The Ultimate Guide to Stonehenge

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On the vast, windswept Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, a ring of colossal stones stands silent against the sky. For thousands of years, Stonehenge has captivated everyone who sees it. It’s more than just a pile of old rocks; it’s a prehistoric masterpiece, a marvel of engineering, and one of Britain’s most profound mysteries. Who built it? How did they move these gigantic stones with only the simplest tools? And most importantly, why?

This is the story of Stonehenge—a journey back in time to uncover the secrets of the people who shaped this incredible landscape. We’ll dig into the latest archaeological discoveries, explore the strange myths that have grown around the monument, and try to understand what it meant to our ancient ancestors. Forget everything you think you know. The real story of Stonehenge is far more complex and fascinating than you can imagine. It’s a story of sun-worshippers and astronomers, of grand feasts and solemn burials, and of a connection to the land that still echoes today. It’s not just ancient history; it’s a vital part of Britain’s story.

What Exactly Is Stonehenge? The Anatomy of a Masterpiece

At first glance, Stonehenge looks like a jumble of massive stones. But it’s actually a very carefully designed structure that was built and changed over 1,500 years. Think of it not as one single building, but as a project passed down through generations. To understand it, you need to know about the different bits that make it up.

The monument we see today is the final version, but it’s built on top of much older earthworks. Let’s break it down into its key parts.

The Outer Circle: Sarsen Stones

The most dramatic part of Stonehenge is the outer ring of enormous standing stones. These are called sarsens, and they are a type of incredibly hard sandstone found on the Marlborough Downs, about 20 miles north of Stonehenge.

Imagine the effort. Each of these upright stones weighs around 25 tonnes—that’s the same as four large African elephants. The horizontal stones that lie on top, called lintels, weigh about 7 tonnes each. The builders didn’t just plonk them down; they shaped them with incredible precision. They used huge hammerstones to bash the sarsens into rectangular blocks.

Look closely, and you’ll see they’re not just simple blocks. The uprights bulge slightly in the middle, a trick the ancient Greeks later used in the Parthenon to make the columns look perfectly straight from a distance. The lintels on top are slightly curved to create a perfect circle. This wasn’t just building; this was architecture.

How did they get them to stay up? They carved protruding bumps, called tenons, on top of the uprights and matching holes, called mortice holes, into the bottom of the lintels. It’s like ancient Lego or a woodworking joint, but on a mind-boggling scale. This shows they weren’t just piling rocks; they were skilled craftspeople with a detailed plan.

The Inner Circle and Horseshoe: The Magical Bluestones

Inside the giant sarsen circle is a smaller ring of stones. These are the famous bluestones. They are much smaller than the sarsens, weighing between 2 and 5 tonnes each, but they are perhaps the most mysterious part of Stonehenge.

Why? Because they come from the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, Wales, a staggering 180 miles away. For a long time, archaeologists thought our ancestors must have dragged them all that way over land and sea. It would have been an almost superhuman feat. Some recent theories suggest that a giant glacier might have carried the stones most of the way during the last Ice Age, leaving them scattered across Salisbury Plain for the builders to find.

But many experts now believe the original theory was right. New discoveries in Wales show that there were ancient quarries for these exact stones. It seems our ancestors really did quarry them and bring them to Wiltshire. It must have been a hugely important task, almost like a pilgrimage, to bring these specific “magical” stones from so far away.

The bluestones are arranged in an inner circle and a horseshoe shape inside the main sarsen structure. Their arrangement was changed several times over the centuries, showing that the purpose of Stonehenge was evolving.

The Altar Stone and Other Features

At the very heart of the monument, lying flat, is a large block of greenish sandstone. It’s known as the Altar Stone. It also came from Wales, from a location even further than the bluestone quarries. Was it really an altar for sacrifices? Probably not. Its name was invented in the 17th century by the architect Inigo Jones, who thought Stonehenge must have been a Roman temple. It was more likely a central marker stone.

Surrounding the stone circles are other important features you might miss at first glance.

The Ditch and Bank: Before any stones were put up, the first Stonehenge was a massive circular ditch and bank, called a henge. This was dug around 3000 BC using simple deer antlers as pickaxes. It had two entrances.
The Aubrey Holes: Just inside the bank are 56 chalk pits, known as the Aubrey Holes, named after John Aubrey, who discovered them in the 1600s. For a long time, their purpose was a mystery. We now know that many of them were used for burials. The remains of at least 60 people have been found, making early Stonehenge one of the largest Neolithic cemeteries in Britain.
The Heel Stone: Standing alone outside the main circle is the Heel Stone. If you stand in the centre of the monument on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, you’ll see the sun rise almost directly over this stone. It’s the key to understanding one of Stonehenge’s main purposes.

How Was Stonehenge Built? A Feat of Prehistoric Engineering

Building Stonehenge was one of the greatest engineering achievements of the ancient world. It happened in several main stages over a vast period. It wasn’t a single project but an evolving one.

Stage 1: The First Henge (around 3000 BC) The story doesn’t start with stones. The very first monument at Stonehenge was a huge circular earthwork. Using tools made from deer antlers and the shoulder blades of cattle, people dug a massive ditch about 6 feet deep. The chalk they dug out was piled up to create two parallel banks. Within this circle, they dug the 56 Aubrey Holes, which likely held timber posts or small standing stones, and also served as a graveyard. This was the original Stonehenge—a place of the dead.

Stage 2: The Bluestones Arrive (around 2500 BC) This is where things get really interesting. Around 500 years after the henge was built, the first stones arrived. These were the bluestones from Wales. The journey would have been epic. The builders probably floated the stones on huge rafts along the Welsh coast and up the Bristol Avon river. Then, they would have dragged them overland using wooden rollers and ropes.

Why go to all that trouble? The bluestones must have been incredibly special. Perhaps they were believed to have healing powers or were connected to the ancestors of the people who brought them. Once at the site, they were set up in the centre, possibly as a double circle. The main entrance was also widened and aligned with the midsummer sunrise. Stonehenge was changing from a cemetery into something new.

Stage 3: The Age of the Giants (around 2500 BC – 2300 BC) This was the most dramatic phase of construction. The gigantic sarsen stones were brought from the Marlborough Downs. This was an even greater challenge than moving the bluestones. Archaeologists believe it would have taken at least 500 people using ropes and sledges to drag one sarsen stone. It would have taken another 100 people to prepare the path in front of it.

Once the stones were on site, the builders had to get them upright. They likely dug a huge pit with one sloping side. They’d slide the stone into the pit, then use a forest of wooden poles and strong ropes to pull it upright. Getting the lintels on top was even cleverer. They probably built enormous timber platforms or used a giant ramp of earth to raise the lintels into place.

They then painstakingly shaped the stones, carving the mortice and tenon joints to lock them together. This was the birth of the iconic Stonehenge we know today.

Stage 4: Rearrangements and Final Touches (around 2200 BC – 1600 BC) The job still wasn’t done. The bluestones were rearranged into the inner circle and horseshoe shape we see now. Two mysterious rings of pits, called the Y and Z Holes, were dug outside the sarsen circle, though they never seem to have held stones. An earthwork path, known as the Avenue, was also built. It connects Stonehenge to the River Avon, two miles away, and is aligned with the summer solstice sunrise.

After 1600 BC, the building stopped. Stonehenge was complete, but it was used for centuries more. The skill and organisation needed to build it are staggering. It shows a society with a deep understanding of engineering, mathematics, and astronomy, all working together on a project that was bigger than any single generation.

Why Was It Built? The Big Question

This is the billion-dollar question. For centuries, people have come up with wild theories. Was it a temple built by the Druids? A landing pad for aliens? A coronation place for ancient Danish kings? The truth is probably a mix of different things, and its purpose likely changed over its long history.

A Giant Calendar and Observatory

The most obvious clue to Stonehenge’s purpose is its connection to the sun. The whole monument is aligned with the movements of the sun.

Summer Solstice: On the longest day of the year (around 21st June), the rising sun appears directly behind the Heel Stone when viewed from the centre of the circle. The Avenue is also aligned with this sunrise. This was clearly a hugely important moment for the people who built Stonehenge. It marked the middle of summer, a time of light and life.
Winter Solstice: On the shortest day of the year (around 21st December), the setting sun is perfectly framed by the tallest sarsen stones (the Trilithon Horseshoe). This may have been even more important than the summer solstice. In the depths of winter, this alignment promised that the days would start getting longer again and that spring would return. It was a moment of hope and rebirth.

It wasn’t just a simple calendar. It was a celestial clock, marking the turning of the seasons. For a farming society, knowing the right time to plant crops and slaughter animals was a matter of life and death. Stonehenge gave them that knowledge.

A Place of Healing

Another powerful theory is that Stonehenge was a place of healing, a prehistoric Lourdes. This idea is linked to the bluestones. In many ancient cultures, stones from a special place were believed to have magical or healing properties.

The evidence? Many of the skeletons found buried around Stonehenge show signs of serious illness or injury. One, the Amesbury Archer, who was buried nearby, had a horrific knee injury and a serious dental infection. He was a wealthy and important man who had travelled all the way from the Alps in modern-day Switzerland. Did he come to Stonehenge seeking a cure?

Furthermore, in ancient times, the Preseli Hills, where the bluestones came from, were famous for their healing springs. Perhaps the builders brought the stones to Stonehenge to create a permanent healing centre powered by their magic. Small fragments of the bluestones have been chipped off over the centuries, perhaps by people taking home a piece of their power.

A Temple for Ancestors and a Place of Ritual

Stonehenge was built in a landscape that was already ancient and sacred. The surrounding area is packed with other prehistoric monuments, including burial mounds (barrows), other henges, and the huge earthwork of Durrington Walls.

It seems the whole area was a ritual landscape, one part for the living and one for the dead. Recent discoveries at Durrington Walls, just two miles from Stonehenge, have uncovered a massive settlement. Archaeologists found the remains of hundreds of houses, along with huge piles of animal bones and broken pottery. It seems that thousands of people gathered here for enormous feasts, probably at the time of the winter solstice. They would have eaten vast quantities of pork and beef before travelling along the Avenue to Stonehenge.

The theory goes that Durrington Walls was the ‘land of the living’, a place for feasting and celebration, connected by the River Avon to Stonehenge, which was the ‘land of the dead’. Stonehenge, with its stone permanence and its many burials, was a temple to honour the ancestors. It was a place where the worlds of the living and the dead met. People would come here to perform ceremonies, connect with their ancestors, and mark the great cycles of life, death, and rebirth.

So, what’s the answer? It wasn’t just one thing. Stonehenge was a multi-purpose site. It was a solar calendar, a celestial observatory, a healing centre, a cemetery, and a great temple. It was the spiritual heart of ancient Britain.

The Story of Stonehenge Through Time

The building of Stonehenge may have ended around 1600 BC, but its story was far from over. For thousands of years, it has stood on Salisbury Plain, a silent witness to the changing world.

Forgetting and Rediscovery

After the Bronze Age, the memory of who built Stonehenge and why was lost. By the Iron Age and the Roman period, the site was already ancient and mysterious. The Romans left offerings there, perhaps seeing it as a powerful, sacred place.

During the Middle Ages, fantastic stories grew up around it. The historian Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote that Stonehenge was built by the wizard Merlin. He claimed Merlin magically transported the stones from Ireland, where they had been brought from Africa by giants. It was said to be a memorial to a group of British nobles treacherously killed by the Saxons. This legend remained popular for centuries.

It wasn’t until the 17th century that people started to study Stonehenge more scientifically. The antiquarian John Aubrey was the first to survey it properly and correctly guess that it was a pre-Roman temple, possibly built by the Druids. This idea was popularised by William Stukeley in the 18th century. Stukeley was fascinated by the Druids, the priest class of the ancient Celts. He made detailed drawings of Stonehenge and was the first to realise its connection to the solstices. His work was brilliant, but his obsession with Druids created a myth that has stuck to Stonehenge ever since.

The Druids and Modern Pilgrims

The idea that Stonehenge was a Druid temple is almost certainly wrong. Stonehenge was completed more than 1,000 years before the Druids even existed in Britain. But the link is powerful. Since the 18th century, various groups calling themselves Druids have held ceremonies at Stonehenge.

Today, Stonehenge is the spiritual home for many modern Pagans and Druids. Thousands of people gather there every year to celebrate the summer and winter solstices. For them, it’s a living temple, a place to connect with nature and the ancient spirit of the land. These gatherings are a colourful and vibrant part of Stonehenge’s modern story, although sometimes they’ve led to clashes with the authorities over access to the stones. The most famous was the ‘Battle of the Beanfield’ in 1985, which led to the site being closed to the public for many years. Now, English Heritage, which manages the site, allows managed open access for the solstices.

Stonehenge Today: A World Heritage Site

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Stonehenge was in a sorry state. Some stones had fallen over, and it was a popular spot for tourists who would chip bits off for souvenirs! Thankfully, it was given to the nation in 1918. Since then, a lot of work has been done to protect it. Fallen stones have been re-erected, and major archaeological digs have taken place.

In 1986, Stonehenge and its surrounding landscape were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognising its importance to all of humanity. In 2013, a brand new visitor centre was opened a mile and a half away from the stones. This was a huge improvement. The old facilities were right next to the monument and were an eyesore. The new centre tells the story of Stonehenge brilliantly, with interactive displays and hundreds of artefacts found in the area.

One of the biggest issues facing Stonehenge today is the busy A303 road, which runs right past the monument. For years, there have been plans to build a tunnel to hide the road and restore the peace of the landscape. But the plan is controversial, with some archaeologists worried that the construction could damage undiscovered ancient sites. The future of the Stonehenge landscape is still being debated.

The Enduring Mystery

After all the digging, all the science, and all the theories, Stonehenge still holds on to its secrets. We know much more about it now than ever before, but we can never be entirely sure what it meant to the people who poured their lives into building it.

We can’t know what songs they sang, what gods they worshipped, or what stories they told as they watched the sun rise over the Heel Stone. That’s the magic of Stonehenge. It’s a link to a world that is almost beyond our imagination. It reminds us that our ancestors were not primitive savages. They were thinkers, engineers, astronomers, and artists. They had a deep connection to the cosmos and their place within it.

Stonehenge is more than just a monument. It’s a symbol of human ingenuity and our timeless search for meaning in the universe. It’s a masterpiece carved into the very soul of Britain, and its silent stones will continue to inspire awe and wonder for generations to come.