Stonehenge

Having a child who is fascinated by history leads to some interesting trips. For the last few months, Youngest Daughter has wanted to know who built Stonehenge and why. She has built clay models and talked about visiting.

Having talked so much about the place, it was time for an outing. Thankfully, it was a beautiful clear February day-cold enough for ice on some muddy patches but warm enough for a few daisies to be open.

It isn't possible to go right up to the stones after all they are fairly old! We had an interesting discussion about how they were old in Roman times and the time between the present day and Elizabeth I compared with that between the building of Stonehenge and the Romans. I need to pull out our timeline again!

The work to transport these stones, some from Wales, and then upend them must have been tremendous. The larger stones are thought to have come from only about 20 miles away but would have taken 200 people to move them.
 The stones are shaped and the lintels are held in place with a ball and socket type joint fashioned using stones.

The shadows from the stones were long- even at midday. We talked a bit about the possibly beliefs of those who built the place; how the way that it was aligned, to the sun's rays, appears to have been important and the Creator of the sun.

I couldn't believe this was February!

 The Heel Stone

The whole area is surrounded with ancient burial mounds.

A fascinating, strange place.

We finished our day with a walk with friends and then a picnic overlooking the Salisbury Plain, just as the sun was setting.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork. 

Psalm 19v1