In the January, 1902, number ofMan, Mr. W. Gowland’s interesting paper will be found, describing the excavations, methods of trimming and erecting the stones practised by the ancients.
As to the kinds of stone actually employed in the building of Stonehenge, the whole of the outer circle and the four stones lying beyond that circle are undoubtedly “Sarsen” (which are the boulder stones left by the ice-sheet of the glacial period on the Wiltshire downs). There are, in the inner circle, four stones which have been called “horn-stone.” The remainder are “diabase,” commonly called “bluestones,” and similar are found in Wales, and in parts of Cumberland and Cornwall, the so-called Altar Stone being a kind of grey sandstone, not sarsen. The large outlying stone, known traditionally as the “Friar’s Heel,” from a legend that when the devil was busy erecting Stonehenge he made the observation that no one would ever know how it was done. This was overheard by a friarlurking near by, and he incautiously replied in the Wiltshire dialect, “That’s more than thee can tell,” and fled for his life; the devil, catching up an odd stone, flung it after the friar, and hit him on the heel. This stone is also named the “Pointer,” because from the middle of the Altar Stone the sun is seen at the summer solstice (21st of June) to rise immediately above it. The Hele Stone is the true name, “Hele” meaning “to hide,” from Heol or Haul of Geol or Jul, all names for the sun, which this stone seems to hide. From the Friar’s Heel it is about 66 yards to a low circular earthen boundary, enclosing the area within which Stonehenge stands. Just within the entrance to this earthen ring lies a large prostrate stone called the “Slaughter Stone,” supposed by some to have been used for the slaughter of victims about to be offered in sacrifice at the altar. The Slaughter Stone (at the end nearest to the Friar’s Heel) bears evidence of tool-marks, there being six small round cavities made in it by blows from a flint tool. On the margin of the earthen ring, one 55 yards on the left, the other 95 yards on the right of the entrance, are two small, unhewn stones.
Ground plan as presumed to have been originally. A. Small Trilithon of Syenite. That it stood here is only conjecture. It now lies as marked A below
A. Trilithon fell 1797. B. Upright with capstone fell, Dec. 31st, 1900
Great Trilithons (as it was)
Stonehenge stands about 440 feet above the sea-level. The outer circle measures 308 feet in circumference, and is supposed to have been formed originally of thirty upright stones, seventeen of which are still standing, and the remains of nine others are to be found fallen to the ground. These stones formerly stood 14 feet above the surface of the ground, but now are of different heights. Their breadth and thickness also vary: the former averaging 7 feet, the latter 3½. The stones were fixed in the ground at intervals of 3½ feet, connected at the top by a continuous line of thirty imposts forming a corona or ring of stone at a height of 16 feet above the ground, and were all squared and rough hewn, and cleverly joined together. The uprights were cut with knobs or tenons, which fitted into mortice holes hewn in the undersides of the horizontal stones. About 9 feet within this peristyle was the “inner circle,” composed of diabase obelisks; within this, again, was the “great ellipse,” formed of five, or, as some think, seven trilithons of stones, each group consisting of two blocks placed upright and one crosswise. These structures rose progressively inheight from N.E. to S.W., and the loftiest and largest attained an elevation of 25 feet. Lastly, within the trilithons was the “inner ellipse,” consisting of nineteen obelisks of diabase. Within the inner ellipse we find the Altar Stone. At the present moment, there remains of the outer circle or peristyle sixteen uprights and six imposts; of the inner circle, seven only stand upright of the great ellipse—there are still two perfect trilithons and two single uprights. The Duke of Buckingham, in his researches in 1620, is said to have caused the fall of a trilithon. He was at Wilton in the reign of James I., and he “did cause the middle of Stonehenge to be digged, and under this digging was the cause of the falling down or recumbency of the great stone there, twenty-one foote long.” “In the process of digging they found a great many horns of stags and oxen, charcoal batter-dishes (?), heads of arrows, some pieces of armour eaten out with rust, bones rotten, but whether of stagge’s or men they could not tell.”
In 1797, on a rapid thaw succeeding a severe frost, another trilithon fell; of the inner ellipse, there are six blocks in their places; and in the centre remains the so-called Altar Stone.
In Sir R. C. Hoare’s “History of Wiltshire,” he mentions that Inigo Jones observed a stone, which is now gone, in the inmost part of the cell, appearing not much above the surface of the earth and lying towards the east, four feet broad and sixteen long, which was his supposed Altar Stone. Also “Philip, Earl of Pembroke (Lord Chamberlayne to King Charles I.), did say ‘that an altar stone was found in the middle of the area here, and that it was carried away to St. James’s.’”
The entrance to Stonehenge faced the N.E., and the road to it, “Viâ Sacra,” or avenue, can be traced by banks of earth.
It is the opinion of competent authorities that many of the stones should be underpinned in the manner of the “Leaning Stone,” as any violent storms, such as periodically sweep across the Plain, might bring them down. The fall of two of the stones from the outer circle (supposed by the superstitious to foretell the Queen’s death) on December 31st, 1900, the last day of the old century, and 103 yearsafter the last stones fell, was caused by a gale from the west.
There are the two opinions as to the right course to pursue regarding Stonehenge—some people considering it would be well to leave it to fall down, so that eventually it would appear like a jumbled heap of ninepins, others (myself among the number) that the necessary steps for its Preservation,notRestoration, should be taken.
Florence C. M. Antrobus.
April, 1902.
58
stones of the Sarsen circle: 30 piers, 28 lintels.
26
,, ,, Bluestone circle (2): this includes 1 impost.
15
,, ,, Sarsen trilithons: 10 piers, 5 imposts.
19
„ Inner bluestones.
1
Sun stone.
1
Altar stone.
1
Slaughter stone.
1
Stones of the Earth Circle.
123
Total
.
The question arises whether there were formerly other stones belonging to the earth circle. From probing the ground, there is reason to believe that a stone on this bank may once have marked the direction of the axis.
17 piersin situ, 8 prostrate or fragments, 5 missing.
6 lintelsin situ, 2 fragments, 20 missing.
12 stones or stumpsin situ, 10 prostrate, 4 missing.
5 piersin situ, 3 prostrate, 5 missing.
From this list of missing blue stones we may safely deduct two; two pieces of rock are known to be beneath the turf, and there may be others. The most satisfactory derivation of Sarsens or Sassens is from the Anglo-Saxon word for a rock or stone—ses, pluralsesenorsesons. The Inner Circle of blue stones and Inner Horse-shoe are composed of the “Blue Stones,” igneous rocks.
“On Salisbury Plain stand the ruins of the weird Circle of Revolution, Cor y Coeth in Welsh, the Circle of Dominion, the holy anointed stones of Ambresbiri (ambree, anointed;biri, Hebrew for holy ones), at once a sanctuary and a sundial (3000 years ago the only clock in Britain), regulated by the sun and moon for days and years. But the beautiful old British names since the sixth century have been blotted out by the terrible titleStonehengeor stone gallows—Stanhengen in Anglo-Saxon. A permanent gallows of stone was used by the Saxons for the execution of criminals, and wishing to aim a death-blow at British power, no surer way was found by the invaders than by hanging British leaders upon the consecrated stones of their revered temple. The road from the village of Amesbury to the Circle is still called Gallow’s Hill.”
From Mrs. Gordon’s Pamphlet.
An Arabic (and Persian) word meaning Holy Men come from the valley of the Euphrates. Mrs. Gordon considers Merlin (the Bismarck of his age) as the builder of Stonehenge; also that Aurelius Ambrosius, by his own wish, was buried within the Circle of Stonehenge.
Barrow, a Hebrew word for grave Mounds. Literally, the “thrown-up pit of lamentation.”
Wiltshire, in the Saxon Chronicles Wiltunseir, in Doomesday Wiltescire, derives its name from the town of Wilton, from the Wit-saetas (saetan= settlers or inhabitants), the West Saxon tribe who made it their home.
“And thus upon a night there came a vision unto Sir Launcelot, and charged him, in remission of all his sins, to haste him towards Almesbury. ‘And by that time thou come, there thou shalt find Queen Guenever dead; and therefore take thy fellows with thee, and also purvey thee a horse bier, and bring you the corpse of her, and bury it by her lord and husband.’ Then Sir Launcelot took his seven fellows with him, and on foot they went from Glastonbury, which is little more than thirty miles. And when Sir Launcelot was come to Almesbury, within the nunnery, Queen Guenever died but half an hour before.”
Timbs, in his “Abbeys and Castles in England,” says: “At Amesbury, says Bishop Tanner, quoting from Geoffrey of Monmouth, there is said to have been an ancient British monastery for 300 monks, founded, as some say, by the famous Prince Ambrosius who lived at the time of the Saxon invasion, and who was therein buried, destroyed by that cruel pagan, Gurmendus, who overran all this country in the sixth century.” This alludes to a monastery prior to the one founded by Elfrida, with which I begin my account of Amesbury Abbey.
is orientated to the midsummer sunrise, and points 50° east of north point. It leads uninterruptedly to the circular space formed by the earth circle in which Stonehenge stands, the enclosing bank being discontinued in this direction. It is noteworthy that the sun stone, as well as the slaughter stone, are not placed in the centre of the avenue or approach, but lie towards the eastern side of it. The avenue is made by two parallel lines confining ditches, the earth having been thrown inwards so as to slightly raise the roadway. These ditches, though shallow, are distinct. The avenue thus formed descends the gradual incline of the Down, until at about one thousand five hundred feet from the sun stone the ditches become indistinguishable. Here the descent is more rapid and leads to a gentle valley in the Down, where the avenue divided into two branches. It is now impossible to trace this point of division with any certainty.
This is now completely obliterated.
The branch which turned to the right, forming the eastern slope of the valley, went over its crest and continued in a straight line in the direction of some high land to the north of Vespasian’s Camp. The plough at work year after year has completely effaced all traces of this avenue, and we have to rely on Dr. Stukeley’s account written 150 years ago.
At 1200 feet from the sun stone “the approach” is intersected at an angle approximating roughly to a right angle by parallel banks about two feet in height and forty feetapart; the roadway thus formed continues about 600 feet to left and right; to the east it is continued by a causeway across the valley already spoken of, and it is used by carts passing that way, required in the cultivation of fields to the west of the avenue.
Discovered by Dr. Stukeley, 1723.
This great enclosure lies to the north of Stonehenge, and veers 6° from due east and west. Like the avenue it is formed by banks thrown up from an outer ditch. It is 9000 feet in length, with a width of 350 feet at its centre, but towards its extremities it narrows. To the west, the southern boundary is irregular. The northern ditch, on the contrary, makes a fairly straight line. Its eastern end is headed by a long mound now difficult to trace. Near its western extremity, and within the enclosure, are two small tumuli irregularly placed. The greater part of this earthwork being on the uncultivated Down is fairly well defined, especially to the west; to the east it has been obliterated by the plough.
To the north-west of the Great Cursus and over 7000 feet distant from Stonehenge, is an earthwork apparently the beginning of a second cursus. It is ill defined, and at 1200 feet from its enclosed end the ditches cease. It appears to be an abandoned scheme for an enclosure similar to the Cursus.
From “Stonehenge,” Mr. Edgar Barclay. At page 66 he says:—“The Cursus is irregular in shape, nevertheless there remains a very strong probability that it is an adjunct of Stonehenge, and was designed with it, and is not an independent earthwork as Sir R. Colt Hoare maintains.”
From Mr. J. F. Hewitt’s “Ruling Races of Pre-historic Times”:—“A hippodrome can still be traced about half a mile north of the Temple, with which it is connected by anavenue about forty cubits wide. This is divided into two branches, about 1700 feet from the Temple, the eastern hand going eastward to Radfin, a ford on the Avon, and the western curving round to the ancient chariot-course. It was here the seasonal games took place, said by Macrobius to have been celebrated by the Druids, when sacrifices were offered to the gods. This ancientcampus martius, running east and west, is about 10,000 feet or 6000 Druidical cubits long, and 350 feet or 200 Druidical cubits wide, and on the east side is a long bank, extending nearly its whole length, which must have served as a place for spectators; while on the west side is a curve to allow for the turning of the competing chariots. There can be no doubt whatever that this racecourse represents the ancient site of the national games; instituted by the Sons of the Horse, which are said in Greek tradition to have been founded by Akastus, king of Iolcus, after he had driven out Jason and Medea the sorceress.”
Tumuli, or Barrows, are the most simple kind of sepulchral monument; they consist of a mound of earth or stones raised over the dead.
Sir Richard Colt Hoare thus classifies them in his “History of Wiltshire”:—
1. The Long Barrow. Differing considerably in their construction.
2. The Bowl Barrow. The most ordinary shape.
3. The Bell Barrow. This, from the elegance of its form, seems a refinement on the Bowl Barrow. They abound near Stonehenge.
4. Druid Barrow (1st class). I consider these tumuli were appropriated to the female tribes. The outward vallum with the ditch within is beautifully moulded, and in most instances found to contain small cups, small lance heads, amber, jet, and glass beads.
5. Druid Barrow (2nd class). In external form these resemble the preceding, but their circumference is not so large. The tumulus within rises to a point from the edge of the vallum.
6. Pond Barrow. They differ totally from all others, and resemble an excavation made for a pond. I can form no conjecture as to their use.
7. Twin Barrow. They are not very common, and, by being enclosed in a circle, seem to denote the interment of relations.
8. Cone Barrow. The only one I have seen is at Everley. The tumulus rises immediately from the ditch, and the apex is higher and more pointed.
9. Broad Barrow. Resembles the Bowl Barrow, but is higher and flatter at the top.
Mr. Edgar Barclay, in “Stonehenge,” says:—“The presence of barrows (near Stonehenge) would enable marriages to be celebrated on the spot. A feast at the family tomb was an opportunity for a young woman about to marry to be formally introduced to the domestic worship of the family she was about to enter. That feasts did occur at Stonehenge Barrows we have proofs. We find also that Irish Fairs in honour of the Sun God were held in proximity to extensive burial-places. The arrangement of the avenues, the placing of the cursus, the placing of the sun stone and slaughter stone, the break in the lintel circle, &c.: these characteristics point out to us the probable procedures at times of festival. The midsummer festival solemnized the holy espousals of the Sun God with the land.”
In “The Ruling Races of Pre-historic Times,” Mr. Hewitt says:—“The deer worshippers were the mixed race formed from the union of the sons of the mother-tree, the mother-bear and wolf, the lordly boar and the prolific sow, the mother-cow, the mother-mountain, and father firestone, the people who looked on the Sun God of the equinoxes and solstices as the god who made their crops to grow and who ripened their barley, the seed of life (zi), the Zeus of the Greeks, which gave its name to the Deus of the Latins and the Theos of the Greeks, the Manx god Ji. This father sungod was the god on the grey white horse, the clouds, the white horse in Zend mythology of Tishtrya, the star of the summer solstice which succeeded the golden horned bull of the bull race, as the adversary and conqueror of the black horse, and the black bull or dragon, the cloud which will not give up its rain, which was in Northern mythology the winter frost giant. It was this white horse—the sun god of the limestone, flint, and chalk country—which was the god of Stonehenge, the temple whose ruins still remain to set before us, with absolute certainty of the correctness of the deduction in its main details, the complete ritual of this primæval worship.”
Note.—The white sun horse is still worshipped and fed daily at Kobe, in Japan.
The worshippers of the sun god who built this temple are proved to have belonged to the Bronze age by the number of round barrow tombs within twelve miles of it; and Stukeley (A.D.1723) counted one hundred and twenty-eight as visible from a hill close by.
A name given by Dr. Stukeley to the (probably) British earthworks, locally known as “the Ramparts,” which crown a hill in the demesne of Amesbury Abbey. Its ancient lines of defence, enclosing thirty-nine acres and boldly scarped towards the west, environ the summit in the form of a scalene triangle. This hill is densely wooded, containing two beautiful avenues of beech-trees, and as it descends to the Avon, is cut into a fanciful shape, supposed to resemble a diamond. I have described this in “Amesbury Abbey.”
A pretty old house on the road-side, belonging to Sir Edmund Antrobus, built of stone and flint. The interior has been much altered and spoilt. Traces of a monastic building exist in the beams supporting the roof, and in a church doorway at the top of the staircase. These datefrom the fifteenth century. Aubrey informs us that this house and property, along with Stonehenge, once formed the dowry of the wife of Lord Ferrers of Chartley. The village of West Amesbury possesses some picturesque thatched cottages, and on an outside wall of one is a rude sketch of fighting cocks and their backers.
A house on the banks of the Avon, built by the late Mr. Loder, of Salisbury, two miles from Amesbury. It is of the modern “villa” description. In 1898 Mr. Young purchased it from Sir E. Loder, and re-sold it to Mr. Edward Tennant in 1900. None of the places described along the Avon Valley are open to the public, but they can be seen from the high road.
Lake House
situated on the banks of the Avon, is in the parish of Wilsford, and about three miles south of Amesbury. The exact date of its foundation is uncertain. Its main features are Elizabethan, but an old letter in the possession of the family clearly suggests an earlier date. “As to ye date of ye house,” says the correspondent, “I do not remember anything in that beautifully written deed to which you refer that would bear on it. Great weight would belong to any opinion expressed by ye late J. H. Parker, and you told me that you thought it might be as early as Edward VI. or earlier, and probably Parker judged only by what he saw, and ye architectural features that remain have in them nothing distinctive in comparison with those what have vanished.” Lake House is one of the most beautiful in this neighbourhood, and is built of the usual stone and flint; it possesses yew hedges and delightful old-fashioned gardens sloping to the river. It was purchased in 1591 by George Duke, and it remained in the Duke family till 1897, when (just in time to save the old house from utter ruin) it was bought by Mr. J. N. Lovibond, and most beautifully restored by thearchitect, Mr. Detmar Blow, according to the views of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. There are barrows in the park at Lake, and many curious objects, such as amber necklaces, &c., were discovered in them about fifty years ago during excavations made by the late Mr. Duke. Some of the things then found are in the British Museum. A cottage industry is now carried on in the village of Lake: a sort of rough tweed in pretty colours being made in hand looms by the women. This tweed is called “Stonehenge” cloth, and is not expensive.
Leaving Amesbury, and following the eastern banks of the Avon, we come to Great Durnford. Its name is derived from the British word “dur,” signifying water. The church is most picturesque, and is built of stone and flint, with very rich Norman north and south doorways and chancel arch. The font is Norman, with an interesting arcade. The pulpit is of oak and dated 1619, and has a very old velvet cover with 1657 worked on it. Built into the wall of the church is a stone coffin containing a skeleton, supposed to be that of the founder. Traces of two doors leading to the rood loft can still be seen, and in one window are the remains of some very old glass. Inside the south door are several curious crosses, supposed to be dedication crosses. In the chancel is a leper’s window. The altar rails are of oak, and date back to the sixteenth century. The pattern on the walls is the same as that found some years ago under the plaster and whitewash. There is a curious brass to the memory of Edward Young, his wife, and fourteen children, dated 1670. In the chancel, chained to an ancient desk, is a copy of Jewel’s “Apologie of the Church of England,” ordered by Convocation after the Reformation, 1571.
was once a seat of the Hungerfords. Evelyn notes in his Diary, July, 1654:—“We dined at a ferme of my UncleHungerford’s called Darneforde magna, situate in a valley under the plaine, most sweetly watered, abounding in troutes, catched by speares in the night when they come attracted by a light set in ye sterne of a boate.”
It is in the French château style on a small scale, and has lovely old-fashioned gardens, quite unspoiled, with some rare trees growing in them. At the end of the last garden flows the Avon, and picturesque Durnford Church stands close by. In 1869 Mr. Pinckney bought the house and some of the estate from the Earl of Malmesbury.
On the eastern side of the Avon is a very ancient earthen work called Ogbury Camp. Sir Richard Colt Hoare thus describes it:—“On this hill we recognize the very early and simple handiwork of the Britons, unaltered by their successors and conquerors, the Romans and Saxons. Here we see a large tract of sixty-two acres enclosed within a single rampart, and without any fosse to strengthen it against the attacks of an enemy, and we perceive within the area the evident marks of enclosures, and only one entrance to the east. On the northern side the ramparts followed the windings of the hill, and are interrupted by the plantations of Lord Malmesbury’s demesne. The area contains sixty-two acres and a quarter. The circuit of the outer ditch is one mile, one furlong and fifty-five yards, and the depth of the vallum is thirty-three feet. On the south-east and west sides the ramparts are very much mutilated. I cannot consider Ogbury as a camp or work of defence against an invading enemy, but rather as an asylum or place of refuge, whither the Britons, in times of danger, retired with their families and herds of cattle. On digging within this area we could not find any marks of ancient residence, but on some high ground adjoining the extraordinary verdure of the turf induced us to dig into the soil, where we immediately found numerous bones of animals with fragments of the rudest British pottery.”
Heale House
The Residence of the Honourable Louis Greville;bought by him from Sir E. Loder, 1894.
This house, beautifully built of small red bricks, has stone-coped windows in the Dutch style of architecture introduced into this country by William III., and is quite unlike the usual stone and flint “chequered” houses of the neighbourhood. You enter the grounds through old wrought-iron gates and down an avenue of elm-trees. The river Avon flows through the garden. This property formerly belonged to the Errington and Hyde families. Inside the house little remains of the old decorations but some carved woodwork. A cupboard in a bedroom is shown as the hiding-place of Charles II. after the battle of Worcester. He is said to have visited Stonehenge from Heale, and there met friends who were to conduct him to the coast of Sussex prior to his escape from England. He is supposed to have proved to his own satisfaction the fallacy of the notion of the impossibility of counting the stones composing Stonehenge.
“In 1721 Robert Hyde bequeathed Heale to his sister, Mrs. Levinz, widow of the Bishop of Sodor and Man, and she, by will, devised the estates to her son-in-law, Michael Frampton of Oxford, and he, in his turn, left them to his nephews, Thomas Bull, rector of Porton, and Edward and Simon Polhill and their heirs in succession, in default thereof to William Bowles; in seventeen years after the death of the testator, Canon Bowles was in full possession of the property.” Several members of the Bowles family lie buried in Salisbury Cathedral. Heale Hill is remarkable for a circle on the summit and traces of a British village on the south slope.
Little Durnford
Built of stone and flint, successively the property of the families of Pregers, Wodhull, and Tropnell, afterwards Yonge or Young. In 1795 it was sold to Edward Hinxman, whosedescendants sold it in 1897 to Mr. Devenish (the present owner). The Avon, flowing through the grounds, has been artificially widened in one place, forming a miniature lake in front of the house.
With much regret I find myself at the end of my little book, which, I hope, will help to describe a beautiful and interesting country. It has been compiled from various learned sources, and only a small portion of it can claim to be original. I shall consider myself fortunate if the traveller findsanypleasure in reading what has given me great pleasure to write.
Florence Caroline Mathilde Antrobus.
June, 1900.
Ata meeting held last March at Stonehenge, and attended by representatives of the Society of Antiquaries, of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Monuments, and the Wiltshire Archæological Society, various plans and measures were discussed and suggested for the better preservation of Stonehenge. The whole state of the surrounding neighbourhood being changed from its former quietude by the introduction of new elements, such as the military camps at Bulford, &c., the making of the new branch line of the South-Western Railway (from Grateley to Amesbury), it became necessary to meet the altered circumstances by the exercise of greater precautions for the care of the beautiful old Sun Temple standing in the midst of the grass-clothed downs—a thing of wonder and mystery to behold. The advice given to Sir Edmund Antrobus by the representatives of these societies was as follows, published in theTimesof April 3:—
Resolutions.
(1) That this Committee approves of the suggested protection of Stonehenge by a wire fence not less than 4 ft. high, following on two sides the existing roads and crossing on the west from the 331-foot level on the north road to the 332-foot level on the south road shown on the O.S. map (1-2, 500), Wilts sheet liv. 14.
(2) That the Committee recommends, without prejudice to any legal question, that the local authorities be requested to agree to divert the existing track-way or ridge-way from Netheravon now passing through the earth circle so as to pass from the 302-foot levels in the O.S. map immediately west of Stonehenge.
(3) That stones 6 and 7 with their lintel, and stone 56 (according to the numbering on Mr. Petrie’s plan) be first examined, with a view of maintaining them in a position of safety.
(4) That, in the opinion of this Committee, stone 22 should be replaced, stone 21 be made safe, and the lintel of 21 and 22 be replaced in the most safe and conservative manner. The Committee also recommends the re-erection of stones 57 and 58, and their lintel 158.
(5) That the instructions to custodians already in force be approved with a few suggested alterations.
(6) That this Committee feels that it is impossible to overstate the value of the assistance which the County Council of Amesbury can give to the efforts made to preserve this unique monument.
(7) That these resolutions be sent to Sir Edmund Antrobus with the earnest thanks of the Committee, for the part he is proposing to take in the preservation of Stonehenge, also that it be left to him to communicate with the Press.
The fence was erected by Whitsuntide, and is 1700 yards in circumference, and composed of lightest barbed wire of a neutral tint, and absolutely invisible at a distance, so that the traveller gets the whole effect of Stonehenge in its full grandeur instead of, as in former days, the view of the stones mingled with two or three flys, a cart, an old waggonette, and photographer’s van, &c., to say nothing of picnic luncheons, spread out within the sacred circle. This fence encloses as large an area as possible, being well outside the vallum, except on the west side, where a right of way interferes with the true circle. The next work undertaken—the most difficult and important of the whole—was the raising of the “leaning stone”—the largest monolith in England except Cleopatra’s needle—to an upright position. This stone formed one of the uprights of the trilithon, the fall of which was said to have been caused by the digging and researches of the Duke of Buckingham in 1620. The horizontal and the other upright (the latter broken in two pieces) now lie prostrate across the altar stone.
The work at Stonehenge. Raising the Leaning Stone
The great stone leaned considerably towards the N.E.and appeared to rest upon (actually touching at one point) a beautiful little pillar stone of syenite, the danger being that in some storm, especially after a heavy fall of snow and sudden thaw, the great stone would break in three pieces (having three veins) in falling, and also crush the smaller stone beneath it.
That a forward movement was continually taking place is shown by observations taken by Mr. Flinders Petrie some years ago. It then leaned at an angle of 66, which has been increased to one of 60.5 degrees lately. The work of the raising of the stone was begun on August 18th and finished September 25th, and was under the direct supervision of Mr. Gowland, Mr. Detmar Blow, architect, and his assistant Mr. Stallybrass, and Mr. Carruthers, engineer. The first thing done was to make a fitting to the stone of a strong timber cradle, so as to protect it from injury by the immense iron chains and ropes placed round it, these being attached to winches worked by men, so that the stone was actually “wound up,” so to speak, into an upright position. Hydraulic jacks were also used. The whole thing was most carefully and slowly done, and devotedly watched over by the workers. A rectangular excavation was made in front of the stone, a square excavation at the back. A frame of wood with numbers at equal distances apart was placed over the ground, which was excavated in sections, and the earth was most carefully sifted in layers through four grades of sieves in such a manner that the position of every object found could be recorded. The excavations round the base of the stone are now filled with concrete, and the large struts which uphold it will remain in their positions for six months, until the concrete be thoroughly set.
The objects found were one Roman coin and one George III. penny at a shallow depth, and many chippings of both the blue and sarsen stones. Numerous flint axe-heads and large stone hammers were also found at a depth of from two feet to four feet six inches underground; all tending to prove the great antiquity of Stonehenge—at least Neolithic. But all this will be discussed scientifically later on.
Florence C. M. Antrobus.
1904. A. No. 335.
Writ issued the1st day of March1904.
BetweenHIS MAJESTY’S ATTORNEY-GENERAL at and by the relation of FRANK TUCKER, THOMAS MERCHANT,The Right HonourableGEORGE JOHN SHAW LEFEVRE,SirJOHN TOMLINSON BRUNNER, Bart., and WILLIAM MATTHEW FLINDERS PETRIE and the said FRANK TUCKER, THOMAS MERCHANT,The Right HonourableGEORGE JOHN SHAW LEFEVRE,SirJOHN TOMLINSON BRUNNER, Bart., and WILLIAM MATTHEW FLINDERS PETRIE . . .Plaintiffs
and
SirEDMUND ANTROBUS, Bart. . . .Defendant.
Delivered the 17th day of March 1904 byHorne & Birkettof 4 Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the County of London Solicitors for the Plaintiffs.
1. On Stonehenge Down in the Parish of Amesbury in the County of Wilts there are a group of stones and surrounding earthworks which are together known as Stonehenge.Stonehenge which is of very great antiquity originally formed an ancient building and place of assembly for public worship the burial of the dead deliberation on public affairs or other public purposes and since it has ceased to be so used has remained a national monument and place of resort of great public interest.
2. Until the acts of the Defendant hereinafter complained of there was and there now ought to be free access for the public to Stonehenge by means of roads running up to and through the same the sites of which roads are shown on the plan hereunto annexed and are thereon coloured green.
3. The said roads were at the time of the said acts and are public highways for all His Majesty’s liege subjects to go and return on foot and with horses and carriages at all times of the year at their free will and pleasure.
4. Stonehenge is subject to a trust created by a grant or declaration of trust which if in writing has been lost or by a Statute which has been lost for the free user by the public of Stonehenge as a place of resort and for the free access of the public thereto by means of the said roads and the site of Stonehenge has since the creation of such trust been held by the owners thereof for the time being subject to the said trust.
5. The Defendant has lately erected and maintains and threatens and intends to maintain upon Stonehenge Down aforesaid fences along the lines shown upon the said plan and thereon coloured red. The said fences obstruct the said roads or some of them at the points marked respectively A. B. C. D. and E. on the said plan and are obnoxious to and interfere with the rights and privileges of His Majesty’s liege subjects referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 hereof.
6. The Defendant has been requested to remove the said fences but he has refused and still refuses to do so and threatens and intends to maintain the same and the obstructions hereinbefore complained of.
The Plaintiffs therefore claim—
1. An order that the Defendant remove the said fences where they respectively obstruct the said roads or any of them.
2. An injunction to restrain the Defendant his servants workmen and agents from erecting upon the said lands or any part thereof any fence or other erection so as to obstruct and from in any way obstructing the said roads or any of them.
3. Costs.
C. GURDON.
R. B. FINLAY.
1904. A. No. 335.
BetweenHIS MAJESTY’S ATTORNEY-GENERAL at and by the relation of FRANK TUCKER, THOMAS MERCHANT,The Right HonourableGEORGE JOHN SHAW LEFEVRE,SirJOHN TOMLINSON BRUNNER, Bart., and WILLIAM MATTHEW FLINDERS PETRIE and the said FRANK TUCKER, THOMAS MERCHANT,The Right HonourableGEORGE JOHN SHAW LEFEVRE,SirJOHN TOMLINSON BRUNNER, Bart., and WILLIAM MATTHEW FLINDERS PETRIE . . .Plaintiffs
and
SirEDMUND ANTROBUS, Bart. . . .Defendant.
1. As to paragraph 1 of the Statement of Claim it is not admitted that Stonehenge was made or ever used for such purposes as in the said paragraph mentioned or any of them or for any public purpose. Stonehenge is and has been from time immemorial and in fact at all times private property and not national or public property and resort thereto by the public has always been by permission of the owner of the land and not as of right.
2. As to paragraph 2 the principal part of Stonehenge lies in an angle between and near to two public roads leading from Amesbury to Shrewton and to Winterbourne Stoke respectively. A public way or track leading from Netheravon to Lake crosses these two roads and also crosses part of Stonehenge but except the right to use this way or track (which is outside the fence erected by the Defendant and has not been in any way obstructed by him) there never has been any access for the public to Stonehenge otherwise than by permission of the owner of the land on which it is situate. The alleged road running up to and through Stonehenge the sites of which are purported to be shown on the plan annexed to the Statement of Claim and are thereon coloured green (except the way or track from Netheravon to Lake aforesaid) do not exist either in law or in fact and never have existed.
3. Paragraph 3 of the Statement of Claim is denied except as to the way or track from Netheravon to Lake aforesaid.
4. Paragraph 4 is altogether denied. Stonehenge is not and never was subject to any trust for user or access by the public or to any public trust.
5. As to paragraphs 5 and 6 the Defendant has for the better preservation of Stonehenge erected and maintains a fence round the land lying within the triangle formed by the said two public roads and the way or track from Netheravon to Lake not obstructing or interfering with any public right of way. Save as aforesaid paragraphs 5 and 6 of the Statement of Claim are denied.
F. VAUGHAN HAWKINS.
Delivered the 27th day of April 1904 byFarrer& Co. of 66 Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex Solicitors for the Defendant.