Now part of a forthcoming book, Green Living, Sacred Life by Susan M Phillips and Tye Jamie Coxston (Capall Bann)
ALL'S NOT WELL AT SILBURY HILL
BY SUSAN M PHILLIPS
Silbury Hill is not really a hill at all but the highest prehistoric man made mound in Europe. According to legend, the Devil was carrying an apron of soil to drop on the citizens of Marlborough, but he was stopped by the priests of nearby Avebury. It stands about a mile from the famous Avebury Stone Circle and looks rather like an inverted pudding bowl. The hill was constructed around 2750 bc and its purpose is not known, though it is believed to have had great ritual significance linked both to Avebury and Stonehenge as well as the nearby West Kennet long barrow and has strong connections with the festivals of Lughnasa [Lammas] and Beltane. The tragedy of Silbury hill is now unfolding. It seems that it is beginning to collapse after standing for nearly five thousand years.
Silbury hill’s dimensions are impressive: the base is a perfect circle 550 ft [167m] in diameter. It rises in a near smooth slope to 130ft [39.6m] high with a flat top 100ft [30m] across and a slight notch, or terrace, close to the summit. The hill has something in common with the pyramids in that it was built in a series of six concentric steps. These were then packed with chalk and then covered with soil and smoothed off. Work on the hill was done in two phases. It seems that the original plan was for a much smaller hill, but this was quickly enlarged to form the amazing monument we see today.
There have been three major archaeological digs on the hill and it is these, combined with the constant climbing by we tourists that are thought to be causing the damage. The first was led by the Duke of Northumberland, who ordered some Cornish miners to sink a shaft from top to bottom. Then in 1849 a tunnel was dug from the edge to the centre and in 1968-70 Professor Richard Atkinson had another tunnel cut into the base. They all seemed to be hoping to find treasure. According to one legend, this is the last resting place of King Sil who was buried mounted on a fabulous golden horse. A variation of this legend states that the mound contains a life size statue of King Sil crafted from solid gold. Neither the stature nor the mortal remains of Sil were found, but there was a treasure of a different kind.
Turfs, mistletoe, oak, hazel, sarsen stones, ox bones and antler tines were discovered preserved within the hill. All are important magical substances. Sarsen stones were used for megalithic monuments over a wide area. Mistletoe that grew on oak was harvested by druids with a golden sickle [probably made from polished bronze] and caught in a white cloth. Oak and the bull were important symbols of summer whilst hazel was a wood of divination and the hazelnut represented wisdom. The stag, too, had great magical connections to the seasons and to hunt the king stag was an important part of the king making ritual. The organic material recovered from the base of the hill was the greatest surprise, being uncannily well preserved. The turfs that made up the base had been turned in late July or early August, the time of the Lughnasa festival, and were still green even after being buried for almost five thousand years.
There have been a number of theories as to the purpose of the hill. At the beginning of the 20th century Moses B. Cotworth claimed that Silbury hill was a giant sundial built to determine seasons and the true length of the year. Later Michael Dames suggested that the hill was the winter goddess, but admits that it is a great enigma. It seems to have been deliberately constructed to align with other monuments in the area and the author Paul Devereux noticed that the notch, when viewed from the western end of West Kennet long barrow matches up exactly with the skyline formed by nearby Windmill hill. The view from East Kennet long barrow matches the horizon with the summit of the hill. He notes several other alignments that can be found in his excellent book “Secrets of Ancient and Sacred Places, the World’s Mysterious heritage”. In this book he also describes a double sunrise phenomenon that seems to have been built into the hill. If you stand on top of Silbury hill just before dawn in early May during the Celtic festival of Beltane, the sun rises in a slight dip in the far horizon beyond Waden hill. In August around the festival of Lughnasa the sun can seem to rise twice if viewed first from the summit and shortly afterwards from the terrace. As the sun rises the hill casts a shadow across the land and when viewed from the hill’s summit a flare of light appears to come from the shadow. This is caused by refracted light in dew drops on the ground and is known as the Silbury Glory.
It’s likely that hill’s main function is as a harvest mound and the artefacts found by archaeologists seem to confirm this. There is strong symbolism built into its positioning and the moon at certain times of year appears to be born from the hill:
“Originally, a water-filled trench surrounded it. The full moon in late July or early August [Lughnasa] would be reflected in the waters, so that it appeared a child’s head was emerging from the womb. As the moon moved p through the sky, it appeared reflected at the breast of the image, as though suckling. As the moon moved higher, the ‘milk’ was released from the breast as the moat reflected the lunar light. With the cutting of the umbilical cord [when the moon appears to detach itself from the hill], the signal was given to begin the harvest. Festivities were held on Silbury Hill into the eighteenth century with horse races and bull baiting followed by the slaughter and consumption of the bull.
“Throughout the ancient world a mound of earth was symbolic of the regenerative powers of the Goddess and was sometimes magnified into a mountain associated with the gods or a man-made pyramid, as in ancient Egypt.”
Paul Devereux suggests that the Obelisk at Avebury might be a sighting post for timing the harvest because the hill is barely visible when the corn is high. In ancient times corn grew taller and the hill would have been completely obscured. He suggests if Silbury Hill was not visible from the Obelisk, then it could be a sign that the corn was ready for cutting. The problem with this hypothesis is that the grain can stand fully grown before it is ripe. Unripe corn does not dry well and will rot in storage. When corn is ripe the weight of the grains causes the ears to bow their heads a little and this might have made it possible to see the hill again after it had been obscured by the growing corn. That, then, would be an unmistakable signal that the grain was ready to be harvested.
We shall probably never know the truth about Silbury Hill, but I do hope it can be saved from collapse and that our “experts” will take more care in future not to vandalise our sacred sites in the name of science.
