Sacred Sites

Avebury - a longing for place

Do you ever find yourself returning to the same place again and again, drawn by a strong desire to be there? I’d like to tell you about my journey to finding one such location that holds a place in my heart and has done for many years. The sacred landscape of Avebury.

Sacred sites offer a mix of history, myth and natural beauty which makes them an endless source of inspiration for photographers. Whether documenting their historical importance or creating art that speaks to the soul, these ancient monuments continue to draw the curious and the creative. For me though, my fascination leans towards something else…a sense of yearning to be there, one of belonging.

It all started back in the heatwave summer of ’76, returning from my last teenage holiday spent with mum and dad. We stopped off at Stonehenge for a picnic amongst the stones – something you could do back then before the days of fencing and commercialisation. It wasn’t busy, with none of the current day noise and bustle of tourists getting selfies at every angle. I can remember walking amongst the megaliths in complete silence and wonder, as the peace of the surrounding landscape flowed through me. I didn’t really give that feeling much thought back then, and my sense of fascination and calm was quickly forgotten, as I returned to the noise and busyness of life as a teenager in punk rock era London.

Fast forward nine or ten years and I had moved to the more rural life of the Berkshire/ Wiltshire borders, developing an interest in photography to counter the stress of life driving into London each day. Not long after moving, a newspaper article caught my eye – there was an image of the Callanish Standing stones above a review of an exhibition in London of Fay Godwin’s ‘Land’ project. The image captured my imagination, rolling back the years to 1976 Stonehenge, and I knew then and there I had to see this exhibition.

When I visited, I was floored by the dark beauty and drama of her work. From bleak northern landscapes to her images of the south east coast and of course the ancient sites on the west side of the UK, the experience stayed with me. Intrigued by the standing stones, I mentioned my visit to a local photography tutor in my new town and serendipity struck – did I know that there was a megalithic site just a short drive away? And there started my love affair with Avebury and the surrounding landscape.

A little more about Avebury…

For those who’ve not visited, Avebury is the largest prehistoric stone circle in the world. The main henge itself consists of an outer circle following the edge of a bank and ditch that’s nearly a mile in circumference. Within this are two smaller inner circles. All of this is set amongst Avebury village, some of which sits within the outer circle. Additionally, in the wider landscape, there is an avenue of stones, long barrows - many of these topped with trees, a valley of sarsen stones where each monolith was thought to originate, a further stone and timber circle and the iconic Silbury Hill.

Truly a landscape full of mystery, Avebury has a wealth of fascinating history and tales, too much to go through here, so I would recommend looking at The Avebury World Heritage Site | English Heritage

I ended up living in the area for twenty years (apart from one year living in Cumbria, another landscape love of my life) and in that time, I visited and explored this mysterious landscape regularly. I got to know not just the individual stones that I felt drawn to, but also the trees gathered in clumps on top of ancient burial mounds. Known locally as ‘hedgehogs’, they are scattered all around the rolling chalk downland. Whenever I needed time to think, I would drive there to walk the land and sit, resting with my back against one of the standing stones, or in amongst a cluster of four ancient beeches that sit on the bank and ditch surrounding the henge.

Although I took my camera, often I was so enthralled by the site I would forget to make an image completely, preferring to simply connect with the spirit of the place. Each time I left this sanctuary I felt re-energised, more at peace with my Self and the world. I couldn’t put my finger on what spell this enigmatic landscape cast on me, all I knew was that after a few weeks away, I’d start to miss it…feeling it calling to me.

It’s a yearning I still can’t fully explain, yet it did become clearer when I first learned of the Welsh word ‘hiraeth’ through that wonderful nature writer Robert Macfarlane. He used the term to describe his longing for nature and language. For me it’s more a ‘homesickness’, a longing to return to what I see now as my ‘spiritual home’, the nature of, and the nature found within, Avebury’s mysterious landscape.

When I moved to the south-east coast, within months I started to feel that same calling again, but this time it was no short drive to nurture my soul. So began what is now an annual pilgrimage, where I return with my partner, and of course my camera, to spend two or three days walking the Avebury countryside, reconnecting with the restorative energies that exist there. Most visits are in May or September and without any preconceived ideas of capturing certain weather conditions – I just spend the time photographing the area, working with the light I’m given for each brief visit, using the experience of making photographs to deepen my connection to each stone and tree. I’ll share images from these more recent pilgrimages in a future newsletter.

In this post, however, I thought it would be fitting to share three images made on my old Canon AE1. The header image was one of the first pictures I ever took there, showing a section of the outer circle of stones that follow the ditch and bank line. It was taken in winter in the late 1980s, when I was first experimenting with black and white film. I recall taking it as a sort of homage to a photo that captured my attention at Fay Godwin’s’ Land exhibition. Known to me as the ‘mushroom’ stone, it’s one I often stop at, drawn in by the lichen and eddy holes created thousands of years ago as the sarsen stone formed.

The other two images are from a dawn visit in the early 1990’s. I remember this trip vividly, sailing along the A4 at about 3.30am and slowing down for the rabbits crossing the road. The hare stood on its hind legs in a crop field, alert to my nearby presence, together with the volume of the dawn chorus increasing to a crescendo, as the light broke through cloud on the horizon. The ethereal sensation of standing within the inner circle as the mist rolled in over the bank to envelop the stones, the sunrise tinging them with a golden glow. It really was one of those magical moments in life that completely captivated me – fortunately I did have the composure to press the shutter button this time!

I guess everyone has their own Avebury, unique to them, a place they fall in love with and return to time after time. Is there a place that you feel drawn to, not just to walk and photograph but a landscape that you love, a place where you can hear yourself think and where you feel a sense of belonging? If you’re happy to share, I’d love to hear about your ‘hiraeth’ in the comments below.

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As part of giving back to this amazing community I’m mentioning a photographer or a writer here whose work I admire. I’m sure many of you know her already but this week I’d like to highlight the photography and writing of Gill Moon. Gill creates beautiful landscape images and her expressive writing about each photowalk brings a real sense to me of the nature within each place she is photographing.