THE news that the Avebury Stone Circle will feature in a set of eight stamps depicting historic British sites and artefacts has delighted the local community.

Royal Mail has chosen Avebury’s world heritage site to be part of an eight-strong special stamp collection that features British prehistory.

The stamps, which Avebury locals are raving about, provide a timeline across thousands of years – from a glimpse of a mesolithic ritual of 11,000 years ago, to metalworking of the Iron Age from 300 BC.

Dr Ros Cleal, of the National Trust and the curator of the Alexander Keiller Museum, in Avebury, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be featured on the stamp.

“It is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Avebury and we hope that people will be inspired to visit for themselves.

“The Alexander Keiller Museum is one of the few museums that is actually on the site of the place it represents, so people can visit the stones, then come and look at the artefacts that have been found here.”

The stamps, illustrated by London-based artist Rebecca Strickland, have been designed as overlay illustrations, detailing how people lived and worked at sites such as Avebury, which attracts 300,000 people a year.

“This is such a positive thing for Avebury to be included in this set and hopefully it can raise awareness of this beautiful place,” said Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage site partnership manager Sarah Simmonds.

“It is an excellent looking stamp and it is wonderful that Avebury is on a stamp as most people know about Stonehenge so it is a good bit of exposure.”

Royal Mail will also provide a special Avebury stone circle handstamp, which will be applied to all mail posted at the letter box in the High Street until Saturday (January 21).

Wiltshire councillor Jemima Milton, who covers Avebury, said: “It is a fabulous stamp and it is credit to the people of Avebury who help make this place that little bit more special.”

Philip Parker, the Royal Mail’s stamp strategy manager, said: “The UK has an incredibly rich heritage of prehistoric sites and exceptional artefacts. These new stamps explore some of these treasures and give us a glimpse of everyday life in prehistoric Britain, from the culture of ancient ritual and music making to sophisticated metalworking and the building of huge hill forts.”

The stamps are available at 7,000 Post Office branches and at www.royalmail.com/ancientbritain.