Windmill Hill

A POEM
by
Mr Piggott

To sketch the Prospect of the verdurous Vales
That, shelter'd from the rude and boist'rous Gales,
Lie 'neath the grassy Slopes of WINDMILL HILL
Mine be the Task. Come hither Muse and fill
My Soul with Fire, and urge my tardy Pen
To chronicle the Deeds of ancient Men.

The curious Antiquary may descry
The circumjacent Rampart, to the Eye
But feebly mark'd, yet to his expert Sight
Inches, not Feet, suffice to shew a Height.
He measures Molehills thro' his optick Glass
Where Mountains are eclips'd by Blades of Grass,
And, mapping ev'ry Hummock of the Sward
Finds Accuracy is its own Reward.
Here, he will say, once dwelt primaeval Man
Ere Tubal-Cain his blacksmith Arts began.
Here from the fashioned flint, the sun-bak'd sherd
He reconstructs the Man, his Wife, his Herd—
Decides his Dinner from a broken Bone,
And reads his Aspirations in a Stone.

But here uprear'd to a more bold Relief
See the Round-Barrow of the Celtic Chief—
Of conick form with neat encircling Ditch—
What Spoils within lie mould'ring to enrich
The Antiquary's Cabinet! The Celt
Worn by the Druid, pendant from his Belt
To cut the Mistletoe: the brazen Spear,
The uncouth Urn and blue-glass Bead lie here,
Telling of Goidhael's Craft, Phoenician Trade—
All wait the Stroke of antiquarian Spade.

Now roams the Eye towards the eastern Hills,
Where Hackpen Ridge the far Horizon fills.
Nestling beneath the Shade of shaggy Trees
And shelter'd from the Chill of boisterous Breeze
Lies Winterbourne, thro' which the frequent Rill
Purls o'er its Stones the Kennet's Stream to fill.
What Scenes of rustick Innocence and Bliss
The Poet pictures in such Spots as this!
Alas! Discordant is the red-brick Box
Where lurks that swarthy loafer R..BY C..X!

But yet what Eye could find the least Offence
In the mild Scene this other Cot presents?
Who could divine that, 'neath its lowly Thatch
Swindonian Youths illicit Pleasures snatch,
And wanton Lust, Depravity and Vice
Find their Epitome in MRS PR..CE?

But let us quit these Scenes of lewd Repute
To find where Art has triumph'd o'er the Brute.
The Eye within its Purview can detect
A Triumph of th'ingenious Architect.
Foursquare it stands, in just Proportion fram'd—
Palladio must slink away asham'd:
To the great Genius of its own Design
Vitruvius his Laurels must resign;
While Jones and Hawksmoor, Wren and Vanbrugh now
To mighty R..WL..NS all subservient bow,
Who has conceiv'd in his unaided Brain
What they in Concert never could attain—
A Pile so monstrous that the curious Mind
No single Thing commendable can find!

Now southwards let me bend my Gaze, nor stray
Beyond those Hills where Merlin once held Sway—
Where Og and Kennet join their Ways, and wed,
To share henceforth a single fertile Bed.
My gaze meets Prospects where the Chimney smoaks
Fuliginous among the haory Oaks,
And so in pensive Mood surveys the Plain
And dwells at last on ABURY'S hallowed Fane.
Here my attentive Glance can soon descry
The Church-tower, which o'ertops the Boscage high:
There like some Lighthouse, shewing forth to all
That Christ has triumph'd over Adam's Fall.
There Jackdaws and the chatt'ring Starlings perch,
Safely established on th' Established Church.
As my Imagination softly roves
I see the humble Rusticks come in Droves
To hear, and mark with grave approving Nod,
The Rev'rend M..S..N P..L..Y preach on God.

Far otherwise the awful Days of yore
When horrid Druids danc'd, bedawb'd with Gore,
Waving on high the sacrificial Knife
While flowing Blood ebb'd out the off'ring's Life.
No more the Druid's Chaunts, nor Victims' Moans
Awake the Ecchoes of the Sarsen-stones—
Few Stones, alas! now stand erect to tell
Where stood the Cromlech, where the Bardick Cell,
While here a Barn and there an Inn is found
T'obscure the Sight of this once-hallow'd Ground.
Umbrageous Groves spread where, encircling all
Th'uneven Rampart hides its grassy Wall.

But hark! I hear the sound of Woodman's Axe—
The Elm-trees totter 'neath the rude Attacks.
All is Confusion—here the Logs are pil'd
Here is the ground of Undergrowth despoil'd.
See W..TH..L stand and oversee the Work—
Magnificent, immobile. None dare shirk
Beneath the baleful Glitter of that Eye.
Here in another Place I can espy
The Lab'rers delving deep into the Soil
The work of past Destroyers soon to foil,
As they raise up the too-long buried Stone
And for their vandal Grandfathers atone.
Intent upon a hollow in the Chalk
See Y..NG display the Prowess of his Fork.
Th'elusive Stakehole soon will be reveal'd
That since the Druids' Days has been conceal'd.
Musing beneath the Sarsen's cooling Shade
The Poet's Namesake broods on Bronze Age Trade,
Interpreting by Antiquarian Lore
Disjecta membra from his Notebook's store.
By him stands C..K, whose avaricious Eyes
Rove till some antique Treasure he espies.
Quickly 'tis seized, and in a Glass-case pitch'd
So his Musaeum comes to be enrich'd.

Lastly I see (and humbly bare my Head)
Great K..LL..R come with firm and measured Tread.
The lordly Eye looks up, and then looks down—
His Smile is Sunshine, but a Storm his Frown.
With lofty Condescension he surveys
The work, and justly metes the Blame and Praise.
God-like he judges better Things or worse,
With ABURY'S Circle for his Universe.
From Chaos, he decrees, shall Order come—
Romantick Goths must find another Home,
For Neatness here with Science is combin'd,
The decent Product of a decent Mind.

⋜1929

NOTES

• R..WL..NS: Thomas Rawlins: 'An influential pattern book in Norfolk of the more practical kind was by Thomas Rawlins (c1727-1789), a Norwich architect and stonemason, called Familiar Architecture, or original designs for gentlemen and tradesmen, etc of 1768, which included Palladian style examples.' (Cruikshank, 1985, 13)

• M..S..N P..L..Y: Vivian Mason Pooley was the incumbent of St James, Avebury 1929-1941

• W..TH..L: ?

• Y..NG: Young, William Edward Vincent (1890-1971), archaeologist, later curator of the Alexander Keiller Museum, was foreman on the Windmill Hill site

• C..K: Possibly John Manuel Cook, FBA (1910–1994), archaeologist, lecturer in classics at Edinburgh University 1938 (so in contact with Gordon Childe), later Director of the British School at Athens

• K..LL..R: Alexander Keiller, Piggott's wealthy employer at Avebury, excavating and restoring much of the stone circles