Swallowhead Spring, Avebury

Swallowhead Spring lies in a quiet meadow just south of Avebury, reached by stepping stones across the River Kennet — and widely regarded as its source.

This chalk spring sits at the heart of one of Britain's most sacred prehistoric landscapes: a short walk from Silbury Hill, the largest man-made prehistoric mound in Europe, and within sight of the West Kennet Long Barrow.

Country folk traditionally held that herbs growing here had particular healing potency, and the spring still draws those who leave offerings in the branches nearby — a practice as old as the landscape itself.

From this quiet field the Kennet flows east as one of England's finest chalk streams, passing through Hungerford and Newbury before joining the Thames at Reading. The spring is on private land with no formal path, but can be reached on foot as part of the Avebury Day Pilgrimage.