Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Stonehenge !!

This could be interesting when the contributors decide they would like their lump of rock back

Of course it could have been a glacial erratic ... the ice came down as far as the midlands and Wales .... I think you'll find there were several layers of people inhabiting present day Scotland in the 2000 years between Stonehenge being built and when the Scots rocked up ! 🙂



K

I remember many years ago working at the Motherwell Bridge and Engineering Company where at the time there was a large erratic on the site with an inscription that informed the reader that it had been transported to Central Scotland from Norway during the ice age....

Unfortunately like many many heavy industries MB&E was closed down, the works demolished and a housing estate was built on the site, whether the erratic is still there or not I have no idea..

The henge is a decent enough trip. We walk there from where we stay, six miles away, and the security people are not fussed. There's a bridleway running right through the site so they can't cut off that access. They prefer visitors to park a mile or so away and get the bus down, but it's expensive. Apparently the charges are for stone maintenance.

Avebury is more impressive.

Dave ... have to agree regarding Avebury .... Stonehenge is far to crowded and organised to have any 'feel' left .... Avebury has atmosphere in spade-fulls ... especially if you hit it at the right time and have it pretty much to yourself (and it's nature means it can absorb a few folk without feeling like disneyworld)

Rich ... it is intriguing that they sourced parts of the henge from places far away ... and at a time when transporting anything wasn't a trivial undertaking (let alone a bloody great stone) ... wasn't done for nothing, or on a whim ... but I guess we'll never know why for sure, just theories hatched from millenia later and a cultural world away.

K

K I will admit that Stonehenge and Avebury leave me cold being the total Philistine, Skara Brae on Orkney and Jarlshof on Shetland were whole new interesting visits for me.though, I bloody loved them.

Callanish on Lewis did little for me though.

Rich ..... you respond more to the 'lived in' places than the 'ceremonial' then from the sound of it ... Jarlshof I have been to ... impressive, as you say ... and I am a big fan of the Brochs that sprinkle the Northern Isles and Caithness.

Never been to Orkney for longer than a few hours ferry stopover on my way to Shetland (though have it penciled in as a Morgan road trip for sometime soon 🙂)... was always focused on the music, drinking and general carrousing associated with the wonderful Shetland Folk Festival ... was a 'must do' for years til a hand injury put paid to my music making.

In this NE corner we have the vast majority of the unusual lunar-aligned recumbent stone circles (I think there may be one or two in SW Ireland) ... much more human-scaled and associated with a local tribe, village or group of families ... many are rarely visited and are very personal and atmospheric places to sit and listen to the wind blow down the ages

K

Maybe we should charge them for storing it.

Sorry to hear about the hand damage K.

You have made me think differently about the stone circles and I may even get out the car at Salisbury next time with my twig in hand to feel the vibe.
I agree on the fact about the various parts of the country that bought their stones (or were robbed of) when you consider the logistics of the day, I hope it is the former.

I know zilch about these things, would the rocks been of value in those times I wonder ?

p.s. Pleased to hear they are not going ahead with the tunnel, it would have meant the Grockles getting here sooner in vaster numbers

Having commuted daily in the past for 11+ years, it's a shame the tunnel is cancelled, my 40 minute journey was regularly turned to 3+ hrs.

As for the experts identifying where the stones come from, give it 15 years and there'll be another theory.

I have my own theory, that it simply was a big hut and the roof material simply rotted away with time