Guide to England
Must See England
- Brighton Royal Pavilion
- Canterbury Cathedral
- Durham
- Highgate Cemetery
- Isles of Scilly
- Lake District
- New Forest
- Northumberland
- Oxford
- Richmond Castle
- Roman Baths Museum
- Shakespeare's Globe
- Shropshire
- Stonehenge
- Tate Modern
- The Cotswolds
- Westminster Abbey
- Yorkshire Dales National Park
Places in England
In association with:
It's the most famous site in prehistoric Europe, and is both a tantalising mystery and a hackneyed tourist experience: tantalising because no one knows why the stones were dragged up from South Wales 5000 years ago; hackneyed because tourists are processed through Stonehenge like cans on a conveyor belt.
It consists of a ring of enormous stones topped by lintels, an inner horseshoe, an outer circle and a ditch. Although it is known that the Henge is aligned to the movements of the celestial bodies, little is known about the site's purpose. What leaves most visitors gobsmacked is not the site's religious significance but the tenacity of the people who dragged the stones. It's estimated that it would take 600 people to drag one of these 50-ton monsters more than half an inch. The downside of Stonehenge is that it's fenced off like a dog compound; there are two main roads slicing past the site; entry is via an incongruous underpass; and clashes between New Age hippies and police at summer solstice have become a regular feature of the British calendar. Each year New Age Druids celebrate the summer solstice, but closer access at other times is strictly limited.
Details
- tel
- 01980 624 715 (info)
- Web
- http://www.english-heritage.org.uk
Tags
- must-see, monument, folklore/occult