Westwards it is, for some distance,
identical with the Roman road to Bath. The "Wodensdyke" appears to
have been made to protect south-western England from foes coming out
of the midlands, but whether it was the work of Brito-Roman or West
Saxon is unknown. Our way now drops past three conspicuous barrows on
the left, with the Lansdown Column showing up on the summit of
Cherhill Down beyond. This was erected to commemorate the birth of
Edward VII. Presently, in the other direction, to the right front,
appears the dark mass of Silbury Hill, perhaps another monument to a
great monarch, but of an age too distant for conjecture.

Seven miles from Devizes we reach the Bath road at Beckhampton, first
crossing the track of the old Roman Bath-Silchester way about
three-quarters of a mile before it joins the modern road. We are now
in the valley of the Kennet, which here turns east after an infant
course under the long line of Hackpen Hill and through the
out-of-the-way villages of Winterbourne Basset, Monkton and Berwick
Basset. The "winter bourne" is actually the baby Kennet, that in dry
summers hardly makes an appearance. Berwick has a family connexion
with Wooton, over the hills and far away to the north-west. Hackpen is
almost the final effort of the chalk in this direction. At its
northern end it rises to 884 feet, an isolated section being crowned
by Barbury Camp, ringed by its beech trees, from which there is a
grand view north and west. From this point the general trend of the
chalk escarpment is north-east to the Lambourn Downs, between Lambourn
and Wantage. Along the brow of this long ridge wanders that
fascinating old track indifferently termed Ridgeway and Icknield Way,
which only leaves the highlands to cross the Thames at Streatley. But
we are off our own track now and must return to Avebury, or Abury as
the natives have it. The village is a mile from Beckhampton, and a
short distance up the by-road the first glimpse of our goal may be had
on the left in the two "Long Stones" just visible across a field. A
little farther one gets the best distant view of Silbury Hill--one
which shows its artificial character and true shape to great
advantage. The sombre tone of the turf that clothes it is remarkable;
when seen against the pale sweep of the Downs behind, its sides do not
appear to _reflect_ light at all.

[Illustration: SILBURY HILL.]

"As a cathedral is to a parish church," Aubrey's comparison of Avebury
with