William Stukeley was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric monuments of Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire. He published over twenty books on archaeology and other subjects during his lifetime. Born in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, as the son of a lawyer, Stukeley worked in his father's law business before attending Saint Benet's College, Cambridge. In 1709, he began studying medicine at St Thomas' Hospital, Southwark, before working as a general practitioner in Boston, Lincolnshire.
Portrait attributed to Richard Collins
The Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire, which Stukeley visited, describing it as "the greatest Antiquity we have yet seen... a very noble, rustic, sight" which could "strike an odd terror upon the spectators".
An inward view of Stonehenge from August 1722
A 1776 line engraving of Stukeley, based on a 1727 illustration by I. Whood
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1701, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a
registered charity. It is based at Burlington House in Piccadilly, a building owned by the UK government.
Entrance from Burlington House courtyard
The Society of Antiquaries of London at the University of London History Day, 2016
One of the rooms in the west wing used by the Society of Antiquaries
Vertue, 'The Gate at Whitehall' (Holbein Gate) in Vetusta Monumenta Vol.1, 1747 (1826)
