(Stonehenge, UK)
After the nice, relaxed stop in Bath we drove southeast to Stonehenge. This is a place I’d wanted to visit for a long time, one of those places that feel like a milestone to see in person. So needless to say, I was super excited when the shuttle bus pulled up to the stone monument.
The stones at Stonehenge were raised about 4,500 years ago by sophisticated prehistoric people, many believe the Druids. Stonehenge is an ancient temple that is aligned to the movement of the sun. The site itself was considered sacred way before Stonehenge was built (as evidenced by postholes dating to around 8000 B.C.) and probably sits on an earth ley line. When you visit, you pass by several other prehistoric features such as barrows, some of which predate and postdate the era of Stonehenge (3000 to 2200 B.C.). A barrow is an ancient burial mound and these little hills that dot the landscape around Stonehenge are everywhere.
What makes Stonehenge so special is that the inner and outer stones line up perfectly during specific times of the year with the rising sun, mainly the winter and summer solstices. To have created a temple with these precise measurements would have required sophisticated calculations and engineering skills. The smaller center stones are called bluestones and are of a type of stone only found in the Preseli Hills region of Wales which is 140 miles (225 kilometers) away. This area is also a historic and sacred place going back to King Arthur lore. How these ancient builders were able to bring large stones weighing up to 4 tons each that great a distance still remains a mystery. Just as impressive are the much larger sarsen stones that make up the outer ring. These are very heavy (20 to 30 tons on average) and were also brought in from a number of miles away.
The inner “bluestones” used at Stonehenge, are called Preseli Bluestones, and is known for its blueish color with white flecks. These features are distinctive in that the white flecks are created when magma cools down quickly. Another feature that is special to the inner circle bluestones are that they “ring like a bell” when struck by force. This may no doubt be the reason why they were specifically chosen for this temple. No one really knows what Stonehenge was used for but some have put forward theories ranging from a temple dedicated to good harvests with the energy in the area being really good for crop seeds, to a sacrificial ground, to a stargate or portal leading to another realm. We may never know the true story. The brochure you get when you visit the site only adds to the mystery as there is hardly any information included.
I don’t know what I was expecting but upon first seeing Stonehenge, it looked a lot smaller than I had imagined. As I walked up towards the stones, near the Heel Stone with a crow standing on top, I got a really strong feeling that there was someone walking behind me at my left shoulder only to find there was nobody there. This made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck so I decided to stay close to Grant. I do believe this is place is well worth the visit if you happen to have some time during your visit to London or this part of England.
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