I spent yesterday immersed in ancient cultures visiting hedges and barrows.
It was my first day driving but the hire car is small and easy to drive. Just as well - there had been a massive rainstorm overnight (snow is parts further west) and many of the roads had flooded sections. I was amazed at how fast some of the cars were going considering the conditions. A number of times I pulled over to let the impatient drivers past.
First stop was Stonehenge. The temperature was 3 deg but the windchill was sending it down well below zero. I was there early so there weren't many people yet. The audio guide was excellent, but the circular track was closed because it was too wet, so I couldn't see the solstice alignments. Despite the cold, i enjoyed standing and looking at the amazing engineering feat and imagining the tribes gathering there at the Winter solstice. It did make me wonder how they survived there in the midwinter.
By the time I left there were about 10 buses of mostly Asian tourists. I don't want to imagine what it's like in the summer.
I drove North and saw a sign for Woodhenge. Woodhenge? What's that? I hadn't realised how many henges there were in the area. This one is actually better named concrete post henge now, because there are no wooden posts still remaining, but the concrete posts mark where they had been. A smaller set of 3 or 4 circles, all close together. It didn't have a lot of information there so I will have to do further research.
I was heading for Avebury for the other big circle. Getting close I saw a sign for the West Kennet long barrow http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/wiltshire/featured-sites/the-west-kennet-long-barrow.html. I tramped across grassy and muddy ground for about half a mile (the weather was milder by then, at least 5 deg) to discover it just over a hill. Well worth the tramp. Some of the other parts of the Avebury collection were also on the way - Silbury Hill, a giant Neolithic mound, and The Sanctuary, another Woodhenge which links to the Avebury circles by an avenue of stones.
Avebury was fascinating, more so because I had a wonderful guide from National Trust, an archeologist, who was happy to answer any questions and gave great detail about the circles. He also talked about Stonehenge and some of the other sites. The 45 minute tour extended well past an hour but it didn't seem to bother him. The most fascinating idea for me was that the deep trench and mound were designed to keep the stones in and stop them from seeing over the top. They think the stones were placed to represent the ancestors and they believed that stones could move by themselves. Hmmm, some do, thinking of the recent rockfalls in the Cinque Terre. The other interesting thing is that many of the stones were buried at some stage, and we're rediscovered by an archaeologist who dug them up and repositioned them. There are still a number buried (he ran out of money), and they will stay buried because it preserves them.
On the way back to Portsmouth I visited Salisbury Cathedral and participated in a Christian rite - evensong. It was lovely to be able to sit in the cathedral and enjoy the music, rather than just wandering through admiring the architecture. Although I did that too, of course.
It was my first day driving but the hire car is small and easy to drive. Just as well - there had been a massive rainstorm overnight (snow is parts further west) and many of the roads had flooded sections. I was amazed at how fast some of the cars were going considering the conditions. A number of times I pulled over to let the impatient drivers past.
First stop was Stonehenge. The temperature was 3 deg but the windchill was sending it down well below zero. I was there early so there weren't many people yet. The audio guide was excellent, but the circular track was closed because it was too wet, so I couldn't see the solstice alignments. Despite the cold, i enjoyed standing and looking at the amazing engineering feat and imagining the tribes gathering there at the Winter solstice. It did make me wonder how they survived there in the midwinter.
By the time I left there were about 10 buses of mostly Asian tourists. I don't want to imagine what it's like in the summer.
I drove North and saw a sign for Woodhenge. Woodhenge? What's that? I hadn't realised how many henges there were in the area. This one is actually better named concrete post henge now, because there are no wooden posts still remaining, but the concrete posts mark where they had been. A smaller set of 3 or 4 circles, all close together. It didn't have a lot of information there so I will have to do further research.
I was heading for Avebury for the other big circle. Getting close I saw a sign for the West Kennet long barrow http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/wiltshire/featured-sites/the-west-kennet-long-barrow.html. I tramped across grassy and muddy ground for about half a mile (the weather was milder by then, at least 5 deg) to discover it just over a hill. Well worth the tramp. Some of the other parts of the Avebury collection were also on the way - Silbury Hill, a giant Neolithic mound, and The Sanctuary, another Woodhenge which links to the Avebury circles by an avenue of stones.
Avebury was fascinating, more so because I had a wonderful guide from National Trust, an archeologist, who was happy to answer any questions and gave great detail about the circles. He also talked about Stonehenge and some of the other sites. The 45 minute tour extended well past an hour but it didn't seem to bother him. The most fascinating idea for me was that the deep trench and mound were designed to keep the stones in and stop them from seeing over the top. They think the stones were placed to represent the ancestors and they believed that stones could move by themselves. Hmmm, some do, thinking of the recent rockfalls in the Cinque Terre. The other interesting thing is that many of the stones were buried at some stage, and we're rediscovered by an archaeologist who dug them up and repositioned them. There are still a number buried (he ran out of money), and they will stay buried because it preserves them.
On the way back to Portsmouth I visited Salisbury Cathedral and participated in a Christian rite - evensong. It was lovely to be able to sit in the cathedral and enjoy the music, rather than just wandering through admiring the architecture. Although I did that too, of course.
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