The Sanctuary in 1723 by William Stukeley
 
The Sanctuary at Avebury was destroyed by a local farmer at the beginning of the 18th century. Fortunately we have this engraving, by William Stukeley, from 1723 showing what it was like before the stones were carted away. Access to the Sanctuary is still allowed and the view portrayed above, by Stukeley, remains little changed. The missing or destroyed stones, that once formed the Sanctuary, are now indicated by concrete markers.
 
To quote Stukeley, who witnessed the destruction of the Avebury stone circle at around the same time, “…this stupendous fabric, which for some thousands of years, had brav’d the continual assaults of weather, and by the nature of it, when left to itself, like the pyramids of Egypt, would have lasted as long as the globe, hath fallen a sacrifice to the wretched ignorance and avarice of a little village unluckily plac’d within it.”