Silbury Hill

Silbury Hill rises unexpectedly from the flat valley floor just south of Avebury, a perfectly shaped chalk pyramid that looks too regular to be natural but whose purpose remains completely unknown. It is the largest artificial mound in prehistoric Europe, built in stages over several centuries beginning around 2400 BC, and it aligns precisely with other monuments in the Avebury complex.

Visitors can view the hill from a path around its base, but climbing it is prohibited — repeated excavations and tunnel collapses have made the interior unstable. The hill is best seen from the road between Avebury and West Kennet, where its strange profile against the downland sky is most striking. It is managed by English Heritage and freely visible from public paths.

things to do sight historic site
A story
Silbury Hill is the largest artificial mound in prehistoric Europe — 40 metres high and 167 metres across at the base — built around 2400 BC using roughly 4 million cubic metres of chalk. Despite centuries of digging, including tunnels by the Duke of Northumberland in 1776 and a BBC-funded excavation in 1968, nobody has found a burial chamber or any obvious purpose for the mound. It may simply have been the building that mattered, not what was inside.