Avebury, Wilts

The much-married Alexander Keiller was born in 1889. When he was nine, his father died, leaving him the sole heir to the great marmalade fortune. He pursued many interests, but the greatest contribution he made was his work in exploring and restoring Avebury Stone Circle.
He arranged for the removal of many of the buildings that were within the circle. Most of the displaced inhabitants were re-located to nearby Avebury Trusloe, which his great wealth enabled to be built from scratch. Keiller's intention was to remove all the modern buildings from within the henge; other events prevented that from being seen through. The buildings that remain within the henge now exist in a juxtaposition with the stones. Some of them appear to be built of materials raided from the stones; the locals developed good techniques for heating the stone and breaking it into small pieces for building. Oddly, it is not considered a particularly good building material by those in the know, but it had the advantage of being readily available.