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Britain contains some of the finest examples of stone circles and standing stones in existence. Although referred to as circles and rings, most sites are not circular at all, but are flattened circles, ellipsical, and sometimes-even egg shaped. The problem with the study of the megalithic period is not the physical evidence, stone circles, burial mounds and remains of round houses abound. Instead, the problem faced by historians and archaeologists is the lack of written evidence about the culture of the time. Megalithic man may have been extremely cleaver at construction methods; and indeed mathematics, but he appears not to have been literate and therefore never recorded anything of his cultural heritage. Many have studied the circles and there are many arguments about their purpose. What has become clear however is that these circles and rings are works of great mathematical genius, most can be used to calculate the time of year, phase of the moon and some can even be used to calculate solar eclipses. The vast majority of megalithic sites and artefacts can be found on the western side of England and throughout the whole of Wales and eastern Scotland. This is not to say that people of other parts of the country did not build circles. The areas where megaliths survive today have good sources of rock so this was used in construction, whereas people in the other areas used wood, Sea Henge being good evidence of this practice.
Alfred Watkins first described Leylines in his 1920s book on the subject. His definition runs something line this..."an alignment of ancient sites marking the position of traders' tracks", however much conjecture has continued about their true purpose. Some see them as attempt to define energy lines of the earth, paths taken by fairies... Whatever their purpose, there are some striking alignments of stone circles, standing stones and other sacred sites within the British Isles. One such alignment called The St.Michael Alignment, starts at Carn Lês Boel in Cornwall and stretches all the way to St.Margaret's Church, Hopton (East Anglia). This alignment passes through 15 sacred sites, including Glastonbury and Avebury, and is aligned to the direction of the rising sun on May 1st.
Suggested further reading is in the books section.
Stonehenge, pictured in the 1970's when you were allowed to walk between the
stones.
View of the heel stone.
Detail of carvings of an axe and some swords on one of the stones.
Long Meg herself.
Some of the daughters.
More of the daughters.
Castlerigg stone circle.
Another picture of Castlerigg.
Avebury is probably the largest stone circle in Europe. Unfortunately much of the circle was destroyed by a few local inhabitants for building material, and by Christian fundamentalists attempting to stamp-out lingering Pagan beliefs in the 12 century. Fortunately for the rest of us, Alexander Keiller began restoration of the felled stones in 1937.
North-West sector of Avebury, looking north.
Swindon stone.
Local legend has it that the Swindon stone gets up and crosses the road at
midnight to look for its colleagues that were destroyed in the 12th century.
Barber-Surgeon stone.
This stone is so-called, because a skeleton of a medieval barber-surgeon was
found crushed beneath this stone when the circle was being re-constructed in
1938. He was probably being paid to help destroy the stones, but was crushed by
the stone instead. His misfortune did not end there... His remains were removed
to the Royal College of Surgeon in London, and destroyed by a bomb in WWII.
Silbury Hill is the largest man-made mound in Europe, and standing at 39.5M (130ft) high, it is similar in size to some of the smaller Egyptian pyramids. The hill was first investigated in 1776 by the Duke of Northumberland, who hired a team of Cornish tin miners to dig a shaft from the top to ground level. The Archaeological Institute later expanded this shaft in 1849, but despite expecting to find a burial chamber, they found nothing other than chalk and soil.
Silbury Hill
