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Stonehenge is a mysterious, awe inspiring monument about four
miles from Amesbury. The Wiltshire countryside is steeped
in history, and Stonehenge is the most important and enigmatic
of all the stone age sites in England.
What's the history here?
Stonehenge is a World Heritage Site. It's fame has spread
far and wide but no-one really knows why it was built and
what it was originally used for. Archaeologists have pieced
together the chronology of its construction but there are
many myths and legends which try to explain its presence and
the nature of the people who built it. Some say it was an
ancient burial ground or a holy temple. Others have suggested
it was an astronomical observatory or even an alien landing
pad. It has been suggested that Stonehenge was the work of
a stone age order of Druids, and modern day Druids
enjoyed an association with the monument for much of the 20th
century.
The site as we see it today was built over the course of
several millennia. The very first structure on the site was
little more than an earthwork, but in about 2150 BC more than
60 enormous Bluestones, weighing up to 4 tonnes each, were
transported to the site from the Preseli Mountains
in Wales, almost 240 miles away. By the standards of the time
this was a real feat of engineering. 150 years later more
stones were added to the circle, this time originating from
the Marlborough Downs just 20 miles away. The largest of the
Sarsen stones weighed 50 tonnes and would have taken 500 men
to shift it, using ropes and rollers.
No one really knows when the Ancient Order of Druids
began holding summer solstice ceremonials at Stonehenge, but
at the beginning of the 20th century the Order, which boasted
Winston Churchill as a member, was becoming increasingly popular.
The ceremony was always a lively festival which attracted
a large crowd of spectators. In the 1960s, the Summer Solstice
Festival at Stonehenge had become popular with young people
and hippies. The authorities feared for the conservation of
the monument and when the English Heritage was granted
control of Stonehenge in 1984, it promptly banned the Druids
and festival-goers, invoking fierce battles with the police
at the summer solstice each year.
What's there to see & do?
At the turn of the decade, for the first time since the mid
80s, the public was allowed into Stonehenge on the night of
the summer solstice. You can visit the site during the day
at any other time of year, but security is always tight to
preserve stonehenge for future generations.
Not far from Stonehenge there's a number of other ancient
monuments which are worth visiting while you're in Wiltshire.
including Woodhenge, Glastonbury Tor and the White
Horse (chalk drawing on a hill).
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