Pentangle-Stonehenge

n ancient times... Hundreds of years before the dawn of history Lived a strange race of people... the Druids
No one knows who they were or what they were doing But their legacy remains Hewn into the living rock... Of Stonehenge
Stonehenge! Where the demons dwell Where the banshees live and they do live well Stonehenge! Where a man's a man And the children dance to the Pipes of Pan
Hey!
Stonehenge! 'Tis a magic place Where the moon doth rise with a dragon's face Stonehenge! Where the virgins lie And the prayers of devils fill the midnight sky
And you my love, won't you take my hand? We'll go back in time to that mystic land Where the dew drops cry and the cats meow I will take you there, I will show you how
Oh!
And oh how they danced The little children of Stonehenge Beneath the haunted moon For fear that daybreak might come too soon
And where are they now? The little children of Stonehenge And what would they say to us? If we were here... tonight

Purpose / Function

The stone settings at Stonehenge were built at a time of great change in prehistory, just as new styles of ‘Beaker’ pottery and the knowledge of metalworking, together with a transition to the burial of individuals with grave goods, were arriving from the Continent. From about 2400 BC, well-furnished Beaker graves such as that of the Amesbury Archer[9] are found nearby.
In the early Bronze Age, one of the greatest concentrations of round barrows in Britain was built in the area around Stonehenge. Many barrow groups appear to have been deliberately located on hilltops visible from Stonehenge itself, such as those on King Barrow Ridge and the particularly rich burials at the Normanton Down cemetery.
Four of the sarsens at Stonehenge were adorned with hundreds of carvings depicting axe-heads and a few daggers. They appear to be bronze axes of the Arreton Down type, dating from about 1750–1500 BC. Perhaps these axes were a symbol of power or status within early Bronze Age society, or were related in some way to nearby round barrow burials.[10]
MORE ABOUT STONEHENGE’S CONNECTIONS A mid-14th century manuscript illustration showing Merlin building Stonehenge, an idea widely accepted until as late as the 16th century A mid-14th-century manuscript illustration showing the wizard Merlin building Stonehenge. This idea, explained by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his ‘History of the Kings of Britain’ in 1136, was widely accepted until as late as the 16th century© British Library Board (Egerton MS 3028 fol 30) LATER HISTORY From the middle Bronze Age, less communal effort went into the construction of ceremonial monuments such as Stonehenge and more on activities such as the creation of fields.[11]
In the Iron Age, probably about 700 BC, a major hillfort later known as Vespasian’s Camp was constructed 1¼ miles east of Stonehenge overlooking the river Avon.[12] Stonehenge appears to have been frequently visited in the Roman period (from AD 43), since many Roman objects have been found there.[13] Recent excavations raised the possibility that it was a place of ritual importance to Romano-British people.[14]
The small town of Amesbury is likely to have been established around the 6th century AD at a crossing point over the Avon. A decapitated man, possibly a criminal, was buried at Stonehenge in the Saxon period.[15] From this time on, sheep husbandry dominated the open downland around Stonehenge.[16] The earliest surviving written references to Stonehenge date from the medieval period, and from the 14th century onwards there are increasing references to Stonehenge and drawings and paintings

Alterations

Stoenhenge is a lee line-a location where the ambient energy of the living world converges. This alowes the Henge to act as a gate

Architecture

A reconstruction showing the raising of a stone in the outer sarsen circle A reconstruction showing the raising of a stone in the outer sarsen circle© Historic England (illustration by Peter Lorimer) THE STONE SETTINGS In about 2500 BC the stones were set up in the centre of the monument. Two types of stone are used at Stonehenge – the larger sarsens and the smaller ‘bluestones’. The sarsens were erected in two concentric arrangements – an inner horseshoe and an outer circle – and the bluestones were set up between them in a double arc.[7]
Probably at the same time that the stones were being set up in the centre of the monument, the sarsens close to the entrance were raised, together with the four Station Stones on the periphery.
About 200 or 300 years later the central bluestones were rearranged to form a circle and inner oval (which was again later altered to form a horseshoe). The earthwork Avenue was also built at this time, connecting Stonehenge with the river Avon.
One of the last prehistoric activities at Stonehenge was the digging around the stone settings of two rings of concentric pits, the so-called Y and Z holes, radiocarbon dated by antlers within them to between 1800 and 1500 BC. They may have been intended for a rearrangement of the stones that was never completed.[

History

Since 1897, when the Ministry of Defence bought a vast tract of land on Salisbury Plain for army training exercises, the activities of the military have had an impact on the area. Barracks, firing ranges, field hospitals, airfields and light railways were established.[17] Some of these, such as the First World War Stonehenge airfield, have long since been demolished, but others, such as the Larkhill airfield sheds, still stand and are important in the history of early military aviation.[18]
Meanwhile, the introduction of turnpike roads and the railway to Salisbury brought many more visitors to Stonehenge. From the 1880s, various stones had been propped up with timber poles, but concern for the safety of visitors grew when an outer sarsen upright and its lintel fell in 1900. The then owner, Sir Edmund Antrobus, with the help of the Society of Antiquaries, organised the re-erection of the leaning tallest trilithon in 1901.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WWI AERODROME The Avenue leading up to Stonehenge, seen in the snow. The monument has been gradually returned to its original landscape and grassland setting The Avenue leading up to Stonehenge, seen in the snow. The monument has been gradually returned to its original landscape and grassland setting This was the start of a sequence of campaigns to conserve and restore Stonehenge – the last stones were consolidated in 1964.[19]
The monument remained in private ownership until 1918 when Cecil Chubb, a local man who had purchased Stonehenge from the Atrobus family at an auction three years previously, gave it to the nation.[20] Thereafter, the duty to conserve the monument fell to the state, today a role performed on its behalf by English Heritage.
From 1927, the National Trust began to acquire the land around Stonehenge to preserve it and restore it to grassland. Large areas of the Stonehenge landscape are now in their ownership. More recent improvements to the landscape – including the removal of the old visitor facilities and the closure of the section of the old A344 that ran close to the stones – have begun the process of returning Stonehenge to an open grassland setting, but there is more that can be done. English Heritage welcomes government plans to invest in a tunnel, which would remove much of the busy A303 and help reconnect the monument to its ancient landscape.

RUINED STRUCTURE
2500bc

Alternative Names

The Druids gate

Type

Geographic Feature

Parent Location

Earth 2019

Owner

the queen of england

Owning Organization

British historic