Stonehenge is the most famous prehistoric monument in the world: a circle of huge standing stones on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire, built and altered over more than a thousand years from 3000 BC. We still do not know for certain what it was for, but its alignment with the sun at the solstices and the ritual landscapes around it make it one of the most evocative places in Europe. Since 1986 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the nearby circle of Avebury.
How it was built
Construction took place in several phases. Around 3000 BC a circular ditch and bank were dug; around 2500 BC the great sarsens were raised, sandstone blocks up to seven metres high and weighing more than twenty tonnes, arranged in an outer circle linked by lintels and an inner horseshoe of five great trilithons. Studies have shown that the sarsens come from West Woods, about 25 kilometres to the north, while the smaller bluestones were brought from the Preseli Hills in Wales, about 240 kilometres away. In 2024 research established that the great Altar Stone came all the way from north-east Scotland, more than 700 kilometres away. How Stone Age people managed to move and raise such blocks, with sledges, rollers, levers and ropes, remains one of the great puzzles of archaeology.
What it was for
The monument's axis is aligned with the point where the sun rises at the summer solstice and sets at the winter solstice, suggesting a calendar or a place of ceremonies linked to the cycle of the seasons. Burials have been found nearby, and some archaeologists believe it was a place dedicated to the ancestors, linked by a processional way, the Avenue, to the River Avon and the great village of Durrington Walls. The druids, often associated with Stonehenge, actually arrived many centuries after it was built.
Visiting
The English Heritage visitor centre, opened in 2013, is about two kilometres from the stones and linked by shuttle buses; it houses an exhibition of finds, a reconstruction of the face of a Neolithic man and some reconstructed houses. Normally you walk along a path around the circle, without going among the stones, but on certain dates special visits inside the circle are organised at dawn or dusk, to be booked well in advance. At the summer and winter solstices access is free, and thousands of people gather to greet the sun. Booking a timed ticket online is recommended.
The surroundings
The landscape around Stonehenge is dotted with burial mounds, Woodhenge and the remains of Durrington Walls. About 40 kilometres to the north lies Avebury, the largest stone circle in the world, so vast that a village with a pub stands inside it, with the nearby artificial mound of Silbury Hill. Stonehenge can be reached by car or by the tour bus from Salisbury station.
See also UNESCO sites in the UK, Glastonbury and Bath.