Day 117 ~ Stonehenge, or Are the Ancient Alienists Right?

May 6, 2022

Foggy and low 50's in Portsmouth, 60's and sunny on the Salisbury plain!

Stonehenge, where the demons dwell
Where the banshees live and they do live well
Stonehenge, where a man's a man
And the children dance to the pipes of Pan. 
— Spinal Tap

As well as being a working commercial and cruise port, Portsmouth is also home to some of Her Majesty's Royal Navy

Our day began with room service so we could gather with our fellow travelers to present ourselves and our passports to the British Customs officers who were on board to check and stamp our passports. After that, we trooped down to board our bus to Stonehenge. 

On the way, we passed many charming thatched roof homes. Our guide explained that extra insurance is required for houses with thatched roofs. The owners are required to maintain the thatch and cannot change to another style of roofing. 

The yellow gorse bushes are an invasive species.

As we passed from Hampshire to Wiltshire, we drove through the New Forest, which is England's version of a national park. It's kind of mis-named as "new." It was declared a royal enclave by William the Conqueror. Unlike US national parks, homes, villages, farms exist inside the park's boundaries and the owners have free-range grazing rights for their animals. 

We saw pigs snoozing in the shade alongside the road and lots of ponies. The round-bellied mare in this photo looks like she's about to drop a foal. 

 

This tree-covered hill is the site of ancient Sarum, a neolithic village. For more about the history of this area and all the Salisbury plain, look for Sarum, The Novel of England by Edward Rutherford. I read this Michener-esque doorstop of a historical novel  probably 15 years ago. It was fascinating and I feel the need to read it again!

Then we reached Stonehenge and separated ourselves from the rest of the group so we'd be sure to have plenty of time to walk around the site. I love a museum as well or better than the next person, but when you have a 5000 year old monument right in front of you, that trumps anything kept under glass.

The heel stone in the foreground is about 250 ft. from the center of the stone circle. It marks the place where the sun rises on the summer solstice when viewed from the center of the circle.

As we walked around Stonehenge, it created more questions than answers. Geologically, this was not the right place to build a monument like this. The nearest source of the largest sarsen stones is 15 miles away. Imagine a culture that doesn't even have the wheel or metal tools trying to quarry, dress, and move these 20 to 30 ton stones. And the blue stones placed inside the circle are from Wales, 125 miles away. 

We have no evidence that the builders of the henge had written language. But they must have had some form of mathematics since they recorded the length of daylight long enough to recognize the cyclical nature of the seasons and mark the solstices and equinoxes. 

There are a number of missing stones, probably scavenged over the centuries for building material. Notice the tenon joint at the top of the tallest stone. The builders connected stone with the same principles of joinery that carpenters use with wood. 

Who dreamed up the plan to construct Stonehenge? What was its purpose? It was likely built in stages and was the work of generations. Whatever inspired it must have been a grand idea, something to catch the imagination of a huge number of people, and keep them working at it even after the original designers were gone.  

"O! To be in England now that spring is here!" Beautiful fields of blooming rape seed, which is used to make canola oil. Both the countryside and the towns we saw are clean and refuse-free. It was a treat not to see garbage in the streets or angry spikes of graffiti and tagging on public buildings.

Sorry about the reflections...

We passed through Salisbury both ways and caught glimpses of the spire of the twelfth century Salisbury Cathedral. The story of its building is also included in the Sarum novel. 

Some people look at the incredible churches and cathedrals and the art and ornamentation that goes into them and they complain that instead of building, the church could've fed, clothed and housed so many.

I would argue that they did. If a town was chosen to be a cathedral city, it meant full employment for the area for the next 100 years. Giving people purpose and the dignity of work is better than hand outs.

I so want to actually visit this cathedral someday instead of just driving by it. I've been told it's relatively plain inside, but it's been sanctified by 100's of years of worship and prayer. Just being in that space would be a wonderful experience.

Kristy, the DH and me after our big World Cruise Photo. If I can get a copy of the picture of the crew and passengers that was taken on the bow. It was quite a trick to arrange several hundred people for a photo op. 

Kristy, our resident nightowl, snapped this photo of the Spinnaker Sail as we were leaving Portsmouth. The rest of us were all asnooze, but fortunately, she spotted this iconic symbol of the port city.