12 Monuments to Explore in Wiltshire

The Avebury complex is one of the principal ceremonial sites of Neolithic Britain that we can visit today. It contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to contemporary pagans. It was built and altered over many centuries from about 2850 BC until about 2200 BC and is one of the largest, and undoubtedly the most complex, of Britain's surviving Neolithic henge monuments.

Bratton White Horse is a hill figure on the escarpment of Salisbury Plain, approximately 1.5 mi east of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. Located on the edge of Bratton Downs and lying just below an Iron Age hill fort, it is the oldest of several white horses carved in Wiltshire. It was restored in 1778, an action which may have obliterated another horse that had occupied the same slope. A contemporary engraving from around 1772 appears to show a horse facing in the opposite direction that was rat

The Cherhill White Horse is the second oldest in Wiltshire and was made under the guidance of Dr Christopher Alsop of Calne in 1780, who gave instructions to a team of workers from a distance, using a megaphone. The Cherhill White Horse is one of eight remaining White Horses in Wiltshire. It is located on the edge of Cherhill Down, near both Oldbury Castle and the Lansdowne Monument, three and a half miles from the historic town of Calne.

Durrington Walls is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England. It lies 2 miles north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury. The henge is the second-largest Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure known in the United Kingdom, after Hindwell in Wales.

Lacock Abbey is a country house with monastic roots and Britain's birthplace of photography. It is set in spacious wooded grounds, with plenty of space to picnic, and is now recognizable from films varying from Pride and Prejudice to Harry Potter. It was home to the Fox Talbot family. In the early 19th century, polymath William Henry Fox Talbot invented the photographic negative, a cornerstone in the rise of photography as both an art and a popular hobby.

The Pepperbox, also known as Eyre's Folly, is a folly tower that stands at the highest point on Pepperbox Hill, the peak of a chalk ridge about 5 miles southeast of the city of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. Built in 1606 by Giles Eyre, the folly is a three-storey hexagonal tower constructed of brick, although the entrances and windows have since been blocked up. The building's original purpose is unknown, though theories include that it was built to provide Eyre with views of Longford Castle.

Stonehenge is perhaps the world’s most famous prehistoric monument. It was built in several stages: the first monument was an early henge monument, built about 5,000 years ago, and the unique stone circle was erected in the late Neolithic period about 2500 BC. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli.

This circular temple was built in 1765, by the architect Henry Flitcroft, to outdo William Chamber’s earlier Temple of the Sun at Kew. It is dedicated to Apollo, the sun god. Nestled on a hilltop, the temple has delightful views over the lake.

An 'avenue', originally of around 100 pairs of prehistoric standing stones, raised to form a winding 1 1/2 mile ritual link between the pre-existing monuments of Avebury and The Sanctuary. Part of the Avebury World Heritage Site. Excavations by Stuart Piggott and Alexander Keiller in the 1930s indicated that around 100 pairs of standing stones had lined the avenue, dated to around 2200 BC from finds of Beaker burials beneath some of them. Many stones have fallen or are missing, however.

One of the largest, most impressive and most accessible Neolithic chambered tombs in Britain. Built in around 3650 BC, it was used for a short time as a burial chamber, nearly 50 people being buried here before the chambers were blocked. Part of the Avebury World Heritage Site. Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe.

White Sheet Hill is another fine example of elevated chalk grassland which has evidence of ancient history at its summit. It has a neolithic enclosure dating back to 3,000 BC, and an Iron Age hill fort at the top. There are also Bronze Age barrows, some of which are clearly visible. It is incredible to think they have survived for 3 to 4,000 years. The Roman road which runs along the hill was at one time the main route through the Selwood Forest. The hill is part of the Stourhead estate and has

Woodhenge is a Neolithic henge and timber circle monument near Stonehenge. It is part of the UNESCO Stonehenge World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, 2 miles north-east of Stonehenge. Woodhenge was identified from an aerial photograph taken by Squadron Leader Gilbert Insall, VC, in 1926, during the same period that an aerial archaeology survey of Wessex.