Recently, I visited Stonehenge and while I know that due to its age, mystery and subsequent popularity, it has been photographed and written about countless times, I still wanted to do a quickie post conveying my own thoughts and feelings about this much-loved prehistoric monument. However much something is written about, hearing about it from a unique viewpoint is always interesting I think. It is worth understanding what such a precious piece of ancient history means to different people from all walks of life across the centuries.
Prior to visiting, Stonehenge had been on my list of places to visit for a while – with it being one of the world’s most talked about and sought after tourist attractions it is one of those places that you just have to go to and experience for yourself to see whether the real thing really does live up to the hype surrounding it. It could inevitably go one of several ways; it could impress, disappoint or even worse, not evoke much emotion at all leaving you feeling perplexed and underwhelmed.
Well, I am very pleased to reveal that, I loved Stonehenge. So, perhaps this post could be viewed as a bit of a love letter. Just as this blog is generally in many ways; a series of love letters to life and travel. Stonehenge totally lived up to the hype for me and was everything I had hoped for.
For a start, it is located in the middle of the stunning Wiltshire countryside that I also had the pleasure of exploring a little during my trip. The positioning and shape of the stones are fascinating and the mystery surrounding this monument really does get your mind ticking. I found it all very humbling, in fact, I was surprised with all the emotions Stonehenge presented me with – it is a piece of important history that reminds you of where you are in the world and I don’t just mean location wise, I mean more abstractly where we are in the timeline of human kind – and this is not something you get the opportunity to be reminded of so profoundly on an ordinary day.
We are reminded of how our ancestors would have lived in these primitive times and how far human beings have come since then. We are importantly reminded of how little we actually need to survive with and how this may be taken for granted in the demanding conditions of our current society. We can see how these people were everything to each other as they only really had each other and nature for distraction and entertainment. A far cry from today and a powerful reminder how drastically things have changed with the development of technology and advanced entertainment over thousands of years since Stonehenge was built.
I love thinking of all the eras of people that have known of Stonehenge; Romans, Vikings, Tudors, Elizabethans, Victorians. We all have this monument in common and I feel that it brings us all together; we have all either heard of, seen or wondered about Stonehenge, yet we come from completely different worlds, in a metaphorical sense.
I found that Stonehenge promoted in me strong feelings of gratitude and empathy for the prehistoric people and raises many questions – how many people died or were injured during the construction of Stonehenge? How did the building of this monument affect the progression of the community during and after the time of construction? What was its true purpose? How did such primitive people plan and build such an enormous, heavy and highly advanced structure?
So many questions that are still being asked today. All we really know is that it was extremely important to our prehistoric ancestors and that it has stood the test of time, well, in some ways. Obviously what we see now, in the 21st Century are the ruins of Stonehenge but, rather than focusing on its physical appearance, I have a final sentiment relating to the more metaphysical side of Stonehenge.
This monument is still achieving to this very day what its creators – presumably – fundamentally had in mind for it when they set out to build such a monument; to strengthen the community and bring people together. Whilst I was visiting, I encountered people from around the world; French, German, American, Chinese, Japanese, Korean.
The people that built Stonehenge didn’t have the capacity for knowledge to imagine that people from all around the world could ever come together; using various modes of transport, taking pictures with their cameras and phones and posting on social media telling people that they are there right at that moment (like I did!!) but I do think that these people saw Stonehenge as a symbol of togetherness and celebration and it is still doing so to this very day, thousands of years later and that, I think, is incredible.
Photo above taken at the Stonehenge Exhibition – photo of someone else’s photo!
Being at an ancient monument, looking out across the field on to the motorway (yes – you can see a motorway from the ruins!) and using my phone to tell people from all over the world where I was right at that very moment is quite bizarre. Taking part in a modern social activity of that kind whilst looking at Stonehenge was very surreal, it reminded me to remember where we come from, how we began and that, thousands of years ago when Stonehenge was being developed that too, was modern and an incredible achievement.
Stonehenge has only been a tourist attraction for a very short time compared to thousands of years of it serving as a true area of celebration for the people. That really put things into perspective for me.
I left this experience feeling grateful. Inwardly thanking these people for building this monument so that we can appreciate it today and enjoy it with people from all over the world and never forget our prehistoric ancestors who live on with us through Stonehenge.
