I had been looking forward to visiting this site for years and as it turned out I had my chance in the spring of 2022. It was a bucket list item for me, and it did not disappoint.

Our driver took us to Woodhenge which is about 2 miles from Stonehenge. We stopped but it was raining so hard that we couldn’t even get out of the van. So on to Stonehenge we went, and while the sky still had a “spring shower at any moment” look to it, the rain ended and we were able to thoroughly investigate the visitor center, its surroundings and the ancient stone monument itself.

Located a couple of miles west of the town of Amesbury on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England lies the prehistoric monument Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is a World Heritage site that receives over one million visitors annually. In 1997 the stones were roped off due to the excessive wear and erosion that people were causing. Up until that time people were allowed to walk amongst and even climb on the stones. Today the ropes only come down a couple of times a year allowing visitors full access.

The earliest construction dates back 5000 years ago (3000 BC) to the period of prehistory known as the Neolithic or New Stone Age. At that time there were only smaller stones and possibly standing wooden posts located on the site but the main focus was the circular earthwork banks and ditches which were carved out to expose the white chalk underneath. A drastic departure from what remains today.

The large sarsen stones, which get most of the attention today, were brought from north Wiltshire while the smaller bluestones came from west Wales but they were not placed on the site until some 500 –  700 years later. At that point in time (2400 BC) a period of 800 years of construction and alteration took place. Stones were added and rearranged. This lasted into the Bronze Age when the first metal tools and weapons were being made.

Without a doubt Stonehenge was the greatest temple in all of Britain at that time. We know it served as a calendar of sorts focused on the Sun’s movement and marking the passage of the seasons annually. These dates would have been of great importance to people at the time especially the summer and winter solstices marking the longest and shortest days of the year respectively. Additionally, it’s believed to have been a deeply spiritual site used for rituals, ceremonies and festivals. The cremated remains of some 50,000 human bones that date back all the way to 3000 BC have been excavated at Stonehenge leading some to think it was used as a burial ground especially in the beginning but it’s not known if that was it’s primary purpose.

Archeologists have studied the site and surrounding area which is rich in prehistoric remains including small farmsteads, boundary ditches and trackways as well as burial mounds (barrows), elongated earthwork enclosures (cursus monuments) and Bronze Age round burial mounds. These communal earthworks litter the surrounding hills and valleys.

With all the information scientist and archaeologists have been able to amass regarding Stonehenge, and there’s quite a bit, it’s still not known precisely why Stonehenge was built. Why go to all the  trouble to bring the stones from so far away. It must have been a massive back breaking task to move the stones without the aid of machines. Why this site? It must have been important. Is it possible this site is a far older site and it just made sense to add the stones?

Maybe it was the closest thing prehistoric man could construct to what we’d call a shrine or cathedral today?  Since there was no written language at the time of its construction we may never know. Whatever the reason Stonehenge is with out a doubt a place of great importance not only to those who built it but for all of those who came after as well. Tourists continue to flock to the site to this day, marvel at the massive stones and ask the age-old question, why?

I put together some still shots and video clips of my visit to Stonehenge which you can watch below.

Clear skies,

Scott