Stonehenge- BIG STONES

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We had both dreamt of Stonehenge for as long as we could remember, its one of those places that is intriguing and awe inspiring. Most people that visit Stonehenge walk away from it and say ' it’s just a load of rocks', but thankfully we had some appreciation of the site with an early morning private tour.

We left Water Mill very early one morning to drive our beat up old land drover to a place
in the English county of Wiltshire, about 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) west of Amesbury and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones. It is at the centre of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.

Archaeologists have believed that the iconic stone monument was erected around 2500 BC, as described in the chronology below. One recent theory however, has suggested that the first stones were not erected until 2400–2200 BC, whilst another suggests that bluestones may have been erected at the site as early as 3000 BC .The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986 in a co-listing with Avebury Henge monument. It is a national legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage, while the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.

Archaeological evidence found by the Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2008 indicates that Stonehenge served as a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. The dating of cremated remains found on the site indicate burials from as early as 3000 BC, when the initial ditch and bank were first dug. Burials continued at Stonehenge for at least another 500 years.

While taking in much of the early morning we wondered around silently through the rocks and under instructions from our tour guide not to touch the rocks. As we wondered my parents rang, who at the time were on a Push bike ride raising money for cancer in Australia, we chatted and I explained where we were, they were excited and exhausted from their days ride, we hung up and didnt realise that we would talk again about something that would change all of our futures!!

As we stood taking photos and encouraging eachother to pose, Phil asked another man to take a photo of us with the enourmous monument, the chap returned the camera and Phil said, 'mate their not so good how about a few more?' The chap agreed, as we went to pose for another round of pictures, I soon discovered that Phil was on one knee and asking the valuable question...will you marry me??...... Stonehenge has some large rocks!!

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