Places of magic, ancient astronomy or sites of pagan
worship, stone circles are monuments to the Neolithic or post-Neolithic people
who built them. The most famous of these architectural mysteries is Stonehenge.
These amazing feats of engineering exist
in many places in the world although England seems to contain the majority of
the structures. Archeologists don’t know why the circles were built but they
have made guesses as to the means of transporting the massive blocks of stone. The
builders might have used barges to transport the pieces from the quarries or
taken advantage of pieces left behind after glaciers retreated from the areas.
When rivers where not available, the stone pieces might have been placed on
large logs and rolled from one to another.
A stone circle played a pivotal role in Diana Gabaldon’s
Outlander series. The main character, Claire Beauchamp-Randall steps through a
stone circle while on vacation with her husband, Frank, in Scotland after the
end of World War II. She then meets Jamie Fraser, a Jacobite Highlander. Ms.
Gabaldon has stated she didn’t use any specific circle as a model in her books.
Castlerigg Stone Circle is 1 ½ miles east of Keswick in
the Lake District was most likely constructed sometime in 1500 BC. Locally, it
it known as the Druid’s Circle or Keswick Carles and is surrounded by beautiful
mountains. The 38 individual blocks make up an oval 100 feet to 110 feet in
diameter. Further, there are ten additional stones in a rectangle at the
south-east end.
Stanton Drew Circles and Cove is found east of Stanton
Drew village. The circle is actually made up of three separate circles probably
going back to the Bronze Age. The biggest circle consists of 27 standing
stones; the other two have 8 and 12. Locals refer the the three circles as the
‘The Devil’s Wedding’ after a legend that tells of a wedding party held on the
Sabbath to piping by the Devil himself. Each member was supposedly turned to
stone and frozen in the spot they danced, where they remain to this day.
The biggest stone circle is Avebury, near the village of
Avebury in Wiltshire. The henge was built sometime around 2000 BC. and consists
of a circular bank, ditch and three stone circles. The main circle has 98 slabs
and the two smaller ones originally had 30, although some have been broken over
the years. The ditch was 30 feet deep and the bank 20 feet high and 1400 feet
in diameter. A rather impressive place, indeed.
The most famous place is Stonehenge, located on the
Salisbury Plain, west of Amesbury. As with Avebury, Stonehenge is a combination
of stones and ditches. It is now fenced off to prevent damage by curious
tourists. The massive bluestone and sandstone blocks were probably first carved
from a quarry in the Bronze Age 2500 BC. in a series of five stages through 1500
BC. The biggest of the stones weigh about 45 tons.
No matter where you travel to see these ancient wonders, one
has to agree they are marvels and places of magic.
for further reading, see:
England’s Undiscovered Heritage: A Guide to 100 Unusual
Sites and Monuments
by Debra Shiply and Mary Peplow
1988 Henry Holt & Co
ISBN # 0-8050-0716-4
Treasures of Britain: a traveller’s guide to the riches
of Britain and Ireland
Drive Publications Limited
1968 Automobile Association, 4th edition
http://www.stonepages.com/home.html
http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/
Stay safe out there!
Very interesting information, Diana, thanks. You are very knowledgeable. How did you become interested in this topic?
ReplyDeleteI'm English by birth and started reading medieval history as part of my research for my fiction and genealogy. Thanks for checking my blog!
DeleteThis is a very interesting topic, Diana. Not your usual run-of-the-mill blog topic and extremely interesting. Good job!
ReplyDeleteJackie,
DeleteThanks for reading my blog.
I agree, Diana, with Dave and Jackie, very interesting post! Enjoyed very much. I've only been in England once, and the trip was short, but did go on a tour that took us to Stonehendge--it was awesome (even with all the tourist around!
ReplyDelete