Ancient Landscapes Through the Lens: A guided photographic walk to Fyfield Down

Tuesday, June 20, 2017 - 11.00 to 13.00

Join David Walker and Peter Norton, as they lead a walk through this ancient landscape, and along the way, providing some invaluable advice on how best to photograph it.
For full details of the walk and where to meet, please follow this link:

http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/events/ancient-landscapes-through-lens-guided-photographic-walk-fyfield-down

Meet at the car park off the A4, 1.5 miles from Marlborough on the Manton Estate.

Contact on the day David Walker 07840 326302

Kit List Please bring stout shoes, clothing suitable for all weathers, photographic equipment, and any drinks and snacks you may require. This walk is not suitable for those with walking difficulties.

Duration  An 4 mile circular walk taking in far ranging views, rock formations and a reconstructed Dolmen.

Details  After a 1.5 mile walk an extraordinary shallow valley opens up, littered with massive grey stones – 1,000’s of them. This is Fyfield Down and the stones are what are left of a massive sheet of rock that broke up during the last Ice Age. From a distance, the sarsens have often been mistaken for flocks of sheep, hence their name Grey Wethers (Old English term for sheep). This stone was used to build famous monuments like Avebury Stone circle and Stonehenge

Once the entire area used to be covered with sarsen stones and you apparently you could walk for 2 miles stepping from stone to stone, but now there are very few left. The last order of sarsen stones from this area was in 1938 and four cart loads where taken to repair Windsor Castle.

  

This is one of the country’s oldest National Nature Reserves, created in 1955. The site is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of the landforms it contains and the wildlife it supports. The whole site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and its historical importance was recognized when it was made part of Avebury World Heritage Site.

   

The structure was rescued from imminent collapse in 1921 by archaeologists. Restoration work was undertaken to shore up the dolmen by incorporating a concrete support to one side which was engraved with the year of its salvation - 1921.

After 3 miles the Devil’s Den dolmen stands alone in a field at Clatford Bottom. The word 'dolmen', is thought to be a derivative of ‘dillion’, meaning boundary mound.

The Devil's Den is a Neolithic burial chamber first recorded in 1723 by the antiquarian – William Stukeley, who's illustrations show a long barrow of considerable length with several large sarsen stones which have all but disappeared now. Today the structure comprises of just three massive sarsens arranged similar to that of a Welsh ‘Cromlech’.