Stonehenge & stone circles
Stone circles are ancient mystical monuments. Not always circular, they can be made up of as little as 4 stones laid on an arc of a circle. The number of stones can vary between 4 and 60, from just a few meters in diameter to up to 400m like we see at Avebury.
The earliest examples date back 50,000 years to Neolithic times, but their exact purpose is still unknown. Some contain burial chambers and can be identified as servicing funeral purposes, but for the vast majority, how or what they where used for is steeped in mystery.
Archaeological evidence, coupled with information from astronomy, geology and mathematics, suggests that the purpose of stone circles was connected with prehistoric peoples' beliefs. Often oriented on sight lines for the rising or setting sun or moon at certain times of the year, it seems likely the cycle of seasons was very important to the people of the time.
However, the precise function of stone circles will always be open to debate. For many who visit them, megalithic (simply meaning "big stone") monuments hold a deep spiritual significance and it’s true that, no matter what your beliefs, when visiting them you feel a certain sense of awe and power.
One visitor commented: “Nothing quite describes that feeling when I was driving across the Wiltshire plains, I came over the brow of the hill and suddenly, far off in the distance, there it was; Stonehenge. Almost floating in a sea of green there it was; this humbling structure that has endure 50 millennia – now if that doesn’t touch your soul, nothing will”
There are literally thousands of megalithic monuments in Britain which is home to an unusually high concentration of stone circles compared to the rest of the world. Britain is where you’ll find some of the most unique and ambition designs, not least the most famous megalithic monument in the world, Stonehenge, and Europe’s largest stone circle at Avebury.
The French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Mohan commented in his book Le Monde des Megalithes:
‘British Isles megalithism is outstanding in the abundance of standing stones, and the variety of circular architectural complexes of which they formed a part...strikingly original, they have no equivalent elsewhere in Europe.’
Read more about Stonehenge.
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