Monument sights in Southwest England
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Avebury Stone Circle
With a diameter of about 348m, Avebury is the largest stone circle in the world. It's also one of the oldest, dating from around 2500 to 2200 BC, between the first and second phase of construction at Stonehenge. The site originally consisted of an outer circle of 98 standing stones of up to 6m in length, many weighing 20 tons, which had been carefully selected for their shape and size. The stones were surrounded by another circle delineated by a 5m-high earth bank and ditch up to 9m deep. Inside were smaller stone circles to the north (27 stones) and south (29 stones).
In the Middle Ages, when Britain's pagan past was an embarrassment to the church, many of the stones were…
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St Michael's Mount
Looming up from the waters of Mount's Bay is the unmistakeable silhouette of St Michael's Mount, one of Cornwall's most iconic landmarks. Set on a craggy island connected to the mainland by a cobbled causeway, there's been a monastery here since at least the 5th century, but the present abbey largely dates from the 12th century. After the Norman conquest, the Benedictine monks of Mont St Michel in Normandy raised a new chapel on the island in 1135, and the abbey later became the family seat of the aristocratic St Aubyns (who still reside here).
It's now under the stewardship of the National Trust. Highlights include the rococo drawing room, the original armoury, the…
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Statue of Humphry Davy
At the top of Market Jew St is a statue to Penzance's most famous son, Humphry Davy (1778-1829), the pioneering 'chemical philosopher', amateur poet and fanatical trout fisherman. Davy was responsible for an astonishing number of scientific advances: the discovery of six new elements (including potassium, sodium and strontium), the invention of the miner's safety lamp, and the use of nitrous oxide (or laughing gas) as a medical anaesthetic.
He also penned reams of amateur poetry and befriended some of the 19th century's best-known Romantic writers, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, although whether it was Davy's amateur verse or his ready supply of chemical narcotics…
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Hardy's statue
Look out for Hardy's statue at the top of High West St in Dorchester. You can also try and track down what's thought to be the red and grey brick inspiration for the Mayor of Casterbridge's house, now a Barclays Bank branch, in South St, and visit the Maumbury Rings; the location of Henchard's secret meetings in the same book.
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West Kennet Ave
Avebury is surrounded by a network of ancient monuments. Lined by 100 pairs of stones, the 1½-mile West Kennet Ave links the Avebury circle with the Sanctuary. Post holes indicate that a wooden building surrounded by a stone circle once stood at the Sanctuary, although no-one knows quite what the site was for.
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