10 Pence - Charles III Avebury

Avebury, not Stonehenge, is the largest megalithic stone circle in the world — a fact that surprises most people encountering it for the first time. The Isle of Man has built a broader definitive series around British prehistoric and natural heritage sites, a departure from the territorially local themes that dominated its coinage through much of the twentieth century. Avebury itself straddles a functioning English village; several of the sarsen stones were buried by medieval inhabitants who feared them as pagan.