ude Stone Monuments_, 1872) believed that it, as
well as Silbury Hill, marks the site of the graves of those who fell in the
last Arthurian battle at Badon Hill (A.D. 520). The majority of
antiquaries, however, see no reason for dissociating its chronological
horizon from that of the numerous other analogous monuments found in Great
Britain, many of which have been shown to be burial places of the Bronze
Age. Excavations were carried out here in 1908, but without throwing any
important new light on the monument.

There are many barrows on the neighbouring downs, besides traces of a
double oval of monoliths on Hackpen hill, and the huge mound of Silbury
Hill. Waden Hill, to the south, has been, like Badbury, identified with
Badon Hill, which was the traditional scene of the twelfth and last great
battle of King Arthur in 520. The Roman road from Winchester to Bath skirts
the south side of Silbury Hill.

At the time of the Domesday Survey, the church of Avebury (Avreberie,
Abury), with two hides attached, was held in chief by Rainbold, a priest,
and was bestowed by Henry III. on the abbot and monks of Cirencester, who
continued to hold it until the reign of Henry VIII. The manor of Avebury
was granted in the reign of Henry I. to the Benedictine monks of St George
of Boucherville in Normandy, and a cell from that abbey was subsequently
established here. In consequence of the war with France in the reign of
Edward III., this manor was annexed by the crown, and was conferred on the
newly founded college of New College, Oxford, together with all the
possessions, spiritual and temporal, of the priory.

AVEIA, an ancient town of the Vestini, on the Via Claudia Nova, 6 m. S.E.
of Aquila, N.E. of the modern village of Fossa. Some remains of ancient
buildings still exist, and the name Aveia still clings to the place. The
identification was first made by V. M. Giovenazzi, _Della Citta di Aveia
ne' Vestini_ (Rome, 1773). Paintings in the church of S. Maria ad Cryptas,
of the 12th to 15th centuries, are important in the history of art. An
inscription of a _stationarius_ of the 3rd century, sent here on special
duty (no doubt for the suppression of brigandage), was found here in 1902
(A. von Domaszewski, _Roem. Mitt._, 1902, 330).

AVEIRO, a seaport, episcopal see, and the capital of an administrative
district, formerly included in the province of Beira, Portugal; on the
river Vouga, and the Lisbon-Oporto railway. Pop. (1900) 9979.