SILBURY HILL 1. Artery; 2. Silbury Hill: Summer Solstice Sunset 2000CE 2; 3. Silbury: Lit ARTERY oil on board | 14" x 18" | 2003 | £NFS This autumnal view is from the foot of the path leading to West Kennet long barrow after a day's heavy rain, and encompasses both Silbury Hill and the shallow trickle of the River Kennet. The detail of the moon breaking through the clouds is slightly lost in this photo of the painting. The title derives from the Kennet's role in the environment and millennia's settlements. SILBURY: LIT oil on board | 18" x 14" | 2001 | £75

SILBURY HILL: SUMMER SOLSTICE SUNSET 2000CE 2 oil on board | 15½" x 10½" | 2005 | £NFS #P16 A4 Silhouetted to the right and viewed from the nearby long barrow of West Kennet, at Summer Solstice 2000. This is a new version of an earlier composition from that year. SILBURY HILL, WILTSHIRE A late neolithic man-made mound with a varying construction date probably centred around 2700BCE. Silbury was likely to have taken over a generation to construct, reaching 130’ in height with a flat top of 100’ in diameter. Initially a small mound was formed, then covered by chalk from a surrounding ditch, which was later refilled. Successions of turf, gravel and chalk infill were added in hexagonal stages, to reach its cumulative height, and the base was encircled with local sarsen stones. The hill was probably left as exposed chalk, making it a focal point of the landscape, despite its positioning on low ground compared to the local natural hills. Swallowhead Spring and the River Kennet add to its mysticism. In 1776 the Duke of Northumberland employed Cornish tin miners to dig a shaft from the summit which may have destroyed any archaeological evidence of internal features revealing its true purpose. 1849 saw Merewether insert another shaft from the south and further excavations have also failed to reveal any new information. The earlier shaft has collapsed in the 1920s and in 2000, and access is now denied to the hill for safety reasons. Two smaller man-made hills are also in the area, the Marlborough Mound completely overgrown in the grounds of Marlborough College and the Hatfield Barrow at Marsden, which was destroyed by 1818. In the early C20th Cotsworth came to the conclusion that the hill's sole purpose was that of a giant sundial, whilst legend says that King Sil is buried inside with a golden statue of his horse. OS: SU.100.685 Silbury is north of the A4 between Avebury and Marlborough. Back to: The Gallery | Home