Stonehenge Guided Tours

The Bluestones

Broadly speaking the monument is made up of two stone types. Sarsens and Bluestones. While the large Sarsen stones come from the Marlborough Downs, about twenty miles from Stonehenge, the bluestones are not local.

The Bluestones form two arrangements inside Stonehenge, a circle inside the outer sarsen circle and a horseshoe inside the trilithons.

Originally there may have  as many as eighty Bluestones, weighing up to five tons each. It’s difficult to be certain, some are missing, others are broken and the pattern of holes is confusing.

The Bluestones have tended to be overshadowed by their larger neighbours. Early texts and examination of the stones show that Stonehenge is not the first site where the bluestones stood as a circle. Robert Graves said this sacred circle was transported to Stonehenge for it’s religious significance; in the words of Professor Rhys ‘ the stones were regarded as divine or as seats of divine power’.

“The great dolmens of Stonehenge, all of local stone, look as thought they were erected to give importance to the smaller stones, which were placed in position shortly after they themselves were. It has been suggested that the smaller ones which are known to have been transported all the way from the Prescelly Mountains in Pembtokeshire, were originallt disposed in another order there and rearranged by the people who erected the larger ones.” – Robert Graves; The White Goddess, p282.

An existing sacred circle, whose stones originated in West Wales, was transported to Salisbury Plain, re-erected at Stonehenge and a mirror structure of local stone was erected around it.

Until the advent of the railways transport by water was the only way to effectively move large heavy objects over long distances. 

Thus it is likely that much of the transportation of the bluestones from the Preseli Mtns. to Stonehenge was by water. First by river, then along/across the Bristol Channel/Severn Estuary, then lastly by river to Stonehenge; and while we can’t be certain which rivers were used we can be certain that in their passage across the Bristol Channel/Severn Estuary the bluestones would have been carried past Lundy Island.

So, where did the bluestone circle first stand?

Geoffrey of Monmouth describes the original home of the stones as ‘the Giant’s Dance, which is in Killaraus, a mountain in Ireland.’

The frequently maligned early historian Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his ‘History of the kings of Britain’ written around 1139AD, wrote

“If you are desirous,” said Merlin, “to honour the burying place of these men with an everlasting monument, send for the Giant’s Dance, which is in Killaraus, a mountain in Ireland. For there is a structure of stones there, which none of this age could raise, without a profound knowledge of the mechanical arts. They are stones of a vast magnitude and wonderful quality; and if they can be placed here, as they are there, round this spot of ground, they will stand forever.”

Geoffrey of Monmouth, History of the Kings of Britain pp133+

Geoffrey claimed to have taken much of his information from an earlier British source, unknown to us today. Before Geoffrey the Scots lived in present day Ireland, the Irish were settled in areas of Cornwall, North Devon and the south-western part of present day Wales. Killaraus is unfortunately not identifiable.

Stonehenge bluestones, in their incarnation as ‘The Giants Dance’ had their home somewhere in those areas of southwest Britain settled at one time by the Irish.

Somewhere in Cornwall, North Devon Southwest Wales there’s a very sacred site without a stone circle.

A search for a lack of stones doesn’t seem likely to be very productive.

Where next?

“For a culture to whom the timing of seasonal events was particularly important, the culture which produced Stonehenge, for example, the observation of heavenly bodies was a central part of their religious ceremonies. Any place which possessed such alignments was holy. The movements of heavenly bodies is regular and can be calculated and thus predicted. Throughout time the coincidence of a sunrise or sunset with a natural feature such as a mountain or an island has always been, and indeed still is, awe inspiring. Any site which possessed such an alignment was a natural indicator of a heavenly event and thus sacred. Other markers could be erected, if necessary, at the site, stones , trees etc., to indicate other alignments from the site. However, A place with two or perhaps even three natural features all providing significant alignments would be very much rarer, and so more holy.” Henry Lincoln

Megalithic stone circles have one common quality. The stones which make up the circle are aligned on natural features.

If we take an imaginary stone circle monument. It possesses a number of stones standing in the landscape and certain stones line up with a distant natural feature, a mountain for instance. On midsummers day the solstice sun rises over that mountain. The stone alignment marks the midsummer solstice.

Midsummer day + stones + natural feature + sun = sacred site.

If you take away the stones and view from the same place, you still get

Midsummer day + natural feature +sunrise = Sacred site.

Remembering what Geoffrey of Monmouth said about the stones ‘They are stones of a vast magnitude and wonderful quality’ and ‘They are mystical stones, and of a great medicinal virtue.’and considering the physical effort involved in manhandling over 80 stones weighing up to five tons each to Stonehenge alone testifies to the fact that the previous home of the Bluestones must have been a very special place, a holy place, to contain such an illustrious circle. Never mind the work in constructing the Sarsen stones around them. It seems probable that their earlier home was a site with several significant natural alignments.

If this is so, it may be that by examining alignments from significant natural features in the areas of southwestern Britain known to have been settled by the Irish we may find a site where several intersect. We may find the original home of ‘the Giants Dance.’

Link Source:  http://www.lundyisleofavalon.co.uk/stonehenge/bluestones.htm

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