STONEHENGE FACTS
Stonehenge is Britain's most important ancient monument and has been recognised as such throughout history. It's certainly one of the UK's most important tourist destinations and attracts about 900,000 visitors every year (*1) generating about 6.3 million pounds in direct revenue and as much as 22 million pounds in direct economic impact. And ... people have been coming to Stonehenge for a very long time. |
There is some evidence to suggest that it was visited by Romans stationed in the region and the burial of a Saxon man on the site confirms that it was seen as a place of religious importance during both the dark and middle ages. The earliest known written reference appears in 937 AD with regard to a land deed from King Athelstan to Wilton Abbey which refers to 'Stanheyeg' . It next appears seventy years after the Norman Invasion. Archdeacon Henry of Huntingdon referred to it at 'Stanenges' and recorded in his book 'Historia Anglorum', "No one can conceive how such great stones have been so raised aloft, or why they were built here". Henry Almost 1,000 years later historians, archaeologists and mathematicians are still working on the same puzzle.
OPEN TOMB & REAR OF BELLAS KNAP
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OPEN TOMB & REAR OF BELLAS KNAP
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There is some evidence to suggest that it was visited by Romans stationed in the region and the burial of a Saxon man on the site confirms that it was seen as a place of religious importance during both the dark and middle ages. The earliest known written reference appears in 937 AD with regard to a land deed from King Athelstan to Wilton Abbey which refers to 'Stanheyeg' . It next appears seventy years after the Norman Invasion. Archdeacon Henry of Huntingdon referred to it at 'Stanenges' and recorded in his book 'Historia Anglorum', "No one can conceive how such great stones have been so raised aloft, or why they were built here". Henry Almost 1,000 years later historians, archaeologists and mathematicians are still working on the same puzzle.
| KEY DATES & DEVELOPMENT PHASES OF STONEHENGE |
- Stonehenge is approximately 5,000 years old
- Current thinking places the start of Stonehenge in 2950 BC
- The site, as it is today, was completed by approximately 1,600BC
- Construction work on the site lasted (on and off) for 1,400 years
- The Bluestones were first erected in 2,300 BC
- The Sarsen Stones were erected in 2400 BC
- Stonehenge was built in three phases
(but not everyone agrees on the either the dates or the number of phases)
- Period I - (c. 2950-2900 BC)
- Period II - (c. 2900-2400 BC)
- Period III - (c. 2550-1600 BC)
- Sub-phase One:
- Sub-phase Two:
- Sub-phase Three:
- Sub-phase Four:
- Sub-phase Five:
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2,550 - 2,600 BC
2,600 - 2,400 BC
2,400 - 2,280 BC
2,280 - 1,930 BC
1,930 - 1,600 BC |
| THE TOP TEN STONEHENGE MYSTERIES |
- Who (really) built it?
- Why was it built?
- How were the giant Bluestones moved from Wales to Stonehenge?
- How were the giant Sarsen stones, each weighing more than 25 tons, moved from over twenty miles away.
- How was it built?
- Why did the builders feel that they needed ball and socket joints on the Sarsen Stones?
- Does it really have complex solar and celestial alignments?
- How can Neolithic people have known about such complex geometry?
- Why is there a disproportionately large number of crop circles discovered in the region?
- Why did it fall into decline?
Please feel free to email us with new specific mysteries to add to our list
| STONEHENGE MYTHS AND LEGENDS |
- Another name for Stonehenge is "The Giant's Dance' and the stones were once thought to be have been placed there by Devil
- The stone circle was created by the magician Merlin who used his powers to move the enormous stones from Ireland, where giants had cut them from the earth.
- Stonehenge was built by the Druids - Attributed to a passing comment by John Aubrey circa 1664 AD
- Stonehenge is the site where King Arthur - Uther Pendragon - is buried (Geoffrey of Monmouth)
- It was a monument built by King Aurelius to commemorate the warriors killed by the Saxon invader Hengist. (Stones of Hengest)
- The Film Stonehenge Apocalypse suggests that there is an ancient terra-forming machine buried under the site.
| THEORIES ABOUT WHY STONE HENGE WAS BUILT |
Mainstream
- It's was a place of religious worship
- It was a place for human sacrifice
- The Druids built it (proven wrong)
- It was a Roman Temple (proven wrong)
- It was a place of ancestor worship / communication
- It's was / is an celestial observatory
- It was / is the equivalent of an ancient computer that could be used to make solar, seasonal and celestial predictions
- It was a crematorium and burial centre (an ancient necropolis)
OPEN TOMB & REAR OF BELLAS KNAP
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OPEN TOMB & REAR OF BELLAS KNAP
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Innovative
- It was / is related to crop circles
- It was a centre of faith healing
- It was meant to be a very large hut-style building (A king's hall)
- It was meant to be a very large 'barrow' burial mound
- It's a crude copy of early Egyptian temples
Off the Wall
- It was / is a centre of sacred energy
- It's was built as massive fertility symbol in the shape of a woman's genitals
- It was built by the lost civilisation of Atlantis as part of a global alignment programme
- Britain was actually Atlantis - the missing bit is under the English channel in what used to be Doggerland. (Fact: This land bridge used to exist and was flooded in 6,500 BC)
- It's the remains of a 'stargate' to another world
- It was built by aliens as a riddle for humanity (very popular theory - top on Google)
- It is the centre of all Ley Lines
- It was a radio beacon
It's easy to just dismiss some of the more radical theories about Stonehenge as the ravings of the lunatic fringe but this would be a mistake. Some of these authors, of varying pedigrees, have carefully studied the site and identified numerous aspects that should at least make people review what they think they know. Particularly works that explore the extraordinary geometry of Stonehenge and its surrounding areas do tend to raise some very interesting and difficult questions.
| More pages about Stonehenge coming soon! |
*1: English Heritage 2011
Useful Information |
