Stonehenge

We drove to Stonehenge from Oxford on the way to Bathhampton. Stonehenge is in Wiltshire, eight miles north of Salisbury.

The first monument at Stonehenge was first built about 5,000 years ago. This was the site where pre-historic people buried their cremated dead. In about 2,500 BC, the stones were set up in the centre of the monument. Two types of stones are used - the larger Sarsens and the smaller Bluestones. The Sarsens were erected in two concentric arrangements - an inner horseshoe and an outer circle - and the Bluestones were set up between them in double arc.

It is mind boggling to think just how the pre-historic people moved such huge monoliths and erected them as they are. The Sarsen stones each weighing around 20-30 tons were quarried from a place 20 miles south of Stonehenge. The Bluestones each around 4 tons were sourced from a mountain in Wales. The Bluestones were thought to have been transported along the coast of Wales by sea and then overland to Stonehenge. Quarrying, transporting and erection of these monoliths, all by sheer human power!

                                                                                 Photo: Courtesy from website.