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Vote for King Arthur this election!

29 04 2010

Minute Manifesto: King Arthur Pendragon (Independent)

Vote for Arthur

King Arthur Pendragon is an Independent candidate for Salisbury. He is a Senior Druid and Swordbearer and was brought up in Aldershot.

He served with the Royal Hampshire Regiment. He’s worked as a General Foreman for a Parish Council and Senior Supervisor for Hampshire and Surrey County Councils on the Basingstoke Canal restoration project

King Arthur Pendragon’s manifesto

My name’s Arthur Pendragon, I’m a Senior Druid sworn to fight for Truth, Honour and Justice, who wants to scrap our nuclear arsenal and bring our boys back from Afghanistan.

The main thing I believe in is democracy, by, for and of the people, not by, for and of the Party.

At present, you can have a Scottish MP representing a Welsh constituency and living in London, but in reality representing no-one save their Party line, and let’s face it, there’s not much to choose between any of them.

Well, I’m different.

Don’t be put off by the robes – I may be spiritual but I’m certainly political, and to date have embarrassed two National Parties into last place and taken Her Majesty’s Government to High and European Courts.

Another thing I believe in is leadership from the front, motivation by example, and I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty.

Having opposed the Newbury Bypass, and fought continually for Stonehenge not only was I arrested ‘up the trees’ and on the ‘picket’ argued the cases in Court, but guess who dug the latrine?

If you want an MP with a hands-on approach, by, for and of the people, vote for me. If you want much of the same, vote for anyone else.

I don’t care what London, Brussels, Washington or even Andover want

Elect me and you elect a warrior with a proven track record to represent and fight for the Salisbury constituency, nothing more and certainly nothing lesS

He’s got my vote!

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge web site

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Tags: election, stonehenge protest, vote for arthur
Categories : funny, Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, UK Stone Circles

Do Dartmoor’s ancient stones have link to Stonehenge?

27 04 2010

LITTERED across the hills of Dartmoor in Devon, southern England, around 80 rows and circles of stones stand sentinel in the wild landscape. Now, striking similarities between one of these monuments and Stonehenge, 180 kilometres to the east, suggest they may be the work of the same people. The row of nine stones on Cut Hill was discovered in 2004 on one of the highest, most remote hills of Dartmoor national park. “It is on easily the most spectacular hill on north Dartmoor,” says Andrew Fleming, president of the Devon Archaeological Society. “If you were looking for a distant shrine in the centre of the north moor, that’s where you would put it.” Ralph Fyfe of the University of Plymouth and independent archaeologist Tom Greeves have now carbon-dated the peat surrounding the stones. This suggests that at least one of the stones had fallen – or been placed flat on the ground – by between 3600 and 3440 BC, and another by 3350 to 3100 BC (Antiquity, vol 84, p 55). That comes as a surprise to archaeologists, who, on the strength of artefacts found nearby, had assumed that Dartmoor monuments like Cut Hill and Stall Moor (pictured) dated from the Bronze Age, around 2100 to 1600 BC. Instead, Fyfe suggests that Cut Hill is from the Neolithic period, the same period that Stonehenge was built. Unlike Stonehenge, the 2-metre-tall Cut Hill stones lie flat on the ground, parallel to each other and between 19 metres and 34.5 metres apart, like the sleepers of a giant railway track. Packing stones discovered at the end of one of the megaliths suggest at least one of them stood erect at some point, but the regularity of their current layout makes it likely they were deliberately placed that way, Greeves says. What’s more, the stones’ alignment with the summer and winter solstices seems identical to that of Stonehenge, Newgrange in Ireland and Maes Howe in Scotland. “It could be coincidence, but it’s striking,” says archaeologist Mike Pitts.

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle website

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Categories : Stonehenge, Stonehenge archaeological digs, Stonehenge news, UK Stone Circles

Celebrate St.Georges Day – Morris Dancing at Stonehenge

23 04 2010

Morris Dancing – Maypole and morris dancing for St George’s Day
Thought you would like this old picture I found in the archives showing ‘Morris Dancing’ at Stonehenge on Saint Georges Day.

Morris Dancers at Stonehenge

Although the link between Druids and megalithic sites is tenuous at best, there seems to be no reason to doubt that both the celebration of ancient Celtic festivals and the rituals performed at stone circles and other megalithic sites included dancing in one form or another. Evidence for the latter is virtually non-existent, but folklore and other clues suggest, for example, that dance may have been performed at Stonehenge if only through the suggestive description by Geoffrey of Monmouth, writing in the 12th century, who calls Stonehenge the Dance of the Giants (“chorea gigantum”). Much later, Morris dancing used to take place around the ancient barrow at St. Weonards in Herefordshire. Morris dancing, in fact, has been claimed to be a remnant of a pre-Christian Celtic, or Druidic, fertility dance.

Morris dancing also figures among the evidence in support of the claim that dancing formed part of the celebration of Celtic festivals. Among the earliest references to Morris dancing are those made by Shakespeare, who, in “All’s Well that Ends Well” (II.ii.21), makes it clear that the Morris dance was commonly performed on May Day (May 1). That Morris dancing was associated with May Daycelebrations in the early 17th century is also suggested through King James I’s “Book of Sports” which permitted among the amusements to be enjoyed on a Sunday the continuation of “May games, Whitsun ales and morris dances, and the setting up of May-poles…” The Whitsun ales referred to are a beer produced for Whitsun (or Whitsunday, celebrated in the Christian calendar as Pentacost) which Shakespeare, in “Henry V” (II.iv.18), says was also a time when Morris dances were performed.

The origins of Morris dancing are lost in the mists of time. It survives today as a form of folk dance performed in the open air in villages in rural England by groups of specially chosen and trained men and women. It is a ritual rather than a social dance which the dancers take seriously. It is felt that the dances have a magic power and serve both to bring luck and to ward of evil. Attempts to uncover the origins of Morris dancing have focused mostly on the name. Some believe Morris to be a corruption of the word “Moorish” and therefore to have originated in Africa. In order to explain how African dancing could crop up in England, it has been suggested that Moorish captives were brought back from the Holy Land by crusaders. Or, alternatively, it has been suggested that John of Gaunt (1340-1399), Duke of Lancaster, following the failure of his campaign in Spain to claim the kingship of Castile and Leon, returned to England with Spanish Moors as captives.In this sense, the word “morris” would seem to be related to “morisco”, which is a form of court dance performed in Italy. However, Joseph Strutt (1749-1802), in his “Sports and Pastimes of the People of England”, doubts this was the origin of Morris dancing, stating that “the Morisco or Moor dance is exceedingly different from the morris-dance…being performed with the castanets, or rattles, at the end of the fingers, and not with bells attached to various parts of the dress.” Otherwise, Strutt suggests that the morris-dance originated from the “Fool’s Dance” (traceable to the 14th century), in which the dancers dressed in the manner of the court fool, and from which can be traced the bells used by morris dancers.

If Morris is a corruption of a similar-sounding word, it could equally well be “moorish” in reference to, at the time of Shakespeare, boggy land, and later used in connection with moorland or heathland. It has also been suggested that the word Morris is derived from the Latin word “moris” meaning tradition or custom. Then again, it might be derived from the game “merelles”, forms of which were called “ninepenny morris” or “nine men’s morris” (referred to, for example, by Shakespeare in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, II, i, 98). On the continent, the name was applied to the stepping, dance-like game of ‘hop-scotch.’

Attempts to discover the origins of the dances performed have revealed a general connection with other ritual folk dances elsewhere in the world such as santiagos, moriscas, and matachinas of the Mediterranean and Latin America, and the calusari of Romania. The ultimate source of this type of dancing, however, remains hidden. The suspicion, though, is that they are of pagan origin performed as part of ancient fertility rites. The music and dances were perhaps intended to attract beneficial influences, while the bells, fluttering handkerchiefs, and clashing sticks served as the means to scare away malevolent spirits.

Traditional Morris dancing is today associated with the Cotswolds, a region of England located between Oxford and the Welsh border. Cotswold Morris is danced in sets of six dancers arranged in two rows of three. For some dances, handkerchiefs are held in each hand, while for other dances short sticks are carried, and struck against each other or against those of a partner. Part of the costume includes bells, usually worn tied below the knees.

Costume varies from one Morris team, or ‘set’, to another, with each village also producing its own steps and dances. Morris men usually wear a white shirt, white trousers or dark breeches, and black shoes. Coloured sashes or baldrics worn over one or both shoulders, or a waistcoat, serve to distinguish different teams. The Stroud Morris Dancers in Stroud, Gloucestershire, for example, wear white trousers and shirts with red and green sashes (the colours of Stroud) shown performing the Stick Dance, Sidmouth, England

Shown (left) are the Manley Morris Men dancing in the North West tradition.

Other teams, such as that dancing in front of the Old Neighbourhood Inn at Chalford Hill in Gloucestershire, are dressed in dark breeches and bowler hats. A variant of Cotswold Morris is Border Morris, associated with the Welsh border counties, which has sides of four, six, or eight men who darken their faces and wear ‘rags’ and dark trousers. Border Morris is danced more vigorously than Cotswold Morris and involves much clashing of sticks. Cotswold Morris is usually performed from May 1 to September, while Border Morris is traditionally performed in the winter months. Another form is North West Morris, in the North West of England, which is more of a processional dance with sides of at least nine men wearing clogs.

Merlin @ Stonehenge – Happy Saint Georges Day!
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

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Categories : funny, Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, UK Stone Circles

Stonehenge Down Under: Australians copy Neolithic rock structure to draw tourists

21 04 2010

A full-sized replica of Stonehenge will be built on a beach in western Australia after a small town gave the green light for construction in a bid to draw tourists.

The shire council in Esperance, 460 miles south-west of Perth, has approved plans for the A$1.2m (£722,749) project, which it hopes will generate much-needed tourist revenue for the small coastal community – its only attraction at the moment is small piece of the US Skylab which fell onto a nearby farm in 1979.

“Stonehenge Down Under” is being spearheaded by the local Rotary club, which wants to build the structure from local pink granite on a council-owned site overlooking Twilight Beach, just outside the town.

Kim Beale, a spokesman for the Esperance Rotary Club, said the Australian version would be a faithful reproduction of the original Neolithic structure in Wiltshire and will consist of 100 stones, each weighing up to 45 tons.

“Obviously some people may wonder why you’d build Stonehenge at Esperance, but the stone is already here and I think it’s a good opportunity. I reckon it’s quite fascinating,” he said.

Although local tourism operators have thrown their weight behind the prehistoric theme park, other townspeople remain sceptical – an earlier Stonehenge proposal ran into financial difficulties. Rotary, however, is confident that it can raise the necessary funds to complete the new project with giant cut stones donated by a local quarry. Work on Stonehenge Mk 2 is due to begin shortly.

MERLIN @ STONEHENGE
Stonehenge Stone Circle

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Beltane – May 1st 2020 – The beginning of Summer!

19 04 2010

On the cusp between spring and summer, Beltane is a fire festival that celebrates the fertility of the coming year.
The beginning of Summer – Summer is a comin in !

Beltane is a Celtic word which means ‘fires of Bel’ (Bel was a Celtic deity). It is a fire festival that celebrates of the coming of summer and the fertility of the coming year.

Celtic festivals often tied in with the needs of the community. In spring time, at the beginning of the farming calendar, everybody would be hoping for a fruitful year for their families and fields.

Maidens at Stonehenge

Beltane rituals would often include courting: for example, young men and women collecting blossoms in the woods and lighting fires in the evening. These rituals would often lead to matches and marriages, either immediately in the coming summer or autumn.

Other festivities involved fire which was thought to cleanse, purify and increase fertility. Cattle were often passed between two fires and the properties of the flame and the smoke were seen to ensure the fertility of the herd.

Today Pagans believe that at Beltane the God (to whom the Goddess gave birth at the Winter Solstice) achieves the strength and maturity to court and become lover to the Goddess. So although what happens in the fields has lost its significance for most Pagans today, the creation of fertility is still an important issue.

Emma Restall Orr, a modern day Druid, speaks of the ‘fertility of our personal creativity’. (Spirits of the Sacred Grove, pub. Thorsons, 1998, pg.110). She is referring to the need for active and creative lives. We need fertile minds for our work, our families and our interests.

Fire is still the most important element of most Beltane celebrations and there are many traditions associated with it. It is seen to have purifying qualities which cleanse and revitalise. People leap over the Beltane fire to bring good fortune, fertility (of mind, body and spirit) and happiness through the coming year.

Although Beltane is the most overtly sexual festival, Pagans rarely use sex in their rituals although rituals often imply sex and fertility. The tradition of dancing round the maypole contains sexual imagary and is still very popular with modern Pagans.

The largest Beltane celebrations in the UK are held in Edinburgh. Fires are lit at night and festivities carry on until dawn. All around the UK fires are lit and private celebrations are held amongst covens and groves (groups of Pagans) to mark the start of the summer.

Merlin @ Stonehenge
Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

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Categories : Solstice, Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, UK Stone Circles

Dramatic Sunsets at Stonehenge due to Volcanic ash

18 04 2010

Stonehenge is in line for some spectacular sunsets as the sun’s rays reflect off the volcanic particles, creating beautiful skies around Salisbury plain and Wiltshire.

Dramatic: Volcanic ash can bring out dramatic pinks and purples during sunset, as shown by the latest erupting volcano in Iceland

While yesterday’s eruption caused chaos for travellers, some scientists said there could be an unexpected upside to the phenomenon.

But there were further downsides as motorists were told to look out for a layer of ash on their cars from remnants of the explosion. There could also be colder temperatures as tiny particles of ash high in the atmosphere block out light from the sun.

Red sky at night: The sun sets over Heathrow Airport as an ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano grounded all flights
Forecaster Jonathan Powell said: ‘Long-term, the eruption could well have a long term affect on global weather patterns. Cloud particles, basically minuscule grains of crushed rock and glass, can remain in the atmosphere for many years.

‘The Mount Pinatubo eruption of 1991 went on to cool the global climate by just under half a degree, although that volcano was on a much larger scale.’

eather forecaster Brendan Jones from MeteoGroup, said: ‘If you look back in history there have been some periods where the weather has been changed by big volcanic eruptions like Mount Tambora and Mount St Helens.

‘They have been proved to lower temperatures. There is so much ash in the atmosphere that it reduces the amount of sunlight getting to the ground.’

‘If the ash remains in our atmosphere for weeks or months it can reduce temperatures slightly but we are talking about fractions of degrees.’

But while experts said the ash could irritate conditions such as asthma, it was not expected to cause major health problems.

Volcanologist Dr Dougal Jerram said: ‘The high altitude of this plume above the UK means that it is air traffic that will suffer most.’

More powerful eruptions can emit large amounts of poisonous sulphur dioxide that is much more hazardous to health.

Volcanic ash can also create the appearance of a blue moon, if the particles are the right size (experts say that means one millionth of a metre or a micron).

However, ash thrown up into the atmosphere usually contains a mixture of particles with a wide range of sizes, which tends to scatter blue light so a reddish moon is more likely.

Experts fear the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, which has sent this cloud of ash into the sky, could trigger a much larger explosion of nearby Mount Katla.

Katla is described as ‘enormously powerful’, and because it lies under a glacier its eruption would cause a huge glacial outburst flood and could spread its shadow over a much larger area.

The Mount Tambora eruption in 1816 caused such a drop in temperatures that it became known as ‘the year with no summer’.

Crops failed due to low daytime temperatures, late frosts and abnormally high rainfall, provoking food riots, famine and disease.

In Ireland, rain fell on 142 days that summer and across France the grape harvest was virtually non-existent.

In North America there was snow in June and lakes and rivers froze as far south as Pennsylvania during July and August. am passing through nature

Merlin @ Stonehenge
Stonehenge Stone Circle

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The word ‘HENGE’ – What does it mean ?

12 04 2010

Dictionary meaning:

Henge definition
henge (henj)
noun

a Neolithic or Bronze Age monument of the British Isles, consisting of a circular bank or ditch enclosing, variously, stone or timber uprights, burial pits, etc.

What is a ‘Henge’ monument

Stone Henge – What is one?

Definition:

A henge is the term given to a large prehistoric earthwork, usually but not always circular, whether of stones, wood, or earth.

This word, interestingly, is a back-formation from Stonehenge. Additionally some spell it stone henge or stonehedge even though that is incorrect. Stonehenge was the Saxon name for the famous monument on the Salisbury plain, and the “henge” part is Old English for “hang,” not earthwork. Nonetheless, the term henge is in wide use in both popular and scientific literature to refer to megalithic monuments of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.

Whether you are thinking stone henge or Stonehenge, both are basically Megaliths. Megaliths are single large stones, or a group of “standing stones” usually arranged in a circular or semi-circular formation, and that archaeologists believe were religious temples or monuments. The earliest sites are thought to date back to the millenia. The word, “megalith” itself has Greek origins: “mega” meaning “great” and “lithos” meaning “stone”. Certain megalith sites, and there are thousands of them all around the world, were also known burial sites. England seems to have the greatest concentration of megaliths that carry names like Avebury, the Hurlers, the Merry Maidens, and the Rollright Stones. The most famous of these is, of course, Stonehenge.

People do commonly mistake the words stone henge for Stonehenge and should learn the difference so they may find the correct information.

Comments:
Titchmarsh on Telly the other evening in a prog on English buildings started with Stonehenge.
The ‘expert’ stated that the ‘henge’ element of the name ‘stonehenge’ meant, or referred to, the ditch and embankment surrounding Stonehenge.
I have always believed that ‘henge’ meant ‘hanging; ‘thus ‘Stonehenge means ‘hanging stones.’
That is ‘hanging,’ not in the sense of gallows where people were hung but, meaning ‘stones that appear to be suspended.’

The original sense is a difficult one to call: henge is obviously related to hangan. It could mean that even in ASJ times, some of the stones were leaning over (they were straightened dramatically in th C20th), or might be related to ME henge in the sense of “hinge” — possibly referring to the mortise-and-tenon joints. There again, “stone gallows” is a good description — ASJ gallows were two posts and an crossbeam , and we know it *was* used as a cwealmstow.
“Henge” was subsequently appropriated by the archæology-Johnnies to mean a monument with a ditch and bank like Stonehenge — though ironically, Stonehenge itself is no longer deemed to be a “henge” because the ditch is inside the bank…

Merlin @ Stonehenge
Stonehenge Stone Circle

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Categories : Stonehenge, Stonehenge archaeological digs, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, UK Stone Circles

Druids reburial appeal rebuffed

12 04 2010

Druids have lost a bid to have an ancient skeleton which was unearthed in Wiltshire reburied at one of the county’s most famous stone age sites.

The Council of British Druid Orders told an official consultation that the body of a neolithic child, found in 1929, should be reinterred at Avebury.

The druids contend that the remains which are on display in the village need to be treated with more respect.

But English Heritage, which owns the site, says the bones should be on show.

They say the public interest in viewing the skeleton – which is about 3,700 years old – outweighs the druids’ arguments.

Cultural link

The druids say the remains of the child, known as Charlie, should be reinterred within Avebury’s stone circle out of respect for the dead.

The Order says it has taken up the case because it feels it has a cultural link with pagan ancestors in the British Isles.

It is not known if Charlie, who was about three years old, was a boy or girl.

The remains were found at Windmill Hill, near Avebury, by eminent archaeologist Alexander Keiller. They are currently housed at the Alexander Keiller Museum.

Merlin @ Stonehenge
Stonehenge Stone Circle

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Tags: bones, british museum, druids, ehglish heritage
Categories : Stonehenge, Stonehenge archaeological digs, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours

The Welsh blue chip ‘healing secrets’ of Stonehenge

28 03 2010

WHY transport more than 80 two- tonne megaliths over 156 miles of mountain, river and sea to build a stone circle at Stonehenge? It hasremained one of Britain’s most enduring mysteries. Some have claimed the iconic site on Salisbury Plain was an ancient observatory for lunar and solar events. Others claimed it was a burial site for the high-born while Arthurian legend has it Merlin transported the stones. But now a Welshman from Pembrokeshire, the place where many believe the stones originate, claims he has the answer. Professor Geoffrey Wainwright, an honorary fellow of Lampeter and Cardiff Universities, released findings yesterday to support a theory that Stonehenge was a “prehistoric Lourdes”. The findings suggesting its significance as a healing centre for pilgrims were made in a historic dig at the World Heritage Site earlier this year. The first excavation of Stonehenge for more than 40 years uncovered fragments of stone which experts believe could have been used as lucky charms. Professor Wainwright believes that Stonehenge was a centre of healing to which the sick and injured travelled from far and wide, to be healed “by the powers of the bluestones”. He noted during the dig that “an abnormal number” of the bodies found in tombs near Stonehenge displayed signs of serious physical injury and disease. And analysis of teeth recovered from graves show that around half of the corpses were from people who were not native to the Stonehenge area. Archaeology expert Professor Wainwright, chairman of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and Professor Tim Darvill of Bournemouth University, have been working together for years to find out why Stonehenge was built. English Heritage agreed to the dig on Salisbury Plain, the first since 1964, following consent by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The academics said they could now pinpoint the date at which the blue stones – which the archaeologists believe hold the key to Stonehenge – were brought to the site in Wiltshire from West Wales, as 2300BC, 300 years later than previously thought. The stones were once believed to have come from a crag in the Preseli Hills called Carn Menyn. But a newer theory is that they were brought from glacial deposits much nearer the site, which had been carried down from the northern side of the Preselis to southern England by the Irish Sea Glacier. The professors also told a press conference at the Society of Antiquaries in London that people remained interested in the magical, healing qualities of the stones for many hundreds of years after Stonehenge was built. Prof Darvill said: “It could have been a temple at the same time as it was a healing centre, just as Lourdes is a religious centre.” Prof Darvill suggested the blue stones, which have tiny white spots, could have acted in a similar way to the bones of saints. They argued that as thousands of pilgrims flocked to see them at Stonehenge the resulting wealth enabled an “elaborate shell” of more stone pillars to be built. Prof Wainwright said he was inspired to investigate the area in his native Pembrokeshire while watching a television programme about why Stonehenge was built. He said: “I thought the answer really had to be found in the place where the stones came from. That is in north Pembrokeshire, so Tim and I went and did a survey around the crag. “We found various reasons which led us to believe the stones were used as part of a belief in a healing process.” But he said they needed to study the Stonehenge site to find out when the bluestones arrived there and how long they were used. The radiocarbon dating of the original double bluestone circle held significance for the start of Stonehenge being used as a healing centre. The date – 2300BC – links the introduction of the bluestones with a time of great activity at the site, including the death of the Amesbury archer. His remains were discovered about five miles from Stonehenge and the professors believe he was a pilgrim hoping to benefit from the healing powers of the monument. Prof Wainwright said: “We now know, much to our surprise and delight, that Stonehenge was not just a prehistoric monument, it was a Roman and medi- aeval monument.” Were the huge stones transported all the way from West Wales? The stone pillars of Stonehenge are natural columns of white spotted dolerite and occur only in the Preseli Hills’ Carn Menyn area. They were first identified as of Welsh origin by Dr John HH Thomas in 1923. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a “band of brothers” found near Stonehenge and scientists have proved they were Welsh, suggesting it was people from Pembrokeshire who actually transported them. The skeletons, three adults, a teenager and three children, were found by workmen laying a pipe on Boscombe Down and chemical analysis of their teeth revealed they were brought up in the South West Wales area. Experts believed the family accompanied the stones on their epic journey from the Preseli Hills to Salisbury Plain. As an extension of the theory that Stonehenge was a healing centre, on digs around the country, archaeologists will now look for any evidence of bluestone being transported from Wales to other monuments. Professors Wainwright and Darvill also said they hope to return to the Preseli Hills next year to excavate part of a burial mound near the main bluestone outcrops. Prof Darvill said of the bluestones: “Their meaning and importance to prehistoric people was sufficiently powerful to warrant the investment of time, effort and resources to move the bluestones from the Preseli Hills of Wales to the Wessex downs.”#

Merlin @ Stonehenge
Stonehenge Stone Circle

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Spring Equinox at Avebury, one of Britain’s stone circles

27 03 2010

The sun is slowly sinking in a golden glow behind the stones of Avebury, the largest stone circle in Europe. The massive Swindon stone becomes a silhouette, its 60-tonne bulk solid and unmoved against the sky just as it has been since it was first placed here by Ancient Britons more than 4,000 years ago.

Mention stone circles, and most people think of Stonehenge and Druids. In fact, there are more than 1,000 stone circles in Britain, and none was built by Druids (the stones are far older than Druidism). Avebury Ring is the largest, some 14 times the size of Stonehenge, and a particular joy to visit. There are no tickets, no fences, no restrictions and no crowds. You – and the sheep – move freely around the prehistoric sites, taking your time, choosing your viewpoint and touching the stones at will.

We climb to the top of the ancient bank that surrounds the stones and look out over the landscape. We can see the mysterious Silbury Hill, Europe’s largest prehistoric, man-made mound that sits 40m high like a vast upturned pudding, visible for miles around. Then there’s the avenue of paired stones leading away into the distance. The route once linked Avebury to The Sanctuary, another Neolithic sacred site. Further away, towards an even earlier monument, we can spot the 5,500-year-old ancestral stone grave of West Kennet Long Barrow.

Prehistory and contemporary life intermingle. A road cuts through the site, but manages not to intrude too much even though the village of Avebury sits partly within the largest stone circle. The material for some of the 18th-century houses has been hacked from the circle’s sarsen stones.

The National Trust museum, which is housed in two barns, displays artefacts found on the site, as well as providing plenty of background information. The older of the two galleries, the Stables Museum, pays particular attention to how we know about the society that built and used Avebury – and just how little is certain. There are some intriguing objects, too, including one for the children: a chunk of Neolithic dog poo.

The newer Barn Gallery is much higher tech and generally more child-friendly, with interactive displays and activities, and an excellent world time-line showing that Avebury and Silbury Hill were built about the same time as the earliest Egyptian pyramid and long before King Tutankhamun.

From the museum, a few steps take you straight up into the circle. It is 1.3km round the largest ring, with 27 of the original 100 or so stones still standing. There are two smaller circles and a row of stones in the interior. None has been dressed (cut), as some have at Stonehenge. At Avebury the stones were simply selected, dragged to the site and positioned. Go for a stroll on Fyfield Down above Avebury and you’ll still find vast sarsen stones “in the wild”, just lying around in the grass.

What exactly Avebury, or any other stone circle, was built for remains uncertain. Some rings do have sight lines to astronomical phenomena, but as Aubrey Burl, an expert on stone circles remarks in his excellent introduction to the subject, Prehistoric Stone Circles: “The possibility of a ring being an observatory is a matter of conjecture, the presence of human cremations is not.”

The chances are the circles had a ritual use, perhaps some kind of ancestral cult. Certainly, walking up The Avenue towards the Avebury Circle it is easy to imagine a ritual procession. The Avenue is clearly designed to bring you glimpses of the circle before a triumphal arrival at its entrance. The circles may also have been meeting places, or were even used for trading purposes, and probably had different uses at different times.

Some modern visitors insist they feel special energies and spirituality at Avebury. I don’t know about that, but I do feel a tremendous sense of history – and it is a very beautiful place.

‘Prehistoric Stone Circles’ is published by Shire at £5.99. Avebury, near Marlborough, Wiltshire (01672 539250 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01672 539250 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; nationaltrust. org.uk; english-heritage.org. uk/avebury; stone pages.com /england/avebury. html). The museum is open November-March 10am-4pm, April-October 10am-6pm. Adults £4.20, children £2.10, English Heritage and National Trust members free. There is a car park on the A4361 south of Avebury, a café, and a shop selling ‘The Prehistoric Monuments of Avebury’, price £1.75

So solid crew

STONEHENGE

A World Heritage site, Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, is the most spectacular stone circle in Britain, with carefully crafted standing stones and unique horizontal lintels held in place by carved joints. The atmosphere is adversely affected by two main roads and the approach through a tunnel. Visitors are routed around the monument for a comprehensive view. Stone Circle Access visits (01722 343834 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01722 343834 end_of_the_skype_highlighting) can be arranged outside opening hours. (0870 3331181 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0870 3331181 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; english-heritage.org.uk/ stonehenge). The new ‘Stonehenge Guidebook’ by Julian Richards costs £4.99.

CASTLERIGG

This is a large and highly atmospheric site on the top of a Cumbrian fell, near Keswick, with stunning views of surrounding hills. An early circle – probably built in 3,200-3,000BC – it has significant astronomical alignments in its 30m-diameter ring of 38 stones and its unique 10-stone rectangle. (english-heritage. org.uk; visitcumbria.com/kes/ casstone.htm).

STANTON DREW

There are two main circles at this site near Bristol, one 113m across, the other 30m. There are also single stones that were perhaps once part of an avenue. (english-heritage. org. uk/ stantondrew; easyweb. easy net. co.uk/ ~aburnham/eng/ stant1.htm).

RING OF BRODGAR

Part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, the largest stone circle in Scotland, near Stromness (pictured), is set in a ritual landscape of other standing stones and Bronze Age round barrows. They stand, unusually, in a true circle. Historic Scotland World Heritage Site Ranger Service (01856 841732 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01856 841732 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; orkneyrangers@scotland.gov.uk; easyweb.easy net.co.uk/ ~aburnham/scot/brog.htm)

OTHER STONE CIRCLES

There are hundreds of other circles that can be visited, from the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire to Callanish on the Isle of Lewis, as well as many lesser-known ones. Standing stones may be found almost anywhere in Britain, other than in the east.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Go to megalithic.co.uk for maps and information. ‘A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany’ by Aubrey Burl includes map references and directions. It is published by Yale University Press and costs £8.95.

Merlin @ Avebury Stone Circle
Stonehenge Stone Circle