Most people in England have heard of the proposed changes to the Stonehenge site and have an opinion one way or the other on them. As English Heritage puts it in the brochure you are handed upon arrival, it seems certain that construction is going…Read More

Most people in England have heard of the proposed changes to the Stonehenge site and have an opinion one way or the other on them. As English Heritage puts it in the brochure you are handed upon arrival, it seems certain that construction is going to start as soon as possible to help make Stonehenge the serene, sacred place it was intended to be.

Plans are in place ("The Stonehenge Project"), supported by English Heritage, World Heritage, and the Highways Agency, to "conceal the A303 trunk road in a bored tunnel past the Stones and to close part of the A344 that currently runs between the Stones and the existing visitor facilities. The current car park will be grassed over and a new state-of-the-art visitor center will be built approximately 2 miles away from the monument... A land train will transport people into the archaeologically rich World Heritage Site landscape to within walking distance of the stones."

These plans do sound quite nice; Stonehenge would be returned to its solitary spot high on the Salisbury Plains with no cars whisking past it, which is how I assume the builders wanted it to be. However, there are a few objections.

My first, and totally personal, objection is the cost of this project. Even if the Highways Agency absorbs the cost for boring the tunnel, English Heritage will be able to charge more due to the higher level of facilities, and everyone will have to pay it, there being no other way to see the henge (by peeking over the fence, as I did). One can hope that the admission prices won't balloon up into the range of stately houses and castles, some of which can cost upwards of £16 to enter! I think that this is an amazing, historical site that people should be let into without breaking the bank.

The original plans for the henge involved a different form of tunnel, which I understand from the site Stonehenge at Risk would essentially be one that was bulldozed straight through the middle of a World Heritage site. The original page, which I believe was published in the early 2000s and is thus slightly out of date, still makes its point quite well. They say that "Stonehenge does not exist in isolation. It has stood in a landscape for thousands or years consisting of a wide open plain surrounded by local features including round and long barrows, trackways, field systems, and other earthworks such as the massive Cursus less than a mile to the north. The site of the tunnel and the disruption that will be required to build it, according to RESCUE, covers 20-30 hectares of landscape. This area, whether it is 13.5 hectares or 20-30 hectares, includes a number of archaeological sites."

So, the question is, which should be favored? Saving Stonehenge's landscape or the archaeological wonders underneath? I hope that both can be done to some extent, and hopefully the bored tunnel currently being proposed will have minimal impact on the rest of the site and help to recreate the past landscape around Stonehenge. I would certainly love to come back and see it in its restored glory (yes, I would even pay a bit more), but I just hope that it is not at too much cost to the surrounding Plains.Close

I am not a history scholar, nor even a history major in college, so I will not pretend to be. However, Stonehenge is a fascinating historical landmark and it deserves a section on its long history, so I will distill what I have learned from…Read More

I am not a history scholar, nor even a history major in college, so I will not pretend to be. However, Stonehenge is a fascinating historical landmark and it deserves a section on its long history, so I will distill what I have learned from the tour and my handy Pitkin Guide to Stonehenge.

Stonehenge went through four different phases of construction. The first began in 2800 B.C., the second in 2100 B.C., the third between 2000 B.C. and 1550 B.C., and the last, which was abandoned, in 1100 B.C. This dates the henge to a time long before Merlin, who is dated, at the earliest, to around 400 B.C. Sadly, this (and the fact that the rocks have been traced to north Pembrokeshire, Wales) means that Merlin did not magick the rocks into featherweights before transporting them from Ireland. According to my guidebook, the idea that druids such as Merlin built Stonehenge was a misconception spread by a William Stukeley in the 1700s.

The first phase was not the towering monument we see today, but rather a bank inside a ditch with 56 Aubrey holes, which are "small, steep-sided, round pits dug just inside the bank." The only stone of note was the Heel Stone, which now stands precariously close to the outer fence around Stonehenge, which stood just outside the entrance. It is the "only megalith to survive outside the ditch of the henge" and the closest possible source for the sarsen stone was over twenty miles away. Apparently there was a long period of abandonment after this phase.

Phase two began a mystery that was left unsolved until very recently, in terms of the monument's lifespan. Along with some alignment and avenue changes, and the introduction of "the four Station Stones...in a huge rectangle which has an undoubted astronomical significance," the bluestones arrived at Stonehenge. For thousands of years, it baffled the human mind how these stones, placed in two large circles, could have possibly made it to the middle of the Salisbury Plain. Who put them there? Why? Where in the world did they get them from? Certainly, some of those questions are still not definitively answered, but the last has been--the stones are from a crag in the Preseli Hills of North Pembrokeshire. From there, the stones were transported an enormous distance--by both wheeling and ferrying down rivers such as the Avon--of over 200 miles to get to their current location. I cannot imagine the back-breaking effort that it took to get the stones there with only the tools of 2100 B.C. to work with. Rolling immense stones up and down hills is not my idea of fun, which just leaves me more in awe of the people that did so. It really is just amazing.

Phase three gave Stonehenge the visage that citizens of the world know best. The guidebook says it best when they say "the Sarsens--natural sandstone blocks found on the Marlborough Downs to the north of Stonehenge--were worked to a precise shape with stone hammers. The geometry of the continuous lintel is truly amazing: it is accurately circular and precisely level despite the sloping site." That last part really got me, since I had not noticed it specifically before. They managed to carve these stones to the exact sizes to make them all perfectly level. What a feat. And really, what are the chances engineers would be able to do the same today without fancy instruments and computers?

The last phase involved extending the Avenue of Stonehenge but was largely abandoned, and this time, construction never recommenced.

I find it rather interesting to note that Stonehenge could be standing in its former glory today, rather than in ruins. Many think that the damage--some of which has been reversed by re-erection of the stones, was caused by natural forces. I thought that as well, until reading an interesting aside in my guidebook. It essentially says that the stones were all originally locked together like "woodwork" and were structurally sound, like other megaliths around Britain that have stood the test of time and are still standing. A vengeful person, perhaps a Roman general with a large army at his back, could have easily wreaked havoc on the monument in an attempt to douse the paganism of Britain. I find this theory very interesting and think that, given Britain's lack of hurricanes or other extreme weather such as tornadoes, it is indeed very "viable," as the guidebook says.

So that, in a nutshell, is Stonehenge's history. I find it extremely intriguing to delve into and think that it adds much to the site as a whole. Certainly, with my initial impression, I would not have been nearly as impressed if I hadn't thought of the thousands upon thousands of hours of work people put into creating the monument. With that thought in mind, you can really think this place is no less than a true wonder.Close

West Kennet Long Barrow, West Kennett, near Marlborough This is one of the largest prehistoric tombs in England and Wales. The tomb was probably built in 3500BC to serve the farming community. This is one of the biggest barrows in Britain. The barrow measures 340 feet…Read More

West Kennet Long Barrow, West Kennett, near Marlborough This is one of the largest prehistoric tombs in England and Wales. The tomb was probably built in 3500BC to serve the farming community. This is one of the biggest barrows in Britain. The barrow measures 340 feet long by 75 feet wide. The line of stones at its east end, some as high as 12-feet, form a corridor 40 feet into the barrow. There are five stone chambers inside the barrow. Studies have soon that it was used for almost 1,000 years. During this time 40 to 50 people were buried here. Which leads people to believe that only members of the ruling clan were allowed to be buried here, just not any one from the community. The barrows are open to the public and free, and are located up a paved path up the side of the barrow hill. There are several barrows in the area. We decided to explore West Kennet because it was on the way to Stonehenge. It was a very interesting stop. There were four other people exploring at the same time we were there. Two of them were visiting most of the barrows in Wiltshire and they gave us tons of information on what we were seeing. Close

Silbury Hill lies just off the A4 between Devizes and Marlborough in the Winterbourne-Kennet valley. Silbury Hill is the tallest man made mound in Europe. It is part of the complex of Neolithic monuments located just south of the village of Avebury in Wiltshire. It…Read More

Silbury Hill lies just off the A4 between Devizes and Marlborough in the Winterbourne-Kennet valley. Silbury Hill is the tallest man made mound in Europe. It is part of the complex of Neolithic monuments located just south of the village of Avebury in Wiltshire. It is a massive artificial mound with a flat top. It is approximately 130 feet high and covers 5 acres. It is composed of over 12 million cubic feet of chalk and earth. The base of the monument is 550-feet in diameter and it is perfectly round. Its summit is flat-topped and 100ft wide. It was built in three stages starting in 2600BC. We came here because we had read about the crop circles, UFO and other stories concerning Silbury Hill and the area. To this day no one knows the real reason it was built. Some people believe it is a huge sundial to determine seasons and the true length of the year. Another theory is that it is a natural earth battery. It was layered in a three-part process very similar to how a battery is created. My favorite is the one that the Devil was going to empty a huge sack of earth on the town of Marlborough, but was forced to drop it here by the magic of the priests from nearby Avebury. Or the one about it being a UFO landing pad. Whatever the theory it’s a strange place. It was a pretty weird thing to see sitting in the countryside. Close

This tiny village is the center of a wonderful concentration of prehistoric sites, including; Avebury complex, a massive circular bank and ditch surrounding settings of stone circles within the village, linked by avenues of standing stones leading towards West Kennet and the Sanctuary. These stone…Read More

This tiny village is the center of a wonderful concentration of prehistoric sites, including; Avebury complex, a massive circular bank and ditch surrounding settings of stone circles within the village, linked by avenues of standing stones leading towards West Kennet and the Sanctuary. These stone circles were built around 2200BC. The henge at Avebury is 16 timed larger than Stonehenge. There is no restriction on access at this site, so you are free to wander amongst the stones and soak up the magical atmosphere. Avebury is more than just a stone circle, although this is its main feature. There is also a rampart, a ditch and two mysterious avenues. The rampart (bank) is on the outside, and then comes the ditch. They both have four entrances and enclose some twenty-eight acres. Inside these 'circles' is the stone circle itself. It once consisted of around one hundred natural uncut and "rough" stones. Inside this larger circle were once two smaller circles with only four stones of one of the smaller circles surviving. None of the stones in the other small circle are now standing. It was so wonderful to walk up to the stones and be able to touch them. We were so surprised in all the time we spent here, we only saw 4 other people. We had brought coffee with us, so we sat and drank it as we had an everyday conversation in the middle of a historical place. COOL! Close

Wiltshire has nine white horses cut into its hills. Only seven of the White Horses are now visible. Wiltshire County has a vast number of chalk downs, which with their smooth steep sides provide a perfect site to exercise the art of turf cutting.…Read More

Wiltshire has nine white horses cut into its hills. Only seven of the White Horses are now visible. Wiltshire County has a vast number of chalk downs, which with their smooth steep sides provide a perfect site to exercise the art of turf cutting. Within a five-mile radius of Avebury there are five horses, all very close to each other. Three more are just a bit further away. All may be visited by road. The white horses to be found in Wiltshire are in order of being cut -- Westbury – 1778, Cherhill – 1780, Pewsey – 1785, Marlbourough - 1804 (renovated 1873), Alton Barnes – 1812, Hackpen – 1838 Devizes - 1845, Broad Town – 1863, Inkpen - 1860s and Pewsey – 1937. In Wiltshire we viewed the Cherhill White Horse, the Hackpen and the Marlborough White Horse, which is best viewed by walking on a path off the road. On our way to London another day, we stopped at the oldest and most interesting, the Uffington White Horse. Above the horse there is an ancient earthwork, which is known as Uffington Castle. The horse was thought to be cut during the time of Hengist, a Saxon leader with a white horse. It has appeared in written records for over 900 years. Popular belief has recently dated the horse much older than originally thought. It is now thought to date back to the Iron Age since it resembles the horses stamped on early Iron Age coins. The road to reach the horse was no picnic. It was winding, narrow and busy and the weather was awful. Once there, I made my husband do the walk to get a better picture because by known it was pouring not a drizzle. You should have seen us with our bodies sticking out of the sunroof trying to get a good shot of the horse. What we’ll do for a picture! Close

Some years ago (2006), I went to Stonehenge with 4 friends of mine. We started with Avebury, then went to the Kennet Long Barrow and ended with Stonehenge. When we came there, the weather seemed nice and we started walking around the circle. It was…Read More

Some years ago (2006), I went to Stonehenge with 4 friends of mine. We started with Avebury, then went to the Kennet Long Barrow and ended with Stonehenge. When we came there, the weather seemed nice and we started walking around the circle. It was in November, so being quite sensible we all had enough clothes on but there had been no rain, only clouds and the normal grey, English weather. Obviously, we discussed the ancestors. We weren't quite sure whose ancestors, as no one knows who built these Neolithic sites, but we felt that we hadn't really done anything to make them angry. Turned out we were wrong, while watching the stones and the other tourists, we saw something black and threatening at the horizon. First we only continued taking pictures, Stonehenge with dramatically background. Then it came, luckily we had time to get our cameras away in pockets or rucksacks, else they would have been very dead. It only rained for about 5 minutes, but as we were drenched after 15 seconds, it could as well have gone on for hours. A few people tried to use their umbrellas, but they only collapsed under the pressure of the rain. Everyone tried to squeeze into the tunnel under the road to the parking lot, that didn't really help either as the water seeped through and everybody got soaking wet feet. None of my friends had brought an extra pair of shoes, so the next day they still had wet feet. We never figured out what we had done to upset the ancestors, but we wowed never to do it again :-)Close