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World reknowned, this prehistoric monument which is so mysterious because we know so
little about seems strangely small as one first glimpses it. Hardly rising above the
greensward of the surrounding plain, it is only once one gets near to the stones that
the full enormity of the task involved in its erection thausands of years ago becomes
apparent.
Stonehenge is not uniformly of a single date, what we see today is rather the product of
additions made over a considerable period of time. Despite this, the site is perhaps linked
with the Druids in modern minds because of the much-publicised events which have surrounded
the site at the summer solstice. This is a falacy because Stonhenge was erected a
considerable period before the arrival of Iron Age
culture and the Druids in the British Isles.
What is certain from the monument's careful orientation, execution and the use of
the massive foreign stones in its construction is that it must have had a deep
significance for its builders.
The solitude of Stonehenge in the acres of grassland was threatened by the erection
of buildings during the early part of the 20th century but appeals between 1927 and
1929 led to the purcahse of nearly 1,500 acres of the surrounding land and its vestment
in the National Trust who removed the offending structures. The stones themselves and a
small area of the surrounding land were in the care of the Ministry of Works - later
to fall under the remit if the Department of the Evironment. They are now cared for by
English Heritage.
The site is surrounded by a shallow ditch 288 feet in diameter and a semicircle of holes
known as the Aubrey Holes after their
discoverer. The circles described by both the features share the same centre point.
It is thought that the Aubrey Holes were originally occupied by wooden posts which have
long-since rotted away while a series of excavations carried out by the Society of
Antiquaries between 1919 and 1926 revealed that the bottom of the ditch contained
deer antler picks and, towards the top, a series of postherds dating from the
Early Bronze Age.
Impresive though the arrangement of stones which we see today is, it can only indicate
the complex structure in its prime; there was an outer ring of massive sarsen stones which
were capped by lintels,the whole being assembled utilising carefully crafted toggle joints;
within stood a second circle of upright foreign stones which are usually known as
'Blue Stones'. Within the circle of
blue stones, stood a horseshoe of sarcen trilithons, not only morticed and tennoned, but
so shaped as to correct for the perspective view. Finally, an inner horseshoe of the
foreign 'Blue Stones' surrounded a horizontal
slab which is known as the Altar Stone.
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The 'Blue Stones',
composed of dolerite, rhyolite and volcanic ash were transported from the Prescelly Hills
in Pembrokeshire - the transport of these huge blocks over some 150 miles from Wales to the
Stonehenge site was an enormous endeavour given the technology available to the
prehistoric builders.
These stones do have a distinct bluish tinge but appear uniformly grey
due to weathering of and the growth of lichens on their surfaces.
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The builders of the monument appear to have taken great care about its orientation as
well as it execution; the stone structures are centered on the axes connecting what are
usually known as the Sation Points; the
south barrow and the postion of the north barrow which is now destroyed; and the south-east
and north-west stones. Furthermore, a line which passes through this centre, and also the
Altar Stone, the Slaughter Stone and the
Friar's Heel or Hele Stone
if extended to the horizon, indicates the position of the rising sun on the morning of
the summer solstice.
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Well into the twentieth century, a chisel could be hired from a local blacksmith with which to chisel one's name into the stones or chip part of them away to keep as a souvenier.
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Stonehenge stands some eleven or so miles to the north
of Sailisbury Cathedral and the city is often a starting point for a journey to the stones. This
prompted Dr. Johnson to write of the two;-
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Salisbury Cathedral and its neighbour Stonehenge are two eminent monuments of art and rudeness, and may show the first essay and the last perfection in architecture.
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The Devil and the Heelstone
Our superstitious ancestors frequently sought supernatural explanations for that about them which
they found to be strange and Stonehenge must have seemed as assuredly strange to them as it appears
fascinating to us. It is no surprise then that the monument acquired a goodly load of legend and
folklore and one such story about the stones, and the Friar's Heel or Heelstone in particular, places
(as is so often the case) the Devil as the culprit.
Having let an exciseman slip through his fingers, so the story tells,
the Devil was in search of a deed which might restore the
injury to his reputation. It was thus that he spied the huge stones which were thought to be immovable
to mortal man in the garden of an Irish lady and offered to buy them for as much money as she could
count while he was carrying them away. The lady agreed but while she was puzzling over the reckoning
of two strange coins which the Devil had given her (one of twopence halfpenny, the other of threepence
three farthings) he bundled them together and made off.
His heavy load uncomfortable as he crossed the Avon, the tale continues, the Devil adjusted it and one
of the stones fell to the ground and remains to this day at Bulford. Continuing over the Wiltshire
Downs, he found a suitable site for the stones and arranged them in the circle and horseshoe which we
find now muttering to himself that no-one would suspect how the stones had come to be arranged there
as he worked.
But a passing Friar took exception to the Satan's boast and in his anger the Devil hurled one of the
stones at the Friar with such force as to imprint the Friar's heel into it. Things might have gone
badly for the Friar had the sun not risen at that moment causing the Devil to abandon
his work and to leave the holy man to tell his tale.
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The programme "Stonehenge: The True Story", first transmitted by Channel 5 on Tuesday, August 5th, 2003, put forward the theory devised by anthropologist Lionel Sims for Stonehenge and similar monuments such as Newgrange in Ireland. Sims believes that they were built at a transition from nomadic hunting to farming, and by people who were trading with communities all over western Europe.
Hunting was a nocturnal occupation performed at full Moons, while farming is governed by cycles of the Sun. Lionel Sims thinks that powerful priests built the alignments of both the Moon and the Sun into their monuments to show that the new ways were a logical progression from the old - Stonehenge is built to frame the Moon once a month and the Sun once a year.
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Most of the pictures on this page were taken an hour or so before sunset on New Year's Day 2004 - despite a security guard wandering about the paths, the car park was locked, the lay-bys full and dozens of cars parked on the verges and carriageway of the already busy and dangerous road. |
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