Stonehenge: The Parish Church

Stonehenge: The Parish Church
10 July 2002

Location	Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire Much has been written about Stonehenge since the English rediscovered their own antiquities in the eighteenth century. I don't think I can add much without being hackneyed so this page doesn't contain as much commentary as regular readers may expect. Besides, I've been here before. This page consists of pictures taken at several excursions to Stonehenge. I first went there on 10 July before moving on to Salisbury. On my way back to my B&B near Devizes, I stopped and took some evening pictures from outside the fence. I returned the next day to take some more of those. The title comes from something John Aubrey, the famous seventeenth century antiquarian said. When comparing Avebury to Stonehenge he said that Avebury exceeded Stonehenge in greatness the way a cathedral does a parish church.

Technical Detail	My new camera failed during the first evening jaunt to Stonehenge. This page contains images taken with that camera before it failed and with my old camera.

Weather	Partly cloudy with some showers.

Click on the images to see larger versions.


	This is an overview image from the west.

Some trilithons from the north. In its final form Stonehenge consisted of four sets of stones, from the outside and in: * a circle of sarsens connected with lintels * a circle of bluestones * a horseshoe of trilithons * a horseshoe of smaller bluestones A trilithon is a set of three stones, two uprights connected by a horizontal.

	Some of the stones that were part of the sarsen ring. You can see that there's room on top of the stones for lintels. The shorter stones on the left are bluestones.

More sarsens with lintels. I like the view of the Salisbury plain in the background.

	Looking through the monument we see part of the remaining sarsen ring.

A trilithon. There were five trilithons in a horseshoe formation. The opening of the horseshoe faced the main entrance in the north-east. Only three trilithons remain.

	Looking through a gap in the sarsen ring across a fallen stone, most likely from one of the trilithons.

An overview image from the east. The tallest of the trilithons is on the left. The trilithons were arranged in order of size with the tallest in the middle as a focal point. In front of it was a stone that some people think was used as an altar.

	Part of the sarsen ring in front of one of the smaller trilithons. Only three trilithons remain intact.

A bluestone in the inner bluestone horseshoe can be seen in the gap of the sarsen ring and between the trilithons.

	This part of the monument gives an idea of how different it would appear if all the lintels were in place. The roof effect and the shadows it casts make a much more dramatic impression than the scattered stones.

Another overview from the east. The weather had cleared up.

	Parts of the north-east sarsen ring.

More of the north-east part of the ring of sarsens.

	Pulling back a bit shows the scale against the sky.

From the north-west with a bank of clouds behind.

	I took a walk out on the Avenue. It is unclear what it was used for. Some have suggested ritual horse racing, others a processional way. The bumps are barrows used for burials at least.

In the middle of the historic landscape life goes on. A butterfly sips nectar from a thistle.

	From the Avenue the view of the monument is splendid. This is a series of three pictures, each taken a little closer to the monument to show how it would have looked to people who arrived here for the first time back when the road wasn't clogged with tourist coaches.

A little closer we can make out individual stones.

	And a little closer. We're still far enough away that the landscape hides the car park and the tourists.

The last five photos were taken in the evening. This one is my favourite with the pink streak on the cloud and the last of the sunlight on the tops of the stones.

	In this one there is a pink tinge to the sky behind the monument.

It was getting darker.

	The next evening my fascination with this place took me back here and I took some more photos.

The last picture shows the whole monument with a dramatic cloudscape above.