I do love a stone circle. There is something fascinating about the fact that, millennia ago, our ancestors expended the effort to place giant stones in specific patterns across the landscape, and we no longer really know why.
And when it comes to stone circles, Stonehenge is arguably the best known of them all. When I first visited the site as a child in the 1970s, you were allowed to wander among the great stones, and I remember people lying across the recumbent ‘altar’ stone.
Now, when you visit the site, you are guided on an anti-clockwise circuit around the monument, allowing you to appreciate it from all angles and see how it sits within the landscape, light changing as you move around the stones.
It is a place of great majesty and power, despite the toll that centuries and human intervention have taken on its original shape. And, as we drove away, it had one last angle to reveal, rising like a crown on the plain above as the land dropped away.
A place of magic, indeed.
Thank you for joining me on another Wednesday Wander! See you next time 🙂
Helen Glynn Jones 
Awesome pics, Helen! I’ve always wanted to visit but never seem to have got round to it!
Oh, it’s well worth it. Even when you think you know what it looks like, it’s something different again to be actually standing there. Apparently the new visitor centre is supposed to be amazing too – I’m keen to go back and check it out.
Looks other-worldly. So beautiful and somewhere I’ve also always wanted to visit.
It is quite an extraordinary place, Miriam. Other than the road, the landscape around is pretty much unchanged, so you get a real sense of how it would have been.
How absolutely wonderful.
Thanks for sharing these lovely pictures. I’ve driven past Stonehenge a few times, but never found the opportunity to stop and get a closer look.
I also find stone circles magical places and would love to use them in a book one day.
Thanks Suzanne, it really is a special place -definitely do stop in if you get the chance. I’m the same – I do have a stone gate in one of my books but wonder if a circle will crop up in one of my stories one day. 🙂
I’ve never been up close to this, I really must visist one day, of course the National Heritage have worked so I have to part with many arms and legs to get in… nice!
Apparently the new visitor centre is supposed to be amazing, so it would be worth doing. And if you have a National Heritage membership (which is quite reasonable) you get in for free!
Next time I’m passing perhaps eh?
Indeed 🙂
Yes, I remember just being able to wander around the stones. That was before the powers that be realised that we might push them over, or wear them out by rubbing our little hands over them. After all, they’ve only survived everything that nature can throw at them for 4,000 or more. Harumph! *folds arms and pouts*
Ha ha! I think the grafitti I saw people scratching into the stones might have had something to do with it as well 😀 Still, I am glad I got the chance to wander through the stones – I still would like to go back for one of the solstice events, as apparently you can go into the circle then.
Yes, it just seems a shame. Having wandered freely around sites in the Orkneys, for example, recently, it is just so lovely to be able to be ‘in the moment’ amongst the stones.
Oh, I definitely agree – Avebury is another wonderful place where you’re free to move among the stones. Maybe the day will come when we can access Stonehenge again in the same way.
That’d be good.
It is an incredible place, but the very necessary conservation efforts have divorced it from its people in some ways. I too visited many times before the barriers went up and never forgot the feel of the place.
Yes- I appreciated what they had done to try and restore the sense of majesty to the site (I never saw it when it was fenced off), but I would have liked to have walked among the stones, like at Avebury.
Wow cool pictures!
Thanks Lyn – it’s a pretty cool place 🙂
Looks like it Helen!
I haven’t been there for years! Great photos 🙂
Thanks Esther! I hadn’t been since I was a child, so it was nice to go again. I’d like to go back and check out the new visitor centre, as I’ve heard it’s excellent.
Oooh, yes. That’s good to know. Yes, a must visit.
So jealous of the fact that you got to wander through it! Even if I visit it now, I’ll never have that experience.
You never know, there may come a day when they let us wander among the stones again. And, I’m not sure, but I think if you go there for one of the solstice events you can actually go up to the stones – it’s something I’d like to do one day. 🙂
Stonehenge is on my list. Thank you for giving me a virtual tour 🙂
You’re very welcome! Thanks for commenting, and I hope you get to see the real thing one day 🙂
I never got to visit but I find it such a shame you can’t go near them any more. Must’ve been pretty special! 🙂
It was pretty cool to be among the stones. However, seeing it the way it is now gives it a certain grandeur that was missing when people were lolling all over it. That felt a bit disrespectful, if you know what I mean. There are lots of other stone circles where you can wander among the stones, Avebury being a prime example. Perhaps one day we’ll be able to do so again at Stonehenge.
Sorry for the delay in my reply… I haven’t been to Avebury. Just looked it up. It’s not quite as intimidating as Stonehenge but I quite like how dispersed they are. Maybe I’ll get to visit one day. 🙂
It’s a lot bigger than Stonehenge in terms of area covered and quite different, so I would definitely recommend visiting if you can. I’m keen to go back there one day again 🙂
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Awesome photo I’ve visited but unfortunately after the restrictions were imposed so I’ve only seen it from afar 😭
Oh, love! ❤️ I’ve been three times to Stonhenge (only once to Avebury) and they truly are magical. 💫
Oh, they really are – part of what makes this green island so special 🙂
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