Stonehenge – English Heritage
Stonehenge
Stonehenge, one of the wonders of the world, is the best known pre-historic monument in Europe. Today on the autumnal equinox, it is an important site for druids, who gather to see the sun rise over the stones. Stonehenge might not even be in here today, on the Salisbury Plain site it has occupied since neolithic times, if it wasn’t for an act of love on the part of a single man one hundred years ago.
Cecil Chubb bought Stonehenge on a whim in an auction for £6,000 (around £680,000 or one million dollars in today’s money). Chubb had gone to the auction to buy a set of curtains for his dear wife. Instead she was gifted the 5,000 year old monument, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Stonehenge’s inner ring is made of volcanic blue stone originated in Carn Goedog in modern day South Wales, some 160 miles (257 kilometres) away from the Amesbury site where the monument were erected. The outer ring, the Sarsen stones, were likely sourced a little closer, within England.
Much mystery surrounds the reason why the monument was erected. Theories include a Druid Temple, an ancient calculator, and elite burial site. Scientists on the five-year Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project aim to uncover some of the secrets on the World Heritage Site which includes Avebury and surrounding areas on Salisbury Plain and the Marlsborough Downs, as well as Stonehenge. They have already found a ‘superhenge‘ of at least 150 standing stones just two miles (three kilometres) from Stonehenge. The Durrington Walls super-henge is buried one metre underground. The site has not yet been uncovered.
The post picture was taken at dawn at Stonehenge this month. On the far left of the image you can see one of the inner circle stones (thought to have been sourced in South Wales) and the outer ring Sarsen stones of sandstone, probably sourced more locally. Many thanks to Visit Wiltshire and English Heritage for special access to the site. English Heritage is an English charity which cares for over 400 historic buildings, visited by ten million people each year.
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