Stonehenge... and more henges... and more stones

It is funny that, as many time as my parents have visited to UK, they have never visit the Stonehenge. They certainly know about 'those' stones. Since even my much-less-well-travelled brother visited those stones earlier this year, they decide it is a must-see for this trip.

The Stonehenge is probably one of the most recognise piles of stone in Britain, and possibly in Europe. Archaeologists have agreed that Stonehenge was built in four distinct phases, with the first phase began at around 3200BC. This is what I call antiquity!

A lot of people have heard about the Stonehenge, and it has become a very touristy spot, with a big carpark opposite the road and layers of fences around it.

But little do they know that there is a Woodhenge not far from the Stonehenge.


(Source: http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/img_fullsize/16119.jpg)

Woodhenge is supposed to be much older than Stonehenge. The monument consisted of concentric rings of tall wooden posts over a circle with a diameter of 520 meters. It is approximately aligned to the Midsummer sunrise and it must have been an impressive sight! The wooden posts have long since disappeared and rings of concrete markers now mark where the posts would have originally stood.

In addition to the Woodhenge, the Avebury Henge and Stone Circle at the Avebury village is also worth seeing. It is four times the size of the site at Stonehenge and it certainly has more stones to it!


(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avebury_stone_circle)

The main feature at Avebury is a huge stone circle (the Outer Circle), which is some 421 meters in diameter. Surrounding the Outer Circle is a ditch and bank which is close to a mile in circumference forming a henge. Within the Outer Circle are two Inner Circles, Northern and Southern.

Unfortunately, only 27 stones of the Outer Circle are 'original' and even then, many of these are re-erected in the 1930s. Most of the damage to the site has been done within the last 500 years. During the early Middle Ages, the church attempted to purge the area of pagan beliefs by persuading locals to pull down the 'devil's work' and bury the stones. This practice came to an abrupt halt when one of the stones toppled over killing a barber surgeon. His skeleton was discovered under one of the stones on the southern side of the main circle when stones were being re-erected earlier this century. More destruction came during the 18th century when local farmers took to toppling and breaking up the stones to make way for agricultural land and to use the stones as building material for the village of Avebury and local farm buildings. It's a shame but I guess that's just part of the history.