A Study of Stonehenge

I learned about Stonehenge in fifth grade while studying ancient structures. I was immediately hooked, and from that point on I knew I had to someday see Stonehenge. It took over 40 years for me to get there, but I finally had my chance during a vacation trip to England in May 2014. Our trip itinerary included an afternoon’s stopover in Salisbury; I knew I couldn’t visit England without seeing Stonehenge. From Salisbury, getting a tour of Stonehenge was a matter of walking into the town’s tourism office a couple of blocks from the train station then waiting at the bus stop for the twice an hour bus trip out to the site.

Even today, the Plains of Salisbury is a lonely place and Stonehenge dominates the region. The tourist museum one mile from the site are an obvious footnote to the huge stone structure that has somehow survived for 5000 years. It was raining on the day we visited. But the rain stopped and the skies cleared just a few minutes after we arrived at the structure, and stayed clear until shortly after we left. It seemed that the Gods were truly smiling on us.

This is my photo study. I’ve included detail images of the structure starting from the Heel Stone and working my way clockwise around the perimeter.

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Use the “Slideshow” link to step through the images in sequence. Move your cursor over the images to read the description.

For more information on this incredible neolithic structure, please visit:

• English Heritage – Stonehenge: Official website with history, current research, and visit information.
• Wikipedia – Stonehenge: In-depth Wikipedia article.
• Smithsonian – New Light on Stonehenge: An in-depth article discussing current research findings.