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Ancient England.
The English landscape is rich with all kinds of megalithic constructions, many found only in the British Isles and not in the rest of the world, such as Henges, RSC's or Recumbent Stone Circles, and Cursus, to name a few. England is also home to thousands of menhirs, cairns, 'tumuli', standing stones, alignments (Around 60 stone rows around Dartmoor alone), long-barrows, dolmen (Quoit's), holy-wells, beacon-hills, and includes many other other sacred sites and modelled landscapes, woven together with a rich history of tradition, folklore and myth.
At around 6,000 BC Britain become an island, separating from the European mainland.
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Henges (There are about 100 henges in Britain and Ireland, dating from 3,200 BC). (1) - Henge-structures are now known to have been being built before stone circles. Their construction would have involved thousands of man hours (Stennes in Scotland was estimated at 12,500 man hours alone - 1), as in most cases they were built on levelled areas and included huge ditches and banks reaching several metres in depth and height. In many cases Henges occur in doubles or triples, and astronomical orientations and alignments have been shown suggesting a primary astro-ritualistic or scientific function. |
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Stone Circles (The British Isles contain over 1,000 ancient circles made of stone, wood or soil). - Although Stone circles are found in many other countries around the world, their frequency, diversity and sheer size in the British Isles is not repeated anywhere else in the world. England contains the largest stone circle in the world at Avebury, and the oldest with several dated at around 3,000 BC. Several English stone circles have been shown to have astronomical relevance and |
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Ley Lines - Ley-lines are by no means exclusive to England, it was one of the first countries to have recognised the tradition of placing ancient and sacred constructions in alignments, (which were named ley-lines by Alfred Watkins). The most famous recent discovery in this field was by John Michell, who identified the St. Michael's Ley - a 'corridor of incidence' running across the country in an alignment that followed the line of the sun on the May-day sunrise. |
Coming soon
The Chalk Horses, Holy-Wells, The earth-mother in the English landscape, Landscape Zodiacs...
Currently featured English sites
Arbor Low Derbyshire, Stone circle, henge, Cove. Avebury Wiltshire, The Largest Stone circle in the World Boscawen-un Cornwall, Stone Circle. Castlerigg Cumbria, Stone Circle. Cerne Abbas Giant Dorset, Chalk Cut Giant on Hill-side. Chun Qouit Cornwall, Dolmen. Nearby Hill-fort Glastonbury The Sacred 'Heart' of England The Hurlers Cornwall, 3 aligned Stone Circles. Lanyon Qouit Cornwall, Dolmen, Huge Capstone. Long Meg Cumbria, Stone Circle and Monolith. Mayburgh Cumbria, Henge with single Standing Stone. Men-an-Tol Cornwall, Four Stones, One 'Holed'. The Merry Maidens Cornwall, Stone Circle. Rudstone Largest standing stone in Britain. (Coming soon) Silbury Hill Wiltshire, The largest ancient structure in Europe. Stanton Drew Avon, Three Stone Circles, Two avenues and a Cove. Stonehenge Wiltshire, The most expensive Stone-Circle in the World. Thornborough Three Henges and Three Cursus. West Kennet Oldest 'long-barrow' in England.
References:
1). Burl. A. Prehistoric Henges. 1997. Shire publ.