| Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites * | |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, ii, iii |
| Reference | 373 |
| Region ** | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1986 (10th Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO |
|
Kennet Avenue or West Kennet Avenue is a prehistoric site in the English county of Wiltshire.
It was an avenue of two parallel lines of stones 25m wide and 2.5 km in length which ran between the Neolithic sites of Avebury and The Sanctuary. A second avenue, called Beckhampton Avenue led west from Avebury towards Beckhampton Long Barrow.
Excavations by Stuart Piggott and Alexander Keiller in the 1930s indicated that around 100 pairs of standing stones had lined the avenue and that they dated to around 2200 BC based on finds of Beaker burials found beneath some of the stones. Many stones have since fallen or are missing however.
Keiller and Piggott righted some of the fallen stones they excavated as did Maud Cunnington during her earlier work there. More recently the stones have been the subject of vandalism when red paint was thrown over some of them.
It is part of the Avebury World Heritage Site. West Kennet Avenue is in the freehold ownership of The National Trust and in English Heritage guardianship. It is managed by The National Trust on behalf of English Heritage, and the two organisations share the cost of managing and maintaining the property.[1]