Image Upright: | 1.2 |
Id: | 373bis |
Coordinates: | 51.1789°N -1.8253°W |
Area: | 4985.4ha |
Whs: | Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites |
Criteria: | (i), (ii), (iii) |
Extension: | 2008 |
Year: | 1986 |
Location: | Wiltshire, England |
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) in Wiltshire, England. The WHS covers two large areas of land separated by about 15miles, rather than a specific monument or building. The sites were inscribed as co-listings in 1986. Some large and well known monuments within the WHS are listed below, but the area also has an exceptionally high density of small-scale archaeological sites, particularly from the prehistoric period. More than 700 individual archaeological features have been identified. There are 160 separate scheduled monuments, covering 415 items or features.[1]
The Stonehenge area of the WHS is in south Wiltshire. It covers an area of 26 square km and is centred on the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. Ownership is shared between English Heritage, the National Trust, the Ministry of Defence, the RSPB, Wiltshire Council, and private individuals and farmers.
The Avebury area of the WHS covers an area of 22.5 km2 and is centred on the prehistoric Avebury Henge, about 17miles north of Stonehenge.
The main museums are the Alexander Keiler Museum at Avebury, Salisbury Museum, and Wiltshire Museum in Devizes.
Other museums with material from Stonehenge and Avebury include the British Museum, National Museum of Wales, Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the Ashmolean Museum. Other archives include the Historic England Archive in Swindon, the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham, and the Bodleian Library at Oxford.