The Ham Nomads

9 Sep 2014. <GB-ENG> Salisbury Plain (Stonehenge), & Amesbury, Wilts —

Okay, today is one of the highlights of our trip — we're going to one of the most recognised places in the world — Stonehenge. We've visited quite a few neolithic sites, but this one resonates on so many levels.

We got there by 9am, only to find nothing doing until 9.30am. (A little story about this further on, but not quite yet.) Once the ticket office opened up, we were allowed through. The site is now so protected that the visitor centre is a couple of miles from the actual stones, and they run shuttles to take you to the main site — or you can walk. We were lazy, we took the shuttle!

Stonehenge is everything you've heard about, and more. Long barrows were being built in the landscape about 3,500BC, but Stonehenge itself started with a simple ditch henge constructed about 3,000BC, with a ring within the ditch of 56 either timber posts or smallish standing stones of bluestone (detected from the pits left, called Aubrey Holes).

The stone circle that we all recognise was built in about 2,500BC, round about the same time as the Great Pyramid at Giza. The difference between Stonehenge and the Avesbury complex we visited yesterday is that the stones of Stonehenge have been worked significantly — they have been squared off, and there are mortise and tenon joints (usually seen in woodworking) between the standing stones and the lintels placed across them — altogether a quantum leap in engineering, and probably the main reason that most of the site remains standing to this day, some 4½ millennia later! These neolithic builders were in no way a 'primitive' people!

As we've been communing with various of the literati, perhaps a couple of quotes are in order. Thomas Hardy said of Stonehenge, "A very temple of the winds" (1891), and William Wordsworth said "Pile of Stone-henge! So proud to hint yet keep thy secrets..." (1794)

We hinted earlier at a little story. We had tried to book in for inner circle access, available to English Heritage members at sunrise, but unfortunately, while we were booking it, someone else was booking too, and we missed out by a matter of seconds. Anyway, Warren was chatting with Simon, one of the guides at the site, and was told that, for the autumn equinox, the inner circle is open to all comers. This is the morning of September 23, and we weren't planning to be too far away, so we will return here — with probably about 400 other people — to get a lot closer to the stones!

By the way, there's a lot of excitement amongst the guides around here. There is a paper being presented at the University of Birmingham tonight, detailing the results of some significant archaeological research at Stonehenge. The guides have had the paper presented to them about a week ago, and they are champing at the bit to tell people of the new information. The embargo will be lifted at 1.00am tomorrow, so we are hoping the Times will be reporting the paper's contents!

We spent a few hours here, then went off towards Oxford. On the way, however, we had to pass through Amesbury, and this is the site of a couple more of the Stonehenge-related sites, namely the Woodhenge, and the henge of Durrington Walls. The former, constructed about 2,500BC, was only found through aerial photography in 1925 from the pits remaining after the timbers disappeared. After full archaeological examination, the positions of the posts have been marked by concrete markers of the appropriate diameters. The whole site is difficult to imagine, but is important as it is roughly contemporaneous with Stonehenge. As for Durrington Walls, this is presumed to be the domicile of the builders of Stonehenge, although there is little to see of this today.

Woodhenge

Anyway, we spent time here as well, before setting our compass towards Oxford. There's plenty we can do there, even if it is only to drink in all the pubs that Inspector Morse drank in! — Hold it, that's a mammoth task!

Distance driven — today, 51 miles ( 82 km ); to date, 7,345 miles ( 11,821 km )