Stonehenge
- Visit England's Oldest & Most Mysterious Landmark...
Any
holiday or short trip to Wiltshire
must include Stonehenge. It’s one of the most ancient
landmarks of England and
it’s presence has fascinated visitors from all around the
world for decades.
Possibly,
one of the reasons why
Stonehenge has such appeal is it’s mystery –
because while there has been a
lot of speculation on what it is and who built it…not one
knows quite for
sure.
Some
say that Stonehenge is an ancient
temple, others say a burial site, and there are also those that believe
it was
initially built as a kind of observatory. We’ll probably
never know which of
these is true.
Today,
you can visit Stonehenge but
since 1978 the main stone area has been cordoned off because visitor
interaction
was damaging the rocks. You can still get very close to it though. This
ring of
ancient stones is thought to date back 5,000 years – which
makes it all the
more incredible that a structure like this could have been assembled so
long
ago. It would have taken a lot of time, organisation and manual labour
to build
it.
In
fact, it’s believed that
Stonehenge was constructed over a 1,500 year period (starting as early
as 3,000
BC). It’s thought that the stones were bought from Wales
(Prescelly Mountains)
which lies 240 miles to the west of Salisbury. Each stone would have
weighed 4
tons, and would most probably have been pulled by roller and sledge
from Wales
to Milford Haven, from which point they would have been loaded onto
boats which
would sail towards Somerset. From here, they would have been
transported on land
again to their intended location in Salisbury.
The
admission price to see Stonehenge
is well worth it, and includes an audio-guide. There are also some
sensational
views of the Wiltshire countryside from here.
|
