Stone circles

As you know, England is famous for a big stone circle, Stone Henge. And what you probably don't know is that there are loads of other stones circles all over the country side as well.

One of them being Avebury. Unlike Stone Henge, the stones at Avebury aren't behind ropes - they're situated in the middle of real farmland which is being grazed (and shat all over) by sheep. You can walk right up to the stones and touch them - if you don't mind getting manure all over your shoes and on the inside hems of your jeans and God knows where else that you didn't even notice.

The Avebury stones pre-date the ones at Stone Henge. In fact, they predate the Parthenon and the Great Wall of China. They are 6,000 years old. This means, if you are a creationist, that they were around at the time of Adam & Eve (since Creationists have pegged the planet's age at no more than 6,000 years old. And as an aside, we saw a show the other night about a Creationist Amusement Park in America where the Creationists have conveniently rearranged facts and placed kids playing with dinosaurs which are no longer man eaters, but friendly pets like Dino on the Flintstones. What a bunch of monumental jackasses!).

Avebury itself is a heritage protected village. And if you're a smarty pants like us, you will have bought your British Heritage membership over the internet, and gained access to the place for nothing. In fact, our membership got us into Stone Henge and Old Sarum for nothing too. Membership DOES have privileges.



The thing about Avebury, and any other stone circle for that matter, is that its true use is completely lost in time. We do know that the stones were used consistently for about 1,500 years. Amazingly, memory of that use is lost with time. They've since been unused for three times as long. So in viewing the stones, I found it really hard to relate to them. Not knowing what they were used for means they are absent of meaning. And without meaning, I was at a loss to know how to feel about what I was seeing. Gorgeous village. Cute sheep. Fantastic monoliths. But what does it all mean?

We pondered this as we sat in the Red Lion Free House - a pub which is supposed to be THE most haunted in England. The most famous ghost, Florrie, failed to make an appearance (although if my sister had been there, I'm sure she would have showed up). So we played darts - a very unhistoric thing to do in one of the most ancient places in the world.

I think you call that irony. I know I do.

Additional Note: Alan, our host at Camelot B&B last night, tells us that Avebury is the place where seven ley lines intersect. According to Wikipedia, ley lines and their intersection points resonate a special psychic or magical energy. Hence, Alan says, his hair stands on end when he is in Avebury, owing to the powerful magentic forces of the earth, which the ley lines bring to the surface. So there's some meaning we can add to the site... all that geographic magenetism probably explains why Marks was able to hit the bullseye n the dart board at the Red Lion...