Stonehenge Down; Wilsford Down to the south; Stoke Down westwards, and, in fact, the whole of the great Plain is a maze of earthworks, ditches, tumuli and relics of a past at which we can only guess.  Here, if anywhere in Britain, is haunted ground and perhaps the silence of earlier writers may be explained by the existence of a kind of “taboo” that prevented reference to the mysteries of the Plain.

The exploration of the upper Avon may be extended from Amesbury to Durrington (one mile from Bulford station), where is an old church containing fine carved oak fittings worth inspection.  Across the stream is Milston, where Addison was born and his father was rector.  Higher up the river is pretty Figheldean with its old thatched cottages embowered among the huge trees that line the banks of the stream, and with a fine Early English church.  The monuments in the Decorated chancel are to some of the Poores, once a notable family.  The church also contains certain unknown effigies.  These were discovered at some distance from the church, probably having been thrown away during some earlier “restoration!”

[Illustration:  ENFORD.]

Netheravon is famous for its Cavalry School.  Of its Norman and Early English church Sydney Smith was once a curate, to his great discomfort.  The tower here is very old and some have called it Saxon.  The student of Rural Rides will remember that here Cobbett saw an “acre of hares!” Fittleton is another unspoilt little village, and Enford, or Avonford, the next, has a fine church unavoidably much restored after having been struck by lightning early in the nineteenth century; the Norman piers remain.  All these villages gain in interest and charm to the pedestrian by being just off the high road that keeps to the west bank of the river.  Upavon, however, is on a loop of this highway and sees more traffic.  Here is a church with a Transitional chancel; it is said that the contemporary nave was of wood.  The fine tower and present nave belong to the thirteenth century.  The Norman font with its archaic carving and the fifteenth-century crucifix over the west door should be noticed.  Upavon was the home of a kindred spirit to Cobbett, for here was born the once famous “Orator Hunt,” farmer and demagogue—­rare combination!  He was chairman of the meeting in Manchester that had “Peterloo” as its sequel.  Near Upavon, but down stream, is the small and ancient manor house of Chisenbury, until lately the property of the Groves, one of whose ancestors suffered death for his participation in the rising of Colonel Penruddock during the Commonwealth.