Summer Solstice - Stonehenge

There is something eerie about Stonehenge. I have seen it many times from the road and visited it three times. Each time, as child, teenager and then Adult I am desperate to get inside the circle and touch the stones.

"Stonehenge is perhaps one the most famous prehistoric monument in the world. Begun as a simple earthwork enclosure, it was built in several stages, with the unique lintelled stone circle being erected in the Neolithic period in around 2,500 BC.

Stonehenge remained important into the early Bronze Age (2,200–1,500 BC), when many burial mounds were built nearby. Today, Stonehenge, together with Avebury and other associated sites, form the heart of a World Heritage Site with a unique and dense concentration of outstanding prehistoric monuments."

One of the most atmospheric pictures of Stonehenge I have seen

One of my favourite legends surrounding Stonehenge is of a connection with Merlin and Arthur...

Geoffrey of Monmouth’s 'Historia Regium Britanniae' ('The History of the Kings of Britain'), was written in about 1136. It is the main source for the most famous legend relating to Stonehenge.

This relates the defeat of the Saxon king Hengist by the rightful British king, Aurelius Ambrosius.

 As a celebration and everlasting memorial to his victory, Merlin brought a stone circle, the Giants’ Round, from Ireland to Salisbury Plain. 


Upon his death Aurelius was buried within the Giants’ Round, as was his successor, Utherpendragon, whose son was the great King Arthur of Britain.

Throughout the following centuries Geoffrey’s history of Stonehenge, though criticised, remained popular and tales of Merlin and Arthurian legend continues to be linked to the monument.

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Stonehenge is just one of many historical sites in the South West of England... which include Avebury.

It is open for the Summer Solstice on the 21 June each year.