The first time i saw Stonehenge was in 1974. I was in the army and sent to Larkhill for a course, from my bedroom window I could see it a few miles off. It was January and dark, wet and gloomy. In those days before mass tourism the stone were approachable to the public and one weekend day I walked there through the rain and drizzle, despite the weather it was a magical time for me. Since then I have visited but unfortunately, never been so close as in those days.
The castlerigg stone circle nr Penrith is the most stunning ihave ever seen. On a Autumn morning with mist circling the mountains like dragons breath magical!
Castlerigg is indeed a beautiful circle. I love the Rollright Stones too. Magnetic energy tests were successfully carried out there some years ago. The Rudston Monolith and Devil's Arrows up in Yorkshire are standalones I like a lot too.
Just as the ancestors would have seen it too. 🌅 I haven’t visited Castle rig but I was lucky enough to visit ring of Brodgar with the same feelings. Happy historic hunting ☺️
We went to see Stonehenge in the early 70's there was no visitors car park no tunnel or visitors centre, you pulled up on the side of the road, and walked right up to the stones, walked around and under them and even climbed on them, they weren't roped off, there was no path you had to walk on. I'm not sure when the decision was made to make it the way it is today.
🤔 'could it be the... Cha- Ching £$¥€¢ ? I remember the powers that be more or less dismantling the henge late 60s 70.. In fact you could watch a little of the dismantling on yt .. until it was censored. Might be on the way back machine!? But if you can find it it's worth a watch👊
As a kid from the 60,s mum and dad always stopped at Stonehenge when we holidayed in the West Country. It was like a playground to us kids, we have loads of photos of us climbing on the stones. There was very little litter and it was so natural. Now you cant even stop there without a lot of hassle and cost. Bring back the old days.
To quote him, I'm "knocked off my socks" by Neil Oliver's podcasts again and again. I've always been fascinated by history, the older, the better. But his enthusiasm is absolutely contagious. Actually, I don't even remember what video brought me here. Maybe it was one of his comments on the current situation, another reason I appreciate his work very much. As I'm not British, I didn't know about him before. But since, I've read (and/or listened to) his books. Please don't stop! We need people using their voice against the mainstream, if necessary, and we need some time to shove all the insanity into the background as well from time to time, putting it into perspective, I guess. At least I do... Greetings from the continent and thank you so much!!!!!
Was there with a fasting hiking group from middle of europe... I will never forget how friendly people from there were - we lost our way to Stonehenge, and a men we met in a church nearby showed us the way, taking more then one hour... I will never forget either the mystical power it radiates...
I was lucky enough to have been around five years old the first time I saw Stonehenge so they seemed large. Back in those days (early 70s) there was a small car park, no underpass and you could walk among them and yes jump up and down on some of them.
It's incredible how much organisation and ingenuity this must have taken to build. Imagine what those same people could accomplish with modern day construction equipment?
I wondwer if the shaman blessed every stone when it reached the location or when it was put into position. Imagine the ceremony, would put the pseudo Druids in the shadow.
And I always thought that SH was a complete temple (if you like) destroyed by the ravages of time. Your statement that SH was never completed was a surprize and explains about the missing stones. I learn something new every day, thanks.
Some humans knew and know mankinds place in Cosmology and what we are headed for and where we come from. Building such spaces to ‘glorify’ and unite man and cosmos is what such a clear sighted society does. … for the benefit of all and as a sign of those times.
On a visit to the UK from Australia driving from Cornwall to Norfolk, with no thought to Stonehenge, I noticed it as I drove past (still not sure if I was on my intended road). I too, was surprised how much smaller it was than I expected. It was a bit unfortunate because on the previous visit to the UK, I was on an organised tour that included Stonehenge but that part of the tour was cancelled due to heavy snowfall.
Even with the best aligned megaliths, the sun's movement at solstice is so slight that, with the naked eye, it requires a minimum of three observations to verify the season has turned. Any celebrations held by the henge builders were bound to be delayed as Christmas and Saturnalia would later be.
A great listen. A great man. I have been there and saw Avebury later the same day. I don't know why but the individual stones at Avebury were more impressive to me. Maybe it's because they were still there to be to touched and no modern formality has been smothered on them.
It never ceases to amaze me how archaeologists and historians will jump to such huge conclusions based on such flimsy and flawed evidence. They make such massive assumptions. This place is such a mystery and will remain so. Imagination is a powerful tool, but we must not Believe it’s extrapolation.
Not every winter comes to an end. Due to meteor rain moacts or volcanos in far flung parts of the world. Maybe they had an oral memory of “that one time” winter didn’t end. Anyway, great episode! 🌱🌊☀️🏄♂️
@bob baggins LOL! Dolby. But yeah.😂 Frankly I hated the early Dolby, it took out too much high range. Always had a sound system with my own EQ to taylor to each bands particular sound.
In “Stonehenge Decoded”, Hawkins and White describe artifacts found at Stonehenge as being in the fashion of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece. This suggests trade between the Wessex people and the civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean around 1500 BC. Seems likely that Stonehenge, which would have been complete by then, was already famous. O! For a Time Machine!
First, but of secondary importance, is the remarkable continuity of culture over at least 1000 years necessary to create the Henge and the associated works. Stand at the Henge and you will see on the horizon burial mounds of the old Chiefs or Kings. Each King wanting to show how wise and powerful he was by making new additions to the site, much like the Pharos of Egypt. Well over a thousand years of continuously aligned culture, with the land rich enough to regularly provide surplus for the manpower needed to built the monuments. And what with men being men there is no reason to believe that these were somehow peaceful agrarian times. Far more likely is that there were a succession of tribal wars, power grabs and the rest. The most significant thing though is the notion Neil briefly alluded to by saying "they had ideas going on that demanded massive expression". In my opinion the Henge represents the Birth of Science, but a Science still thoroughly embedded in the mysteries of nature. Observations of celestial motions could have physical expressions on earth! Celestial motions could be predicted and measured. Nature in some respect could be tied down and tamed. This must have been a simply massive revelation - or gift from the gods if you like. It is a massive marker of a stage of human development - of his relationship to the world and of his place in it.
Nah, these were matriarchal societies and if you look at- Maria Gimbutas's extensive archeology, anthropology and sociology works and the amazing, Brien Foerster'
USA has one straight across the ocean in line. With your Google maps world draw a line through to new Hampshire is where it is. Then a line through the other way through the ocean. There is another one it is so amazing.
On Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, the stone circle near the Cheesewring rock formation is called the Hurlers and the story goes that these people were disobeying by playing Hurling on a Sunday, and they got turned to stone. smh
STONEHENGE 20TH CENTURY RESTORATION Written by Roger Taverner (Published on March 5, 2019 in Principia Scientific International) For decades the official Stonehenge guidebooks have been full of fascinating facts and figures and theories surrounding the world’s greatest prehistoric monument. What the glossy brochures do not mention, however, is the systematic rebuilding of the 4,000 year old stone circle throughout the 20th Century. The video below and pictures show workers on the site in 1901 in a restoration which caused outrage at the time but which is rarely referred to in official guidebooks. For it means that Stonehenge, jewel in the crown of Britain’s heritage industry, is not all it seems. Much of what the ancient site’s millions of visitors see in fact dates back less than 50 years. From 1901 to 1964, the majority of the stone circle was restored in a series of makeovers which have left it, in the words of one archaeologist, as ‘a product of the 20th century heritage industry’. But the information is markedly absent from the guidebooks and info-phones used by tourists at the site. Coming in the wake of the news that the nearby Avebury stone circle was almost totally rebuilt in the 1920s, the revelation about Stonehenge has caused embarrassment among archaelogists. English Heritage, the guardian of the monument, is to rewrite the official guide, which dismisses the Henge’s recent history in a few words. Dave Batchelor, English Heritage’s senior archaeologist said he would personally rewrite the official guide. ‘The detail was dropped in the Sixties’, he admitted. ‘But times have changed and we now believe this is an important piece of the Stonehenge story and must be told’. ambridge University archeological archivist and leading Stonehenge author Christopher Chippindale admitted: ‘Not much of what we see at Stonehenge hasn’t been touched in some way’. And historical research student Brian Edwards, who recently revealed that the nearby Avebury Monument had been totally rebuilt, has found rare pictures of Stonehenge being restored. He said: ‘It has been as if Stonehenge had been historically cleansed’. ‘For too long people have been kept in the dark over the Stonehenge restoration work. I am astonished by how few people know about it. It is wonderful the guide book is going to tell the full story in the future.’ A million visitors a year are awe-struck as they look back in time into another age and marvel at the primitive technology and muscle-power which must have been employed transporting the huge monoliths and raising them on Salisbury Plain. They gasp as they are told about this strangely spiritual site…. mankind’s first computer, its standing stones and precise lintels, lining up magically and mysteriously with the heavens above and the solstice suns. But now, as if to head off a potential great archaeological controversy - and following interest displayed by historical researcher Brian Edwards and a local newspaper, the brochures will be re-written, to include the ‘forgotten years’. The years when teams of navvies sat aboard the greatest cranes in the British Empire to hoist stones upright; drag leaning trilithons into position, replace fallen lintels which once sat atop the huge sarsens. As Mr Edwards - the erstwhile enfant terrible of British archaeology following revelations that nearby Avebury was a total 20s and 30s rebuild by marmalade millionaire Alexander Keiller - says: ‘What we have been looking at is a 20th Century landscape, which is reminiscent of what Stonehenge MIGHT have been like thousands of years ago. It has been created by the heritage industry and is NOT the creation of prehistoric people. What we saw at the Millennium is less than 50 years old.‘ In archaeological terms the re-writing of the guidebooks is dynamite. English Heritage run Stonehenge on behalf of the nation, and an English Heritage insider revealed: ‘Dark forces were at work in the 70s, when a decision was taken to drop the information about the restorations. Now that is about to change.’ The Restoration and Rebuild The first restoration of Stonehenge was launched 100 years ago this year. And, in 1901, as the builders went to work, The Times letters column was full of bucolic missives of complaint. But the first stage of ‘restoration’ thundered ahead regardless and the style guru of the day, John Ruskin, released the maxim which was to outlive him…. ‘Restoration is a lie,’ he stormed. Nevertheless the Stonehenge makeover was to gather momentum and more work was carried out in 1919, 1920, 1958, 1959 and 1964. Christopher Chippindale, curator at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Anthropology, and author of Stonehenge Complete, admits: ‘Nearly all the stones have been moved in some way and are standing in concrete.’ A stone was straightened and set in concrete in 1901, six further stones in 1919 and 1920, three more in 1959 and four in 1964. There was also the excavation of the Altar stone and re-erection of the Trilithon in 1958. The guide book ‘Stonehenge and Neighbouring Monuments’ , and the audio tour of the Henge omit any comprehensive mention of the rebuilding in the 20th Century. Only on page 18 is there a slight reference…’A number of the leaning and fallen stones have been straightened and re-erected.’ But even that official guide book does contain clues to the large scale restoration, which was not deemed worth a full entry. Why does John Constable’s 1835 painting of the Henge on pages 18 and 19 look so vastly different from the latter-day pristine photograph across pages 28 and 29? REASON: A lot of restoration work had taken place in between the two images being recorded. And, during long hot summers it would be possible - if one could get near to the stones - to see the turf peeling back to reveal the concrete boots into which the majority of the stones are now set. A dead give-away, but difficult to spot now as proximity to the Henge is limited. Our pictures clearly show the rebuilding in progress. Some were discovered by Mr Chippendale and were used in a revised edition of his book. Many of those have since been lost. Others were found by Mr Edwards who unearthed guide books from the time when Stonehenge was not ashamed of its past and featured photographs and stories of the restorations. ‘The news is sensational,’ said Mr Edwards, a decorate student at the University of the West of England. ‘Once I realised how much work had been carried out, I was amazed to discover that practically no-one outside of the henge knows of its reconstruction in the last 100 years. I have always thought that if people are bothering to make a trip to Stonehenge, from home or abroad, then the least they should expect is a true story.’
"When you are approaching, you think look how small they are!" ~ That's your mind reliving your first viewing of "This is Spinal Tap." Nigel Tufnel told us "Build-dah - ONE - Dunkin. Dunker, we called him." "So, what would you ask the builders... " "BUILD-DAH" "Uh, build-DAH!" "I'd ask him. Hey, Dunkin what did ya do to build it?" "I got myself a drill, and I built it." ~ Simple. Why are we still trying to figure this out? Waste of higher education, and time. Go ask Nigel!
Im thinking they transported the stones by sea, then floated across or around the somerset levels on one of the many rivers Back then it was mostly flooded marshlands, nobodys dragging rocks that large across that ground. Plus, some might have got stuck and unrecoverable had they dragged them, that nobodys found a massive out of place rock yet on the now drained levels says they were very successful.
I'm curious; the UK appears to have been settled by peoples from the middle east yet no pyramids (that I know of). Yet pyramids are found as far afield as Turkey, South America and China. The ancient world was truly incredible.
unless there's physical evidence you didn't mention basing that conjecture that they would have started to see themselves as the centre of the world when they became farmers vs as hunters, i do think it's a bit of a leap. there are indigenous cultures who lived similarly pre-contact to europeans and were farmers and saw themselves as a part of the natural world.
how do we know for sure stone henge is 5500 yrs old? maybe its a lot older than that? i reckon the sphynx, pyramids are at least 10,000 bc, maybe older,, it would be good if we had the exact date of origin, remember the dateing tool that woman had in prometheus to date when the alien picture was drawn, i think it was 32/33,000 bc... i wish it was as easy as that these days!
Neil if you read this......here is the answer to why we keep getting recurring stories again and again.....from the Epic Of Gilgamesh to the old testament/new testament and the Aeneid. Ready? They're all talking about the same thing......cycles!..........that is why there are so many 12's in the stories. The 12 months in the YEARLY cycle are the 12 disciples in the Jesus story. The 12 labours of Hercules. The 12 knighr's of the ROUND TABLE (CYCLE). Getting it yet?
I so enjoy every one of your presentations Neil... but while you are speaking to the question about circle structures, what we are shown is completely irrelevant & poorly chosen images of square huts! WHY? Victor Ambrose's art masterpieces do however appear totally fitting with loads of circle structures and it's peoples, wearing textiles and looking much more realistic for the era. No doubt you can't use them w/o high costs but people should see his book or a Time Team/Dig Time show to understand more realistic images and art work.
Why farmers they don’t have time now to do this farmers know about the preseli hills why blue stones also why there are other theories that try to explain this gobeklie tepie has blown all the time lines out further back stone henge looks far older the weathering is the clue
Sorry Neil but that story of farmers building this thousands of years ago is less believable than the aliens theory 😂 joking but we definitely have no clue who made them and for what purpose if "farmers did it" is the "accepted" explanation.
Not a mention of the frozen river that left the lines in the ground directed at the solstices ...was the reason they built here in the first place?! What????
The first time i saw Stonehenge was in 1974. I was in the army and sent to Larkhill for a course, from my bedroom window I could see it a few miles off. It was January and dark, wet and gloomy. In those days before mass tourism the stone were approachable to the public and one weekend day I walked there through the rain and drizzle, despite the weather it was a magical time for me. Since then I have visited but unfortunately, never been so close as in those days.
A monument to the British obsession with time and weather.
✌️Yes, in the days when the weather meant life or death.
The castlerigg stone circle nr Penrith is the most stunning ihave ever seen. On a Autumn morning with mist circling the mountains like dragons breath magical!
Castlerigg is indeed a beautiful circle. I love the Rollright Stones too. Magnetic energy tests were successfully carried out there some years ago.
The Rudston Monolith and Devil's Arrows up in Yorkshire are standalones I like a lot too.
Beautiful at dawn also. My favourite space.
@@hobi1kenobi112 you must go to Orkney the prehistory up their is superb.
Been their as well unfortunately I got the wild Atlantic gales as well
Just as the ancestors would have seen it too. 🌅
I haven’t visited Castle rig but I was lucky enough to visit ring of Brodgar with the same feelings.
Happy historic hunting ☺️
We went to see Stonehenge in the early 70's there was no visitors car park no tunnel or visitors centre, you pulled up on the side of the road, and walked right up to the stones, walked around and under them and even climbed on them, they weren't roped off, there was no path you had to walk on. I'm not sure when the decision was made to make it the way it is today.
🤔 'could it be the...
Cha- Ching £$¥€¢ ?
I remember the powers that be more or less dismantling the henge
late 60s 70..
In fact you could
watch a little of the
dismantling on yt ..
until it was censored.
Might be on the way back machine!?
But if you can find it
it's worth a watch👊
As a kid from the 60,s mum and dad always stopped at Stonehenge when we holidayed in the West Country. It was like a playground to us kids, we have loads of photos of us climbing on the stones. There was very little litter and it was so natural. Now you cant even stop there without a lot of hassle and cost. Bring back the old days.
The freemasons rebuild it in thier own image in early 1900s check the photos out all stones removed and reset in ready mix !
I believe there was a sort of car park over the road. More of a field if I remember correctly.
@@doctorbritain9632 yeah like a hard shoulder
You need to tell people about your podcast on GBN. I have been a big fan for a long time. More people need to hear this
Thank you always, Neil. Beautiful podcast. Many new insights for me to add to my mental pictures of Stonehenge. ❤
Stonehenge was moved 3300 years ago from the Preseli hills in pembrokeshire, I know where it was, it's fantastic
I meant 3300 BC
To quote him, I'm "knocked off my socks" by Neil Oliver's podcasts again and again. I've always been fascinated by history, the older, the better. But his enthusiasm is absolutely contagious. Actually, I don't even remember what video brought me here. Maybe it was one of his comments on the current situation, another reason I appreciate his work very much. As I'm not British, I didn't know about him before. But since, I've read (and/or listened to) his books. Please don't stop! We need people using their voice against the mainstream, if necessary, and we need some time to shove all the insanity into the background as well from time to time, putting it into perspective, I guess. At least I do... Greetings from the continent and thank you so much!!!!!
First I saw Neil Oliver was on Australian tv and have been hooked ever since......so great to have found him on RUclips!
I love how intimately connected to the natural world they were.
Uncalcified pineal glands?
Could the "fall of man" been a story about man's split with nature and his own nature?
The blue stones were second hand . Uprooted and transported 150 miles ....amazing . Thank you Neil
We are living near Stonehenge and seeing it in the morning mist or evening sunset always fills me with wonder I love it 😍😍😍
Lucky you!
Was there with a fasting hiking group from middle of europe... I will never forget how friendly people from there were - we lost our way to Stonehenge, and a men we met in a church nearby showed us the way, taking more then one hour... I will never forget either the mystical power it radiates...
Hi Neil, looking forward to listening and watching this in peace and quiet tonight! Hope you’ll have a great weekend whatever you do.
I was lucky enough to have been around five years old the first time I saw Stonehenge so they seemed large. Back in those days (early 70s) there was a small car park, no underpass and you could walk among them and yes jump up and down on some of them.
Since discovering Outlander i do believe there is something magical. Makes our intelligence so insignificant really
Fascinating! Great stuff! Love listening to you!
It's incredible how much organisation and ingenuity this must have taken to build.
Imagine what those same people could accomplish with modern day construction equipment?
I wondwer if the shaman blessed every stone when it reached the location or when it was put into position. Imagine the ceremony, would put the pseudo Druids in the shadow.
And I always thought that SH was a complete temple (if you like) destroyed by the ravages of time. Your statement that SH was never completed was a surprize and explains about the missing stones. I learn something new every day, thanks.
Some humans knew and know mankinds place in Cosmology and what we are headed for and where we come from. Building such spaces to ‘glorify’ and unite man and cosmos is what such a clear sighted society does. … for the benefit of all and as a sign of those times.
So weird, just gone past Stonehenge and been reading about it!
Brilliant watch I went there once was absolutely awe struck
Fantastic! Love it! 🎖
On a visit to the UK from Australia driving from Cornwall to Norfolk, with no thought to Stonehenge, I noticed it as I drove past (still not sure if I was on my intended road). I too, was surprised how much smaller it was than I expected. It was a bit unfortunate because on the previous visit to the UK, I was on an organised tour that included Stonehenge but that part of the tour was cancelled due to heavy snowfall.
Really enjoyed this. Thank you ❤️
So enjoying this series! Bought the book. Well done all!
Even with the best aligned megaliths, the sun's movement at solstice is so slight that, with the naked eye, it requires a minimum of three observations to verify the season has turned. Any celebrations held by the henge builders were bound to be delayed as Christmas and Saturnalia would later be.
A great listen. A great man. I have been there and saw Avebury later the same day. I don't know why but the individual stones at Avebury were more impressive to me. Maybe it's because they were still there to be to touched and no modern formality has been smothered on them.
It never ceases to amaze me how archaeologists and historians will jump to such huge conclusions based on such flimsy and flawed evidence. They make such massive assumptions. This place is such a mystery and will remain so. Imagination is a powerful tool, but we must not Believe it’s extrapolation.
They seem to have some design and functional similarities to the earthen mounds in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri in the US.
I really enjoyed that thanks
The stones seem very small in Spinal Tap. I guess Spinal Taps artistic director just took the bus straight past StoneHenge 😆.
Yes..🤣"too TAVISTOCK!..👊
The Pug abides.
Not every winter comes to an end. Due to meteor rain moacts or volcanos in far flung parts of the world. Maybe they had an oral memory of “that one time” winter didn’t end. Anyway, great episode! 🌱🌊☀️🏄♂️
I like my Neil Oliver turned up to 11.🤘
@bob baggins LOL! Dolby. But yeah.😂
Frankly I hated the early Dolby, it took out too much high range. Always had a sound system with my own EQ to taylor to each bands particular sound.
To my way of thinking is that it was the Village hall of its time..
Many things happened there over time..
Neil you may be interested to have a conversation with Thomas Rowsell from the channel Survive the Jive
Stonehenge apparently went by the name of the Giants' Dance in other writings. Avebury was Abiri and England was Antal!
The Welsh name for Stone henge is *Côr y cewri* ( The choir of giants)
but just up the road is Avebury Henge and stone circles are one of the greatest marvels of prehistoric Britain
In “Stonehenge Decoded”, Hawkins and White describe artifacts found at Stonehenge as being in the fashion of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece. This suggests trade between the Wessex people and the civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean around 1500 BC. Seems likely that Stonehenge, which would have been complete by then, was already famous. O! For a Time Machine!
First, but of secondary importance, is the remarkable continuity of culture over at least 1000 years necessary to create the Henge and the associated works. Stand at the Henge and you will see on the horizon burial mounds of the old Chiefs or Kings. Each King wanting to show how wise and powerful he was by making new additions to the site, much like the Pharos of Egypt. Well over a thousand years of continuously aligned culture, with the land rich enough to regularly provide surplus for the manpower needed to built the monuments. And what with men being men there is no reason to believe that these were somehow peaceful agrarian times. Far more likely is that there were a succession of tribal wars, power grabs and the rest.
The most significant thing though is the notion Neil briefly alluded to by saying "they had ideas going on that demanded massive expression". In my opinion the Henge represents the Birth of Science, but a Science still thoroughly embedded in the mysteries of nature. Observations of celestial motions could have physical expressions on earth! Celestial motions could be predicted and measured. Nature in some respect could be tied down and tamed. This must have been a simply massive revelation - or gift from the gods if you like. It is a massive marker of a stage of human development - of his relationship to the world and of his place in it.
Nah, these were matriarchal societies and if you look at- Maria Gimbutas's extensive archeology, anthropology and sociology works and the amazing, Brien Foerster'
This man could sell ice to an Eskimo with that voice😍😍😍😍😍
Stonehenge was built as an observatory.
Blue stones? Blue cheese-like, in appearance!
USA has one straight across the ocean in line. With your Google maps world draw a line through to new Hampshire is where it is. Then a line through the other way through the ocean. There is another one it is so amazing.
On Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, the stone circle near the Cheesewring rock formation is called the Hurlers and the story goes that these people were disobeying by playing Hurling on a Sunday, and they got turned to stone. smh
Amazing place
@@thekentishman8832 kentish man.....or man of Kent?? Which side of the Medway?
West side
@@thekentishman8832 perfect! Like my Dad.
Top man! 😂
Is there not the possebility that they pullt the blue stones over snow and ice at that time?
STONEHENGE 20TH CENTURY RESTORATION
Written by Roger Taverner (Published on March 5, 2019 in Principia Scientific International)
For decades the official Stonehenge guidebooks have been full of fascinating facts and figures and theories surrounding the world’s greatest prehistoric monument.
What the glossy brochures do not mention, however, is the systematic rebuilding of the 4,000 year old stone circle throughout the 20th Century.
The video below and pictures show workers on the site in 1901 in a restoration which caused outrage at the time but which is rarely referred to in official guidebooks.
For it means that Stonehenge, jewel in the crown of Britain’s heritage industry, is not all it seems. Much of what the ancient site’s millions of visitors see in fact dates back less than 50 years.
From 1901 to 1964, the majority of the stone circle was restored in a series of makeovers which have left it, in the words of one archaeologist, as ‘a product of the 20th century heritage industry’. But the information is markedly absent from the guidebooks and info-phones used by tourists at the site.
Coming in the wake of the news that the nearby Avebury stone circle was almost totally rebuilt in the 1920s, the revelation about Stonehenge has caused embarrassment among archaelogists. English Heritage, the guardian of the monument, is to rewrite the official guide, which dismisses the Henge’s recent history in a few words.
Dave Batchelor, English Heritage’s senior archaeologist said he would personally rewrite the official guide. ‘The detail was dropped in the Sixties’, he admitted. ‘But times have changed and we now believe this is an important piece of the Stonehenge story and must be told’.
ambridge University archeological archivist and leading Stonehenge author Christopher Chippindale admitted: ‘Not much of what we see at Stonehenge hasn’t been touched in some way’. And historical research student Brian Edwards, who recently revealed that the nearby Avebury Monument had been totally rebuilt, has found rare pictures of Stonehenge being restored.
He said:
‘It has been as if Stonehenge had been historically cleansed’. ‘For too long people have been kept in the dark over the Stonehenge restoration work. I am astonished by how few people know about it. It is wonderful the guide book is going to tell the full story in the future.’
A million visitors a year are awe-struck as they look back in time into another age and marvel at the primitive technology and muscle-power which must have been employed transporting the huge monoliths and raising them on Salisbury Plain. They gasp as they are told about this strangely spiritual site…. mankind’s first computer, its standing stones and precise lintels, lining up magically and mysteriously with the heavens above and the solstice suns.
But now, as if to head off a potential great archaeological controversy - and following interest displayed by historical researcher Brian Edwards and a local newspaper, the brochures will be re-written, to include the ‘forgotten years’.
The years when teams of navvies sat aboard the greatest cranes in the British Empire to hoist stones upright; drag leaning trilithons into position, replace fallen lintels which once sat atop the huge sarsens.
As Mr Edwards - the erstwhile enfant terrible of British archaeology following revelations that nearby Avebury was a total 20s and 30s rebuild by marmalade millionaire Alexander Keiller - says:
‘What we have been looking at is a 20th Century landscape, which is reminiscent of what Stonehenge MIGHT have been like thousands of years ago. It has been created by the heritage industry and is NOT the creation of prehistoric people. What we saw at the Millennium is less than 50 years old.‘
In archaeological terms the re-writing of the guidebooks is dynamite. English Heritage run Stonehenge on behalf of the nation, and an English Heritage insider revealed:
‘Dark forces were at work in the 70s, when a decision was taken to drop the information about the restorations. Now that is about to change.’
The Restoration and Rebuild
The first restoration of Stonehenge was launched 100 years ago this year.
And, in 1901, as the builders went to work, The Times letters column was full of bucolic missives of complaint. But the first stage of ‘restoration’ thundered ahead regardless and the style guru of the day, John Ruskin, released the maxim which was to outlive him…. ‘Restoration is a lie,’ he stormed.
Nevertheless the Stonehenge makeover was to gather momentum and more work was carried out in 1919, 1920, 1958, 1959 and 1964. Christopher Chippindale, curator at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Anthropology, and author of Stonehenge Complete, admits:
‘Nearly all the stones have been moved in some way and are standing in concrete.’
A stone was straightened and set in concrete in 1901, six further stones in 1919 and 1920, three more in 1959 and four in 1964. There was also the excavation of the Altar stone and re-erection of the Trilithon in 1958.
The guide book ‘Stonehenge and Neighbouring Monuments’ , and the audio tour of the Henge omit any comprehensive mention of the rebuilding in the 20th Century. Only on page 18 is there a slight reference…’A number of the leaning and fallen stones have been straightened and re-erected.’ But even that official guide book does contain clues to the large scale restoration, which was not deemed worth a full entry.
Why does John Constable’s 1835 painting of the Henge on pages 18 and 19 look so vastly different from the latter-day pristine photograph across pages 28 and 29? REASON: A lot of restoration work had taken place in between the two images being recorded.
And, during long hot summers it would be possible - if one could get near to the stones - to see the turf peeling back to reveal the concrete boots into which the majority of the stones are now set. A dead give-away, but difficult to spot now as proximity to the Henge is limited.
Our pictures clearly show the rebuilding in progress. Some were discovered by Mr Chippendale and were used in a revised edition of his book. Many of those have since been lost. Others were found by Mr Edwards who unearthed guide books from the time when Stonehenge was not ashamed of its past and featured photographs and stories of the restorations.
‘The news is sensational,’ said Mr Edwards, a decorate student at the University of the West of England.
‘Once I realised how much work had been carried out, I was amazed to discover that practically no-one outside of the henge knows of its reconstruction in the last 100 years. I have always thought that if people are bothering to make a trip to Stonehenge, from home or abroad, then the least they should expect is a true story.’
This has been shellacked to death.
Stonehenge is still ancient.
Oh you iconoclasts
I was very surprised to learn that after my first visit. I was devastated and felt it destroyed the magic.
"When you are approaching, you think look how small they are!" ~ That's your mind reliving your first viewing of "This is Spinal Tap." Nigel Tufnel told us "Build-dah - ONE - Dunkin. Dunker, we called him." "So, what would you ask the builders... " "BUILD-DAH" "Uh, build-DAH!" "I'd ask him. Hey, Dunkin what did ya do to build it?" "I got myself a drill, and I built it." ~ Simple. Why are we still trying to figure this out? Waste of higher education, and time. Go ask Nigel!
Why don't this video play?
There is nearby a ''Wood Henge''. How old is it ?
Stonehenge was built in the 1950s. There is photos of the work being carried out.
I was disappointed to find this out
Im thinking they transported the stones by sea, then floated across or around the somerset levels on one of the many rivers
Back then it was mostly flooded marshlands, nobodys dragging rocks that large across that ground.
Plus, some might have got stuck and unrecoverable had they dragged them, that nobodys found a massive out of place rock yet on the now drained levels says they were very successful.
Love these, but a little too much music in the background.
I'm curious; the UK appears to have been settled by peoples from the middle east yet no pyramids (that I know of). Yet pyramids are found as far afield as Turkey, South America and China. The ancient world was truly incredible.
But the mid summer point its not same now as it were 4500 years ago?
Is it true that the Romans toppled some of the stones of stonehenge as part of their attack on the Druids?
No Spinal tap reference?
Disappointed when I got to go there. Nobody's allowed anywhere near. Yet they open it up fully for weirdos on the solstice
unless there's physical evidence you didn't mention basing that conjecture that they would have started to see themselves as the centre of the world when they became farmers vs as hunters, i do think it's a bit of a leap. there are indigenous cultures who lived similarly pre-contact to europeans and were farmers and saw themselves as a part of the natural world.
Giant callander
A race of giant's. Descendants of Mars.
The sun dosnt set in same plc every year.
Was the Sun a god to them. Like Helios?
how do we know for sure stone henge is 5500 yrs old?
maybe its a lot older than that?
i reckon the sphynx, pyramids are at least 10,000 bc, maybe older,,
it would be good if we had the exact date of origin,
remember the dateing tool that woman had in prometheus to date when the alien picture was drawn, i think it was 32/33,000 bc...
i wish it was as easy as that these days!
What I don't get is how there is so much history recorded in your country did no church or king records ever mention its meaning?
Neil if you read this......here is the answer to why we keep getting recurring stories again and again.....from the Epic Of Gilgamesh to the old testament/new testament and the Aeneid.
Ready?
They're all talking about the same thing......cycles!..........that is why there are so many 12's in the stories.
The 12 months in the YEARLY cycle are the 12 disciples in the Jesus story.
The 12 labours of Hercules.
The 12 knighr's of the ROUND TABLE (CYCLE).
Getting it yet?
Yes I do. Very interesting. Thank you.
As you know I am the genius who solved Stonehenge, the Phaistos Disk and Karahan Tepe. You should click the logo and discover the real Stonehenge.
I so enjoy every one of your presentations Neil... but while you are speaking to the question about circle structures, what we are shown is completely irrelevant & poorly chosen images of square huts! WHY?
Victor Ambrose's art masterpieces do however appear totally fitting with loads of circle structures and it's peoples, wearing textiles and looking much more realistic for the era.
No doubt you can't use them w/o high costs but people should see his book or a Time Team/Dig Time show to understand more realistic images and art work.
Why farmers they don’t have time now to do this farmers know about the preseli hills why blue stones also why there are other theories that try to explain this gobeklie tepie has blown all the time lines out further back stone henge looks far older the weathering is the clue
Sorry Neil but that story of farmers building this thousands of years ago is less believable than the aliens theory 😂 joking but we definitely have no clue who made them and for what purpose if "farmers did it" is the "accepted" explanation.
I love Neil, but I don’t give a f*^k about stone Henge.
But the stones are fake. The original ones were removed and replaced with fake material.
Ireland 🇮🇪 is not a British Isle/Island and it is not your home or Country.
It’s just a bunch of big stones
Thicko
Thank god there are many stupid people in the world to do the simple things, now go buy a pizza and sit in front of your TV.
......and art just oil and canvas? Your family just water and other chemicals?
TAVISTOCKED!!!👊
Dumb thing to say Gary
Not a mention of the frozen river that left the lines in the ground directed at the solstices ...was the reason they built here in the first place?! What????