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Solstice

21/6/2022

1 Comment

 
It lifted my spirits today to see the revellers at Stonehenge first thing this morning, celebrating the summer solstice when the sun rises in a direct line with the main axis of the monument. Of course the belief that somehow the Druids were responsible for Stonehenge is generally regarded these days as moonshine. Virtually all that is known of the Druids at or before the time of the Romans in Britain, comes from the writings of that period – mainly Julius Caesar, Tacitus, and Pliny the Elder. The Druids were:
 
philosophers, teachers, judges, the repository of communal wisdoms about the natural world and the traditions of the people, and the mediators between humans and the gods.
 
They left no written records and almost no archaeological evidence, and since none of the ancient writers mentioned Stonehenge, there was nothing whatsoever to connect it to the Druids. It was the antiquarian John Aubrey writing in the 17th century who first suggested that Stonehenge and Avebury predated the Romans, and since the Druids were known to have been in Britain before the Romans, the stone circles might have been their temples. William Stukeley, writing in the 18th century, embraced this idea, and created a positive Druidic industry; after Stukeley, no one could doubt that the Druids had built Stonehenge and the stone circles at Avebury and elsewhere, and used them for their rituals.
 
Nevertheless Druids or no, Stonehenge was the brainchild of some great architect, a British Imhotep with whom he was more or less contemporary. Dating from 4,500 years ago, Stonehenge provides us with a real and tangible connection with our remote ancestors. It is right and proper that it should be celebrated on its significant day.
1 Comment
Stewart Peppiatt
21/6/2022 10:34:39 pm

Stonehenge is certainly a stirring reminder of what early mankind could achieve without power tools and (modern) computers, but with dedication and co-operation. Quiet a contrast to our current fragmented society.

And despite several recent, fascinating discoveries, it still has many mysteries to disclose.

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  • Home
  • Books
    • Henry's Trials >
      • Extract from Henry's Trials
    • Smethurst's Luck >
      • Extract from Smethurst's Luck
    • Murder in the Red Barn >
      • Extract from Murder in the Red Barn
    • Reverend Duke and the Amesbury Oliver
  • Talks
    • Talk on Henry's Trials
    • Talk on Smethurst's Luck
    • Talk on Isambard Kingdom Brunel
    • Talk on the Murder in the Red Barn
    • BBC
  • Publications
    • The Amesbury Union Workhouse
    • The Separate System
  • Peter Maggs
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Family History
    • Mirli
    • BM Creeper >
      • The Significance of Stonehenge
      • Educating Ealing I: How Lady Byron Did It
      • Educating Ealing II: Church of England Primary in the 1920s
      • All Because of Crystal Palace
      • Innocent in Ealing - Extract
      • Miss McDonald