caption death_date religion birth_place image_size nationality field birth_date known_for image article_title name alma_mater
portrait of stukeley attributed to richard collins 3 march 1765 7 november 1687 anglican holbeach , lincolnshire 220px english & british archaeology yes 7 november 1687 stonehenge avebury isaac newton biography stukeley plesiosaur william stukeley attributed to richard collins.jpg william stukeley
 william stukeley corpus christi college , cambridge
william stukeley

william stukeley frs , frcp , fsa -lrb- 7 november 1687 -- 3 march 1765 -rrb- was an anglican clergyman and english antiquarian who pioneered the archaeological investigation of the prehistoric monuments of stonehenge and avebury .
he was friends with isaac newton and was among newton 's first biographers .
stukeley was also involved with freemasonry and instrumental in british scholarship 's acceptance of charles bertram 's forged `` description of britain '' .
despite his anglican faith and church offices , he was ordained as a `` druid '' and was a leading figure in neo-druidry .
nonetheless , he has been remembered as `` probably ... the most important of the early forerunners of the discipline of archaeology '' for his habit of going out personally to examine and explore ancient sites .
