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| Silbury
Archive 2000 |
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 Silbury Hill news, views and archive brought to you by Weird Wiltshire Introduction Latest News News Archive Excavations The Hole Beaker People What is it for? What Next? Postcards Wallpaper Links  |
First published on June 8, 2000 THE National Trust is exploring the possibility that jerry builders are as old as the hills, or certainly a sold as the team of workers paid to fill in a 100ft deep shaft dug into Silbury Hill 230 years ago. Engineers and archaeologists who are trying to establish why the shaft dug in 1776 has collapsed now say it's likely mincers employed by the Duke of Northumberland may have cheated when they filled the hole in. No records survive of why the duke wanted to dig the eight feet square shaft in Europe's biggest man-made mound. He could have been hoping to find treasure although a contemporary report said only a fragment of coak timber was discovered. The miners were paid to fill the hole in again in 1777 but instead of putting back all the soil and chalk they excavated itÕs believed they cheated andfilled the hole partway and then put tmbers across a few feet from the curface and simply plugged the top to save days if not weeks of gruelling labour. the surplus soil was probably scattered down the sides of the hill. Persistent rain during spring could have weakened the 'plug' leading to the collapse of the shaft. National Trust Avebury site manager for the National Trust, Chris Gingell said: "We think they put a plug or cap at the top instead of filling the whole shaft which was a standard procedure for those early miners." There is likely to be an inspection using remote controlled cameras before a decision is made on how it should be re-sealed. A team of scaffolders erected temporary security covering last week to provide a secure cap over the ancient shaft which was discovered on Bank Holiday Monday. Each made dozens of trips up the steep sides of the 130 feet high prehistoric mound carrying scaffold tubes and fittings to make a framework for a roof of currugated iron sheets to keep out the public and the weather. Back to 2000 index |
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