Stonehenge

About this place

Stonehenge is a prehistoric stone monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, southern England, about 3 km west of Amesbury, 12 km north of Salisbury and 123 km west of London in a straight line. With its surroundings it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it has been legally protected since 1882. It was built in stages, starting around 3100 BC with the circular ditch and earth bank and continuing until about 1600 BC. The circle of large sarsen stones was set up between 2600 and 2400 BC. It consists of an outer ring of standing stones, each about 4 metres high and weighing around 25 tons, topped by horizontal lintels held with mortise and tenon joints, with a ring of smaller bluestones inside. The whole monument is aligned to the sunrise on the summer solstice and the sunset on the winter solstice. The huge lichen-covered grey stones stand in a ring on a wide, flat grassy plain dotted with ancient burial mounds. Their look changes with the light and the shifting sky, brooding under cloud and golden at sunset. Visitors start at the visitor centre, with an exhibition and reconstructed Neolithic houses, then take a short shuttle or walk about 2 km to the monument and circle it on a set path. Book tickets in advance; at the summer solstice access to the circle itself is usually allowed.