All that is no mean achievement by any tribe or man, ancient or modern. What puzzles me to this day though, in fact fills me with disbelief is how the huge stones - and the Bluestones in particular - were transported by land and sea from their only known natural location in South Wales. When I recall how I have struggled for hours in a small garden with pieces of flagstone each weighing a mere hundredweight then the problems and effort of moving boulders weighing tens of tons for hundreds of kilometers some four thousand years ago is brought into greater perspective.

Why Bluestones were chosen for part of the great circle of Stonehenge isn't known - the are suggestions that those stones were part of a former "Blue Stonehenge" at another location - but that they originated from the Prescelly Mountains in North Pembrokeshire is geologically known without doubt.

However, the route they were brought by is open to conjecture... there being four reasonable alternatives suggesting either entirely overland; by sea up the Severn Estuary and along the Bristol Avon until grounded; by sea around the dangerous coastline of Land's End; or by sea to where Hayle now is in Cornwall, then across a short stretch of land to Mounts Bay and thence by sea again to the Salisbury Avon at Christchurch for as far as it could be navigated.

To transport such objects must have been a mammoth task with great skill and ingenuity needed by the men who undertook the feat. To suspend those huge stones between dugout canoes or skin-covered boats and manoeuvre them against all the elements deserves much admiration. I'm sure the feat could not be repeated today even if there was a clear route through modern obstructions... but of course I say that knowing a similar attempt with one such boulder as part of the national Millennium celebrations unfortunately failed well short of the destination! Perhaps the writings of von Däniken in "Chariots of the Gods" should be taken a little more seriously after all... he certainly opens minds as I well remember from attending one of his very entertaining early 1970s presentations in Manchester!

N.B. Two points to note... I had permission to take the above image of Stonehenge from within the stone circle (an inner area to which the public is not normally admitted... although English Heritage may have plans to amend that policy) so you will not be able to see exactly this view from the surrounding pathways. And because I used a wide-angle Nikkor 15mm f/3.5 with a 110 degree angle of view across the diagonal the foreground stone is foreshortened and the background tri-lithons look smaller than they really are. However, there are many photo opportunities to be seen there... more so on a quieter day when there are fewer visitors to be spotted in the background.

And a snippet from one of my many books on Wiltshire, "Stonehenge Today & Yesterday" by Frank Stevens, published by His Majesty's Stationery Office in 1933 (price 6d) as a reminder of the never-ending schemes, public inquiries and arguments which have revolved around this world famous site... seemingly with no conclusion. In it the author notes...

"It will be of interest to readers of this book to know that, as a result of a public appeal, £32,000 has been subscribed for the purchase of about fifteen hundred acres of land surrounding Stonehenge. The land has been vested in the National Trust and will be preserved from building encroachment, thus safeguarding the amenities of this great monument for all time."

Back to Salisbury Plain

Powered by workzsites.com site builder software