Stonehenge Guided Tours

May 24, 2012

Get Out of Londontown: Check Off Stonehenge from the Bucket List

Posted by StonehengeNews under Druidry, london day tours, small group tours, stonehenge guide, stonehenge private tours, stonehenge special access
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Stonehenge inner circle tour

Heading to London this summer? Yeah, so is everyone else. This week, Jaunted’s London embed, Lilit Marcus, will share some definite destinations for getting out of town and out of the crowds.
If you can make it through a visit to Stonehenge without making a Spinal Tap joke, you’re a better person than I am. The stone formation, built by Druids during the Bronze Age, is still one of the world’s great wonders as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site. That said, it’s also kind of in the middle of nowhere. Though there are plans to build a more convenient rail route out to Stonehenge, currently the only way to get there is by car. There are several tour companies who will take you there and back from London and it’s also quite common to combine this with a trip to Bath, which is the route I took.

Because most of us have seen pop culture references to Stonehenge, the expectation is that the mysterious rocks are huge and majestic. It’s not huge, but it’s definitely still majestic. The series of stones was believed to be a burial ground (human bones have been found there) but there are plenty of other theories, namely that the location of the stones helped to determine the calendar because of the way the light fell during different times of the year.

You can’t get up close to the stones anymore(thanks, all those people who thought it was cool to try and carve your initials into the side), but there’s plenty of beautiful countryside around the site and plenty of opportunities for unobstructed photos. There’s a very good audio tour included with the price of admission, and history buffs will like the opportunity to listen to extra sections or get additional information on their favorite topics. (Also, literature majors will appreciate the shoutout to Tess of the D’Urbervilles, which has a scene set at Stonehenge.)

Once you’ve fully circled the formation and gotten the necessary Facebook photos in front of the Heel Stone, there’s not much else to do but check out the gift shop and cafes.The shop includes specific Stonehenge gear like books, magnets, and even lollipops (they’re blackurrant flavored), as well as Englishy treats like knit blankets and boxes of tea. Getting a history rundown and a stuffed Wilshire sheep in one quick jaunt seems like a pretty good deal, and you can be back in London before dinnertime.

Article source: http://www.jaunted.com

It is still possilbe to get inside the Stones if you book one of our exclusive Stonehenge private access tours:
http://www.StonehengeTours.com

The Stonehenge Tour Company

May 23, 2012

A magical, sensory experience awaits you as Stonehenge is transformed into a glowing fairytale

Posted by StonehengeNews under english heritage, Fire Garden Stonehenge, guided tours of stonehenge, Salisbury festival, stonehehenge inner circle tours, stonehenge 2012, stonehenge access
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Fire Garden at Stonehenge 11th / 12th July 2012
A magical, sensory experience awaits you as Stonehenge is transformed into a glowing fairytale.
Exclusive Guided Tour from London operated by ‘The Stonehenge Tour Company’

As the sun goes down over one of Britain’s most iconic World Heritage sites, French outdoor alchemists Compagnie Carabosse fan the flames of our imaginations with an elemental Fire Garden.

A magical, sensory experience awaits you as Stonehenge is transformed into a glowing fairytale environment where fire sculptures dance in the landscape, mysterious fiery engines illuminate the stones and flaming fire pots and cascades of candles line the pathways.

“A unique opportunity to walk amongst the Stones* at sunset and enjoy this gloriously atmospheric feast for the senses.”
“A once in a lifetime opportunity”

Maria Bota, Festival Director said:

“We aim to inspire, entertain and make moments which transform people and spaces. Our thanks to the remarkable Compagnie Carabosse for their beautiful fire garden creations, to English Heritage, with whom we have worked for many years at Stonehenge, for their continued collaboration and to London 2012 for enabling us to bring this idea to flickering life.”

Carabosse have staged their striking installations across Europe. Each event is unique to its specific location, and here they ignite their creative spark to create a remarkable moment in the historic Wiltshire landscape.

PRACTICALITIES AND TIMINGS The guided walk to Stonehenge from the Fire Garden Car Park to the Fire Garden at Stonehenge is around 1 kilometre, about a 15 minute walk, through National Trust farmland. You will have a beautiful view before you of Stonehenge and the Fire Garden in the landscape. Sensible footwear is definitely advisable as the land is agricultural and the route includes some sloping ground.

*IMPORTANT Please do not climb, stand on or lean against the stones. This is in the interest of personal safety and protection of this special site. As well as putting the stones themselves at risk, climbing on them can damage the delicate lichens. This includes the stones that are fallen.

Highlights
Stonehenge Stone Circle close up
Includes Entrance Fee
Luxury Midi Coach Travel Minimum 2 hours at Stonehenge
Stonehenge Expert Guide Services
Fire Garden Experience

Bookings and information: http://www.stonehengetours.com/stonehenge-fire-garden-tour-july-2012.htm

The Stonehenge Tour Company – www.StonehengeTours.com

May 23, 2012

Russians go crazy for Stonehenge Tours

Posted by StonehengeNews under Uncategorized | Tags: London Olympics, Minister for Tourism, Russian speaking tour guides, UK Language Tours, VisitBritain |
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By the time you read this, the Olympic Torch Relay will be well underway on its 70-day run. Depending on when this gets posted, it may even have got as far as Weston-super-Mare, the unchallenged jewel of the north Somerset coast whose beautiful beaches, near-perfect all year round weather and magnificent pier (newly reopened just a year ago) will form the perfect backdrop for the . . .

Sorry. Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed from the blurb to the right of this piece that Weston is, in fact, the seaside resort, which I have the honour of representing as its Member of Parliament. So I may be just a touch partisan in my assessment.

For all that, though, the Torch Relay is undoubtedly a rather brilliant way of bringing the excitement of the Olympics to the widest possible UK community. Its light will – figuratively, and to an extent, literally – shine on places and people that very often get overlooked, especially in a year when – necessarily – the nation’s capital is the main focus.

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge

So I’m very happy to pay tribute to all the local and national media who will magnify this light as it progresses. Hopefully it will not just get us all in the mood for the Games themselves, but also remind us what a brilliant, diverse and beautiful country we all share.

Part of the operation behind making this all happen involves social media, of course. Pictures and stories will fan out from the torch as it snakes around the country. And one of those doing the blogging, tweeting and whatever the verb is for posting stuff on Facebook as the torch progresses, is VisitBritain.

“17 per cent of German tourists want to go to the Highland Games”

There’ll be news on Love UK, VisitBritain’s Facebook page (with around 800,000 fans) along with an app to help them pass virtual flags around the world, and live tweets from @VisitBritain, while their corporate feed, @VisitBritainBiz will unveil daily ‘killer facts’ about what foreign tourists look for in a visit to the UK.

For example, 17 per cent of German tourists want to go to the Highland Games, 41 per cent of Russians would like to see the sun rise at Stonehenge and a rather modest 19 per cent of Americans fancy going shopping at Harrods.

Each of these gems derives from up-to-date visitor surveys which will delight and inform and, if deployed with skill, create a never-ending stream of conversation openers and pub quiz fodder. Enjoy.

By John Penrose
Minister for Tourism in UK Government at The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Needless the say ‘The Stonehenge Tour Company’ offer private guided tours with Russian speaking expert guides

The Stonehenge Tour Company – www.StonehengeTours.com

May 16, 2012

Stonehenge Express Tour. Go direct to Stonehenge from London

Posted by StonehengeNews under London 2012, Stonehenge Direct, Stonehenge Express, Stonehenge tours from London
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Short on time and want to visit Stonehenge on a budget ?

Use our Stonehenge Direct service from London. This tour departs daily every morning and every afternoon. Board our luxury coach for a direct Express service to Stonehenge. On arrival our driver will take you onto the site, where you can enjoy the stones at your leisure with a fascinating audio-guide tour, in the language of your choice.

Languages on the Audio Guide: English, Italian, Swedish, Russian, German, Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, French, Dutch.

Stonehenge Express Tour

Highlights:
Entrance to Stonehenge included Audio guide tour at the site
Professional driver and luxury air-conditioned coach
Scenic drive through the Salisbury plain

The most famous prehistoric monument in the world, and now a world heritage site, Stonehenge stands alone in the vast empty tract of Salisbury plain. Its origins date back nearly 5,000 years and it has been home to pagan religion and spiritual worship, not to be mention public debate ever since. What was this vast collection of stones intended for? Was it observatory of the moon, a temple to the sun, or an elaborate cemetery? Who were the people who carried and carved these 40 ton rocks? Come and unlock the secrets for yourself and marvel at this remarkable and mysterious feat of ancient engineering and design. Entrance to the site with audio guide is included.
Price: from £30

View and book the ‘Stonehenge Express’ tour here: http://www.stonehengetours.com/day-tours.html

The Stonehenge Tour Company – www.StonehengeTours.com

May 3, 2012

Glaswegian shoes come off for bouncy Stonehenge

Posted by StonehengeNews under Ancient Britons, London 2012, Olympic events, salisbury guided tours, stonehenge 2012, stonehenge druids
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Olympic project was almost scuppered by discovery of similar inflatable monument created two years previously

Two thousand people a day have come to frolic on Jeremy Deller’s latest artwork – a bouncy castle that is a precise replica of Stonehenge. Men, women, children: all leap, stride and somersault on Glasgow’s new favourite playground before it travels south to become one of the attractions of the London 2012 festival.

A neat idea, you might think. Sacrilege, as Deller has called his work, is not only a lot of fun (it is impossible not to smile when you shed your shoes, dignity, and understanding of gravity), but also thought-provoking.

The artist has transformed a great symbol of British history into a party. In real life, you cannot get near Stonehenge. Open to myriad interpretations and fantasies over its long history, it has now been given yet another existence through Deller’s impish version of a grand public sculpture

It turns out that Deller is not the first artist to have made an inflatable megalithic monument. In 2010, two years before Deller’s work was launched at the Glasgow International art festival, Jim Ricks, a California-born artist, Galway-based, unveiled his Poulnabrone Bouncy Dolmen – a precise, double-size replica of a megalithic table tomb built around 6,000 years ago in the Burren, Co Clare. The work toured various locations in Ireland last summer.

So is this a case of plagiarism? Or sheer coincidence? Are bouncy castles having what in fashion is known as a “moment”? Why, after several millennia of human creativity, have two inflatable megalithic monuments come along at once?

Deller became aware of Ricks’ sculpture, he said, while researching a manufacturer for Sacrilege. According to Ricks: “Jeremy contacted me in October and I didn’t think much of it … I didn’t register who it was.”

“I consider it an identical concept,” Ricks told the Guardian. “In terms of the description of the work, they are incredibly similar,” admitted Deller.

But Deller said that the idea for a bouncy Stonehenge had long pre-dated Ricks’s Dolmen. He had originally thought of submitting an idea for bouncy-castle versions of historic sites to an Arts Council England-run public-art competition in 2009, but was too busy at the time. Finally, he decided to realise the idea for Glasgow International, with the London mayor’s office as co-funders.

“The Olympics people got really nervous in case Jim decided to sue us,” said Deller.

Happily for them, he was not minded to. In fact Ricks forgot all about it, until: “I spoke to the manufacturer by chance about six weeks ago and it dawned on me, so I decided to go over to Glasgow. Part of me was like, ‘I’m ruined!’ It was the same idea done bigger and more visibly. But another part of me is delighted because Sacrilege is awesome, Jeremy was a cool down-to-earth guy, and it’s nice to know we’re on the same wavelength … in a ‘great minds think alike, fools seldom differ’ way.”

“You can be generous about it,” said Deller, “and realise that two people can have a very similar idea. It is, after all, a very simple idea.”

According to Ricks: “Jeremy is a lovely man, and I have no reason to doubt his story.”

Where the works differ, perhaps, is in the nuance. “Sacrilege is a way for people – not just kids – to enjoy a historical monument that is supposed to be revered,” said Deller. “It’s comedic, it’s absurd. It could be something you’d see in a satire on the Olympics or on art. I like to think of it as beyond parody.”

Ricks said that his sculpture had come out of observing the power of the Poulnabrone Dolmen as a regional and national symbol. He added: “At the height of the Celtic Tiger period, on every special occasion there seemed to be a bouncy castle around. Bouncy castles became a sort of vernacular monumental sculpture. So I decided to bring those two things together, and create a sort of hybrid version of Irish identity.”

The story of the megalithic bouncy castles is not yet at an end. Deller hopes that Sacrilege will travel to Northern Ireland as part of its Cultural Olympiad tour. If it does, he will invite Jim Ricks to bring his Poulnabrone Bouncy Dolmen over the border to visit. Let the bounce-off commence.

Full article in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/may/02/bouncy-stonehenge-glasgow?newsfeed=true

The Stonehenge Tour Company – www.StonehengeTours.com

May 1, 2012

Stonehenge, Glastonbury & Avebury Small Group Guided Tour

Posted by StonehengeNews under avebury, History Tours, king arthur tour, small group tours, stonehehenge inner circle tours, stonehenge tours
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Take our Stonehenge, Glastonbury & Avebury tour and experience the history and mystery of some of the most famous pilgrimage sites in the South of England.

Avebury Stone Circle

From Neolithic Stone Circles to the ancient Glastonbury Abbey (King Arthur and Queen Guinevere’s supposed final resting place).
You will visit the ancient Stone Circles of Stonehenge & Avebury which have both been drawing visitors for over 5000 years! We also take you through the history of King Arthur and visit famous ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, with time to explore the nearby village.
Our stop in Avebury gives you plenty of time to enjoy this ancient site’s atmosphere & perhaps have a pint at the famous Red Lion Pub located in the centre of Avebury Stone Circle. The Red Lion is on the Top Ten list of the most haunted pubs in England!
Read more about this tour and the sites visited below:
Includes:

· No More than 15 passengers,
· Return luxury mini coach travel
· Visit & entrance to Stonehenge
· Visit to Avebury Stone Circle
· Explore King Arthur’s Avalon & visit the ancient ruins of Glastonbury Abbey
· Free time in Glastonbury Village
· Plus Tour Manager

7.25am-7.45am Pick ups London Zone 1 – at time of booking please specify your requested pick up location.

(We will contact you the day prior to your tour to confirm your pick up time and location – please ensure we have a valid contact phone number/email address that you will have access to in London the day before)
6.30pm – Approximate arrival back in Central London.
**Please note details are subject to changes**

On our Stonehenge, Glastonbury & Avebury tour we visit some very historic and magical sights including:
· Stonehenge, a World Heritage Site and one of the most famous historic & tourist attractions in the UK.
· Avebury stone circle-one of the world’s largest & most mysterious

Glastonbury Tor - Isle of Avalon

pre-historic stone circles
· Glastonbury & the mythical ‘Avalon’ to discover the mystery, chivalry and romance of King Arthur where you have a chance to explore the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey & Glastonbury village with its medieval buildings and unusual shops catering to wiccans, pagans, witches & hippies!

About Stonehenge
Stonehenge, one of the wonders of the world is an ancient stone circle that has drawn visitors from all over the world for over 5000 years! What’s left to see today are the substantial remnants of the last in a sequence of such monuments erected between circa 3000BC and 1600BC.
There has always been an intense debate over what purposeStonehenge once served, it is certainly a focal point in a landscape filled with prehistoric ceremonial structures. The site is now an official World Heritage Site.
About Avalon, Glastonbury, the Abbey & King Arthur
A legend tells of how Joseph of Arimathea brought the Holy Grail toGlastonbury and built a simple church on the site of this great abbey, possibly the first Christian church in England”.
Glastonbury, in addition to many other places, has been linked to King Arthur. This link at Glastonbury though, is in death rather than life. Arthur was the legendary English King ‘Arthur of the Britons’. He was raised by the wizard Merlin and when only a boy (after many men had tried and failed) Arthur gained the throne by withdrawing a magic sword Excalibur from stone. The nearby CadburyCastle supposedly became his ‘Camelot’.
After his many exploits and stories concerning his Knights, the Round Table and the Holy Grail, he was wounded at the battle of Camlan. This was around the year 542 and he was then taken across the water to the Isle of Avalon for his wounds to be healed.
Legend proclaims that after Arthur’s death a strong spirit haunted the ruins of the Abbey. Appearing as a black armoured knight with red glowing eyes and a desire to eradicate all records of the ancient Arthurian legends, which is why (it is said) that those seeking to discover the truth find so few facts.
Glastonbury is also home to one of the worlds largest performing arts festivals & is famous as a ‘mecca’ for modern day hippies, pagans & witches!

About Avebury
Avebury is the site of a huge henge and several stone circles in the English county of Wiltshire which surround the village of Avebury. It is one of the finest and largest Neolithic monuments in Europe dating to around 5,000 years ago.
It is older than the megalithic stages of Stonehenge, which is located about 20 miles to the south. The henge is aScheduledAncientMonument and a World Heritage Site.
About The Red Lion Pub
The pub is 400 years old and located at the centre of the Avebury stone circle where every six weeks a pagan festival is held. It is in the Top Ten list of most haunted pubs in the country and has been seen on TV as such. The main ghost is that of an old landlady “Florrie” who was supposedly killed here by her husband.
– please ensure we have a valid contact phone number/email address that you will have access to in London the day before.

Visit our website to view this and many more Exclusive Stonehenge Tours
The Stonehenge Tour Company – www.StonehengeTours.com

April 21, 2012

SPRING equinox, anyone? Children jump for joy on 20ft bouncy castle art installation… shaped like Stonehenge

Posted by StonehengeNews under Ancient Britons, stonehenge 2012, Stonehenge humour - joke, stonehenge news | Tags: sprinh equinox |
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Children were walking on air today after Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller unveiled his life-size bouncy castle… of Stonehenge.

The 20ft-high inflatable, called Sacrilege, is modelled on the prehistoric monoliths and was opened to the public on Glasgow Green as part of the 18-day Glasgow International Festival of Visual Arts Festival.

It was designed using detailed plans of the Salisbury monument and took two months to make thanks to the efforts of workers at Inflatable World Leisure, who Mr Deller said built the first ever bouncy castles in the UK.

King of the bouncy castle ... Jeremy Deller's Sacrilege at Glasgow Green is part of the Glasgow international festival of visual arts. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

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The 20ft-high inflatable, called Sacrilege, is modelled on the prehistoric monoliths and was opened to the public on Glasgow Green

Children were walking on air today after Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller unveiled his life-size bouncy castle

His giant inflatable is one of the highlights of a festival programme featuring more than 130 artists at almost 50 venues across the city.

Mr Deller, who won the Turner Prize in 2004, said: ‘It has taken two months to put together so it is wonderful to finally see it up and being used by the public.

‘Stonehenge is a part of our history and it is such an iconic structure that I wanted to recreate it as accurately as I could.

‘We haven’t done it exactly but it is as close as we could get it. People should come down – it’s here for two weeks and it’s free.’

After appearing in Glasgow, the castle – the artist’s first major work in Scotland – will be taken on a tour of the UK.

Artist Jeremy Deller has a go on his installation in Scotland

The giant inflatable took two months to build and is one of the highlights of a festival programme featuring more than 130 artists at almost 50 venues across the city

After appearing in Glasgow, the castle – the artist’s first major work in Scotland – will be taken on a tour of the UK

Other highlights at the Glasgow festival include solo shows by Glasgow-based 2009 Turner Prize winner Richard Wright, Adrian Wiszniewski and Karla Black.

Mr Deller added: ‘I couldn’t have done it without the help of Inflatable World Leisure who built the first bouncy castle in the UK, so they are good company to be in.’

The festival also includes the first UK show called Triumph, an installation of more than 2,500 discarded sporting trophies collected by Polish-born Aleksandra Mir, and an exhibition focused on Glasgow’s Socialist Sunday School movement that flourished in the early 20th century.

More than 90 per cent of the work on show during the 18-day festival is either new or previously unseen in the UK.

‘Stonehenge is a part of our history and it is such an iconic structure that I wanted to recreate it as accurately as I could,’ Mr Deller said

There will also be a range of newly commissioned works drawing on other artistic disciplines such as dance, film and music.

Teacher Lynda Darrock, 31, visited the bouncy castle with children from Annette Street Primary School in Govan, Glasgow.

She said: ‘The children thought it was absolutely amazing. They were talking about it all day, I even had a go myself.

‘They keep asking if we are going back.

‘Jeremy spent lots of time talking to the children beforehand and afterwards asking if they enjoyed it. He was brilliant.

‘Some of the children have been to Stonhenge and they were blow away with how similar it is to the real thing. They had a great day.’

AND HERE’S THE REAL THING… THE MAGIC AND MYSTERY OF STONEHENGE

The Wiltshire monument was completed around 4,500 years ago and is believed to have taken around 35 years to complete.

The largest of the gigantic upright stones weighs about 40 tons – the equivalent of an articulated lorry.

A Time Team dig (for the Channel 4 show) in 2009 established that Stonehenge was built around the same time as Durrington Walls, another henge, or circular earthwork, two miles away.

The two adjacent henges were part of the same complex, with Durrington Walls the location for a massive Neolithic village that housed the workers who built Stonehenge.

The Time Team suggested that this site housed up to 4,000 people, which would have made it the largest Neolithic settlement in north-west Europe.

The Wiltshire monument was completed around 4,500 years ago and is believed to have taken around 35 years to complete

While the circle at Durrington Walls represented life and the land of the living, Stonehenge, encircled by burial mounds, represented the land of the dead, the team claimed.

The two were connected by the River Avon and the procession route from one to the other represented the transition from life to death.

It is thought that the stones used at Stonehenge were moved from Marlborough Downs, about 20 miles to the north.

Digs suggest that the area around the stone circle was used to bury the cremated remains of hundreds of people.

Other experts believe that it was a place for healing.

Meanwhile, a study earlier this week suggested Stonehenge could have been designed with acoustics in mind like a Greek or Roman theatre.

A team of researchers from the University of Salford spent four years studying the historic site’s acoustic properties in a bid to crack the mystery of why it was built.

While they could not confirm the exact purpose of the stones, the researchers did find the space reacted to acoustic activity in a way that would have been noticeable to the Neolithic man.

‘Stonehenge is very well known, but people are still trying to find out what it was built for and we thought that doing this research would bring an element of archaeology that so far hasn’t been looked at,’ lead researcher, Bruno Fazenda said.

He added the new area of acoustic science, named archaeoacoustics, could be helpful in the archaeological interpretation of important buildings and heritage sites, some of which may not exist in their original form, such as in the case of Stonehenge.

Because the site in Wiltshire is in a derelict state, researchers travelled to Maryhill in the U.S. where a full-sized concrete reconstruction of Stonehenge was built in 1929 as a memorial to the soldiers of WWI.

They were able to make proper acoustic measurements that allowed an investigation into striking acoustic effects such as echoes, resonances and whispering gallery effects.

The second phase consisted in the creation of a full 3D audio-rendition of the space using a system comprised of 64 audio channels and loudspeakers especially developed at the University of Salford based on Wave Field Synthesis.

This system enables an accurate and immersive recreation of what Stonehenge would have sounded like.

The Stonhenge Tour Company
www.StonehengeTours.com

April 20, 2012

Salford scientists reveal the ‘sound of Stonehenge

Posted by StonehengeNews under Ancient Britons, History Tours, Sounds of Stonehenge, stonehenge news, stonehenge private tours
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Whatever went on there, it would have impressed the ancient Britons. Even if it was only whispering

Bits missing. But when it was all in place, there’d have been booms, rumbles, echoes and reverberations. Photograph: Jason Hawkes/Getty

Salford‘s clever academics, who once took me shopping in a virtual supermarket – you sat in an armchair wearing a helmet and a glove – have now recreated the sound of Stonehenge.

We are nowhere nearer cracking the mystery of the monument as a result; but who would want to be? Apart from all the mountains of remaindered books of theories, a puzzle solved is never as gripping as a conundrum still under way.

But the four-year project by Dr Bruno Fazenda and colleagues atHuddersfield and Bristol universities, has established how the shouts, speeches, songs or sacrificial screams would have sounded, whatever material they may have contained. The method has been a painstaking piece of ‘archaeoacoustics’, a relatively new discipline which reveals the sound quality of buildings from the past.

Fazenda says:

Stonehenge is very well known, but people are still trying to find out what it was built for and we thought that doing this research would add an element of archaeology that so far hasn’t been looked at. It’s a new area of acoustic science and it could be very helpful in the archaeological interpretation of important buildings and heritage sites, some of which may not exist in their original form, such as in the case of Stonehenge.

The number of missing bits at the famous stone circle by the A303 in Wiltshire was an obvious problem, and tests there by the team produced only a limited number of weak echoes and no noticeable reverberation. Ancient Britons would not have been terribly overawed by this, if the monument was built to impress. But luckily there is a full-sized replica in the United States.

Built out of concrete and erected at Maryhill, Washington state, as a memorial to US soldiers killed in the First World War, this revealed a wealth of special effects. Fazenda found:

It was possible to make proper acoustic measurements that allow an investigation into striking effects such as echoes, resonances and whispering gallery effects. The data gathered does not unequivocally reveal whether the site was designed with acoustics in mind, like Greek or Roman theatres. It nevertheless shows that the space reacted to acoustic activity in a way that would have been noticeable to the Neolithic man.

The next stage, in the tradition of my virtual supermarket foray, was to create an ‘audio 3D rendition’ of the recorded sounds, using 64 audio channels and bespoke loudspeakers from Salford university based on wave field synthesis. Fazenda says:

This system give us an accurate and immersive recreation of what Stonehenge would have sounded like. We can not only see ourselves surrounded by the stones using virtual reality, but we can also listen how the stone structure would have enveloped people in a sonic experience. It is as if we can travel back in time and experience the space in a more holistic way.

There’s more on the subject on a separate and excellent website called Sonic Wonders which has all manner of acoustic revelations. Here’s a clapping experiment on YouTube courtesy of them – background details are here.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/apr/19/stonehenge-acoustics-archaeology-salford-university-bruno-fazenda

Join a guided tour of Stonehenge and hear about the many new theories
The Stonehenge Tour Company – www.StonehenegTours.com

April 1, 2012

Stonehenge: A Sacred Burial Site

Posted by StonehengeNews under small group tours, Solstice, stonehenge 2012, stonehenge access, stonehenge access tour, stonehenge guide, Stonehenge guided tours form London., stonehenge tours, Visit Wiltshire
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Stonehenge has confounded archaeologists and academics alike since its early beginnings

Einstein once declared that ‘the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious’, and this statement is particularly fitting as regards Stonehenge. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1986 and retains its intensely spiritual and otherworldly ambience, despite the number of tourists it attracts. If you choose to visit this extraordinary site, ensure you also spend some time delving into the captivating areas that surround Stonehenge. Explore picturesque Windsor and beguiling Bath.

Modern archaeological techniques and a number of recent digs have helped to form new theories about the stones that constitute Stonehenge. However, their definitive use stays as enigmatic as ever; it is suffused with a continuing sense of mystery. Stonehenge stands as an authoritative witness to the once extraordinary civilisations of the Stone and Bronze Ages of around 3,700 BC to 1,600 BC. Similarly, its surrounding areas stand as testament to these mighty cultures.

There is no place on earth quite like Stonehenge. Its brooding, pervasive mysticism, its intense spirituality and its endless aura of mystery all combine to make it an inimitable, idiosyncratic landmark. Take a Stonehenge tour and discover just why it continues to fascinate and perplex people from all over the world.

You may not know that Stonehenge is not the only ancient site in this region. Yet, in fact, a mere 25 miles north of Stonehenge is the impressive Avebury complex, which is a robust contender to be the most grandiose of all the residual prehistoric earthworks in Europe. The Avebury stone circle is actually much greater than that of Stonehenge – but the stones are smaller. A strong benefit that comes of visiting Avebury is that you can in fact touch its stones. Woodhenge, which consists of a circle of wooden posts, is an even more obscure and oft overlooked landmark.

Theories as to the use of Stonehenge range from the eminently believable to the absurd. In the twentieth century, both Fred Hoyle and Gerald Hawkins fascinatingly argued that not only was Stonehenge used as an observatory, but also to calculate future astronomical events such as eclipses. Yet it is probably von Däniken’s theory about Stonehenge that has led to the most furore, conflict and general disputation. Däniken claims that either extraterrestrials, or humans who were aided by extraterrestrials, built Stonehenge. He then goes on to argue that Stonehenge is an exact replica of our solar system, including the asteroid belt.

Why not merge a visit to Stonehenge with visits to its nearby districts, which hold their own captivating and idiosyncratic attractions? A combination Bath and Stonehenge tour from London is one of the most extraordinary tours you can do. Bath is, without a doubt, one of the most absorbing destinations to explore in the UK. An especially great number of visitors assemble to view the extraordinary sunrise at the summer solstice.

Link: http://pressitt.com/smnr/Stonehenge-A-Sacred-Burial-Site/10709/

The Stonehenge Tour Company
http://www.StonehengeTours.com

March 31, 2012

Top 10 Sunrise destinations worldwide – Stonehenge

Posted by StonehengeNews under Solstice, stonehenge access tour, stonehenge news, stonehenge tours, Visit Wiltshire
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Residents of the Northern Hemisphere are downright giddy this time of year with the official arrival of spring. In honor of longer days, sunshine and the tantalizing prospect of summer on the horizon, Cheapflights.com has chosen its top 10 list of places around the world to see a magnificent sunrise. Reuters has not endorsed this list:

1. Stonehenge, England

Equinox devotees will gather every year for the Vernal Equinox. A place of sun worship still, Stonehenge is a mysterious destination that holds deep spiritual value for many travelers. Some researchers suggest the formation was erected as early as 2200 BC, while others argue it was even earlier, in 3000 BC. No matter the date of creation, Stonehenge is a powerful landmark, and well worth the visit for a beautiful—and perhaps magical—sunrise.

Stonehenge Equinox Sunrise

2. Svalbard, Norway

The sun doesn’t set in Svalbard—at least not between mid-April and late August each year. It’s obvious, then, why the sun rising holds an almost magical appeal for visitors. Situated north of the Arctic Circle, the northernmost inhabited spot on the planet features the midnight sun, a phenomenon where the sun stays continuously in the sky for 24 hours a day. Glaciers and mountains clutter Svalbard’s horizon, painting a landscape that merely enhances the event.

3. Angkor Wat Siem Reap, Cambodia

Angkor Wat any time of day is powerful, but arriving early enough to watch the sunrise offers visitors an even greater spectacle. The preserved temple attracts travelers to Cambodia from around the world, providing them architectural insight into Khmer and Hindu mythology and history. We advise that visitors dedicate more than a day to exploring the sacred grounds (and that one of those days begins before dawn).

4. Fiji

Smack dab on the 180-degree longitude line, Fiji is one of the first spots in the world to see the sun rise every day. The South Pacific destination, a favorite among lovers of turquoise seas and white-sand beaches (and who isn’t), offers unrivaled scenery and inspirational landscapes. Itinerary tip: Follow an intoxicating sunrise up with a morning exploration; the “soft coral capital of the world” offers some of the best scuba diving in the world.

5. Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is on practically every adventure traveler’s to-do list. With the enormous undertaking comes a chance to see one of the most enchanting sunrises in the world. From Kili’s summit—19,341 feet above sea level—dedicated souls can reflect on their ascent, a massive accomplishment, while soaking up an unparalleled sight to see.

6. Haleakala National Park, Hawaii, USA

Boarding a bus in the wee hours of morning is a pain, particularly on vacation when the greatest indulgence is sleeping in. But the alarm-clock acknowledgement is worth it if the payoff is watching a sunrise from above the clouds, on the top of a volcano. Various van tours offer the trip through Haleakala National Park in Maui, picking visitors up at 3 a.m. and dropping them off to see the event from the summit. Should you want to (and we highly recommend it), you can bike the 28 miles down the mountain, back to sea level.

7. Tres Cruces, Peru

A six-hour bus ride from Cuzco, the gateway to Machu Picchu, Tres Cruces is undeniably worth the long trek. The Incas held the mountain spot, situated on the Amazon basin, sacred. Nowadays, it’s visitors looking to experience a mind-blowing sunrise who sanctify the destination. The view famously boasts celestial hues and Polaroid moments from above the clouds.

8. Tulum, Mexico

The coastal oasis of Tulum draws spiritual travelers and yoga-types year-round to soak up exquisite culture, history and scenery all in a single spot. The destination’s think-green mentality and efforts toward sustainability set the tone for a raw form of vacationing, where visitors are up with the sun (and often in bed shortly after the sun goes down). No need to set an alarm in Tulum, where sun worshipers gather at the shoreline daily to watch the sunrise.

9. Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA

The most impressive sunrises in the continental United States occur every day across the Grand Canyon. Cool purples melt into shades bronze and orange against the awe-inspiring scenery, arguably America’s greatest natural wonder. There isn’t a best place to see the sunrise in the Grand Canyon, but Maricopa, Hopi, and Mather points, and along the South Rim are recommended highly by in-the-know travelers.

10. Mount Sinai, Egypt

First a history refresher: Jews, Christians and Muslims alike believe that Moses received the 10 Commandments at the biblical Mount Sinai, as mentioned in the Torah, Bible and Koran. Still an important religious destination, Mount Sinai today draws believers who scale the route by foot for religious purposes, and for the chance to see one of the most inspiring sunrises in the world.

Link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/30/us-travel-picks-sunrise-idUKBRE82T13D20120330

The Stonehenge Tour Company
http://www.StonehengeTours.com