was a failed robbery attempt.
Not a bad idea. Drop me a message if you need any assistance
Another enjoyable explore. Thank you.
I know of a mound just as big. It annoys me that no one talks about it.
It’s 2 miles from my house in Sutton in Ashfield. It’s immense
Enjoyed that Paul, lot's of stuff going on in that area and as springs were often revered in ancient times it could well be significant.
Am still hoping you will get the chance to investigate Chiselhurst caves and seperate the fact from fiction 😉
Excellent!
Thank you
I think it's worth pointing out that these features also continue a common theme of integrated lines of sight to multiple features and constructs in specific contexts. They're also functional as territorial markers, power projection by size and mass, and designed to impress.
An answer is an answer.
WoW! Another cool video!
There is a curiously shaped hill behind our house in Pennsylvania that ancient celt, Ogham writing was found next to a water bowl that always has water in it, even in drought. The writing gave directions to another bowl which had been removed to make a farmer’s field. It looks created as the shape is like the old fashioned coffin shape. It is quite large, would have been a huge project to create though it could have been fashioned on top of a natural hill. At the top there is a huge flat area for gatherings. Abut forty five minutes away more Ogham is found along a stream and one gent has found many Celtic tools made of stone that have been tested and they are not PA stone, but were brought over across the pond. I don’t divulge the location because we do not want to encourage any destruction to the glyphs and bowl. The capabilities of ancients is certainly underestimated and our local colleges and universities do not want to talk about it.
It's an ancient structure i. Which the builders would rituals bathe their swine. IOW, a hogwash.
Are you trying to say the ancient Celts made it to Pennsylvania? ☠️
Ogham isn't as esoteric as one thinks. Pagans use it to this day. There are a couple of explanations if indeed that is true -- none of which involve the actual ancient Celts inhabiting Pennsylvania. Academics won't want to talk about it because it isn't worthy of consideration. Conspiracy? I think not.
Forgeries, misunderstanding of native archeology, neopagans, or even indeed archeological items brought over by British settlers. So many more plausible options. Heck, the Vikings bringing British plunder over is more plausible (even though they were never known to have reached that far south on their voyages).
@ Its not for me to say. It was a Berkeley professor who interpreted the Ogham. The technology to make those bowls of water is thousands of years old but his estimate on the glyph and bowl was at least 800 years. It is quite interesting to look into such things. Especially when it is right outside your back door. Earthworks in the US do come in quite large sizes and in large amounts so one need not go terribly far to explore some.
@HearturMind So it was a Berkeley professor? That certainly adds some credence but why isn't this more well publicised? If indeed these are genuine items of Celtic archeology -- but did he believe they were brought here or were actually created here by a Celtic population? I don't know. Hmm
@ Its private property. The kid who grew up playing around it is the one who got Berkeley involved when he went to college. Such things are controversial of course, academically speaking. We don’t want it to get ruined and deal with trespassers. But it is right in line with the other one near the coast that had MANY tools. I am not suggesting there were many who made it here but remember Thor Heyerdahl made it across the Pacific on a raft. It is conceivable some intrepid folks got across the Atlantic and wanted to leave some markings and evidence in their journey.
Quite a lot of stuff mirrors the constellations in the sky. Think 3 pyramids and the Nile mirror the milky way & Orion's belt. Maybe there is a third mound just out of line next to the river Kennet?
Interesting add from the Silbury hill vid. Tho i think the archaeologist might want to revisit that shaft feature uncovered nu the tree fall. Certainly didn't look to be a recently made feature, and given even a medieval date it could be of interest
Last time I visited Silbury Hill, there was no lake around it. That shaft you found under the tree is interesting. Ancient well? More modern archaeological investigation?
Silbury almost dries out in the summer but the last few years have been very wet so it's stayed like this. Looks beautiful when frozen.
I think the well belonged to a house around 150 years ago
Silbury Island looks like someone had been working on burying the thing by extending that southern field onto it.
Hi Paul, Happy New Year!!
Does the dating support the mound drawn on the Stuckley map? Looks like it might do?
You did well to avoid that ..... er ... well!! Very overgrown, a real hidden jem.
Listened with headphones, sound ok for me.
All the best!!
Quality as always top man 👍👍
It would be interesting to hear your views on ancestor burial. The high esteem of the cemetary is still alive in France, Spain, and other parts of southern Europe. In Africa the ancestors are still consulted for their input in decisions.
The legend has it that Silbury is named after a 'King Sil' which may be rather fanciful in view of the name that it retained up to the 13th Century - Seleburgh. This word is Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and has the meaning sele (hall) and 'burgh' (hill-fort/mound). The term 'sele' was used of the long-houses or mead-halls used by the English Tribes. However, originally the term 'sele' was related to things sacred, holy or blessed, and since (I believe) post-holes were found around the top, this would have been used as a Sacred Ritual Site, even a Germanic Thing-Stead since these were often held upon mounds. At least this is what it may have been used for by the Anglo-Saxons in their time.
With the soil sample taken, would they have not found aquatic remains of sorts to conclude their theory?
Well done Paul 👍🏻
Another cool video 😀
In Scotland there’s a structure that looks ancient but was built by a local noble after the end of the napoleonic wars to give former soldiers something to do. They built his folly and he paid them a wage.
Great video, Paul
Just one thing - from what I can find, the volume of Silbury Hill is about a tenth of the great pyramid of Giza, it is around the same volume as the 6th largest Egyptian pyramid (Djoser). Please let me know if I have missed something
- ChatGPT agrees that it is 1/10th
I’m impressed with the perfection of that maze at 03:41, where is that?
Around 500 yards east.
Well research. Silbury Hill and the West Kennet long barrow are better than Stonehenge and free. You need to go there to get the feel of the place. I did so for my UA-cam channel.
I imagine Silbury being a part of the process of quite heavy surface level flint harvesting ... I picture our neolithic ancestors would pick through the chalk for decent bits of flint until it became more and more scarce, then someone figured that there was still flint deeper, so they scrape away the chalk and clay into a big mound in the corner, that way you can easily pick flint again for a good few generations ... The build phases were simply different points at which flint was becoming a pain to gather there.
Probably complete nonsense but that's how I picture it 😂
Edit: woah ... I had typed this before the little spoil heap hypothesis ... Seems we're thinking similar things about different hills and perhaps it wasn't a stupid thought I had 🤔😂
Haha... all good.
I am fiddling "Swinging on a Gate" on my Strad.
There’s another hill in the grounds of marlborough college, East along the A4. It has a spiral path to the top and can be seen on google maps.
Yup, Jim talks of this one "Marlborough mound". Same age as Silbury
Supposing it is a spoil heap, surely there would be a lot of these appearing in the landscape through the ages ?
Yup, exactly.
One wonders if there was a Connwection betweem Silbury Hill, Mini-Silburu and Marlborough Mound nearby?
I'd say almost certainly yes. Contemporary structures.
@@pwhitewick Utterly fascinating isn't it?
Nice update thanks! I've often thought someone should do a series of videos, where just walking along some of our main roads is like an extreme sport? This part of the A4 would be amongst them 😀
Oh most definitely
did you take your dowsing rods with you? theres lots of energy lines around there.
The real baby of Silbury.
Is in Marlborough school.
R
Absolutely
I had never heard of the Marlborough mound before today! Are there any other neolithic-bronze age mounds in the UK or are they a local feature ?
Nope - I've never heard of it either Paul!! 🤔🚂🚂🚂
Thank you. I've never noticed this. 😂
Shouldn't it be relatively a simple matter of comparison of the mound 'spoilheap's makeup and the supposed modified areas of the landscape around the Kennet? We have a battery of testing that can pinpoint the origin of materials and dates of changes made and deposition. It may well be a spoil heap, it may have been special 'ritual' spoil heap 😅- it's always exciting to know that there are still such fundamentals that we have the capacity to learn but have yet to turn our attention to.
Is this the same Pete Glastonbury who ran Pagent Picture Library with Alison Glastonbury? If so, I very much look forward to getting in touch with him.
In Florida near the site of what they call Fort Matanzas National Monument there is a long barrow. I was told that it is was sealed up because there is the dead that was killed inside it.
The shaft under the fallen tree is almost certainly a well, especially if there is a spring there. Probably not really old - 17-18thC perhaps?
Canal dump site ???? that could easily be established as there would be trash in the heap from the period of the canals construction. I cant say that this is or is not the case but I feel not likely most spoil from canals and railways used to form embankments where appropriate. Chalk of course not really the sort of material one would wish to build a canal with being far too porous, sandy and chalky areas required the canals to be lined with puddled clay but this would not preclude the chalk from being used to form the backslope of an embankment or to lift the level of a field to prevent water logging. Spoil was in short supply, there are tales of entire clay hills being purchased from farmers and excavated flat to provide the clay required for canal linings. Besides which during that time period there would have been some commercial demand for chalk for various purposes. the profile of the ground between the road and the mound might suggest a time line.
Great video, kept me til the end. Soo… any supposition as to why the Kennett was canalized? Was there a change in use along the river that made it necessary to change the route or widen/deepen it?
I can see a new theme on videos - spoiler heaps of the post medieval period 😂
The pit was probably grave robbers, possibly from antiquity, as the tree was growing over the pit. Quite fascinating.
Pete Glastonbury... What a name...
Absolutely
And a nice guy
There was a big ass hump at marden henge as well, but it’s been ploughed flat
To stop tourists climbing Silbury Hill, to stop erosion, they once fenced it off: wire fences. However, I once sneaked up on summer solstice, expecting to be alone, but was surprised to find about 15 people, a joyous group of varying religion: magicians, Wicca, hippies, mystics, including a druid. The group cooperated by keeping near the middle of the flat top; as nobody could see you from the ground, due to the bulge of the flanks. All performed their ceremonies side by side. I'll never forget it.
But I'm warning you, don't try it now, there will probably post a policeman on top and you'll probably get arrested !