Places to go
Where is Stonehenge? And can you visit other similar megalithic sites? Of course you can! Icons has done the background research for you.
Stonehenge
The ancient stone circle of Stonehenge is one of the wonders of the world. What visitors see today are the substantial remains of stones put up between about 3000BC and 1600BC.
Address: Near Amesbury
West Kennet Long Barrow
One of the largest and most impressive Neolithic graves in Britain, West Kennet Long Barrow dates from around 2800BC. The remains of up to 46 people were discovered inside and they have now been carefully removed and preserved. The barrow is now open and visitors can walk inside and inspect the chambers at close range. Mind your head!
Address: South of the A4 on a dirt track that can be seen from the road. One-and-a-half miles south of Avebury
Silbury Hill
Like Stonehenge, Silbury Hill is an enigma. Built in around 2500BC, no one has been able to pinpoint its original purpose. It is the biggest man-made mound in Europe, measuring 130ft high and 100ft across its flat top. The hill is built from local soil and rock and because of its fragility, visitors are prevented from climbing or walking on it.
Address: Beside the A4, Avebury
Avebury Stone Circle
This is the largest stone circle in Britain and, since stone circles are a distinctively British feature, it is therefore the largest in the world. An estimated 1,500,000 man hours went into building the site. It is so big that it encloses the whole village.
Probably built during between 2800BC and 2400BC, it fell into neglect over the centuries until it was restored by 19th century enthusiast Alexander Keiller (after whom the local museum is named). The site is now managed by The National Trust, which maintains extensive tourist facilities to serve the millions who visit from all over the world.
Address: Avebury
Alexander Keiller Museum
This museum displays some of the prehistoric artefacts discovered by Alexander Keiller, who spent the 1920s and 1930s excavating the local area. Among the display is the grave of a rare Neolithic child skeleton. Interactive audio-visual displays tell the story of the local prehistoric monuments.
Address: High Street, Avebury
Victoria & Albert Museum
The museum’s Print, Drawing and Study Room holds a watercolour of Stonehenge by English artist John Constable. Painted in 1835, it shows a windswept, brooding view of the stones, with a double rainbow in the sky. Constable himself proudly called it “a beautiful drawing”.
The painting shows Constable’s ability to combine scientific knowledge (the double rainbow) and observation with poetry and originality.
Address: Cromwell Road, South Kensington
Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum
Take a journey through one of the most fascinating areas in Britain. The museum includes galleries dedicated to Stonehenge and early man, and the English archaeologist and anthropologist Lieutenant-General Augustus Pitt Rivers.
Address: The King’s House, 65 The Close, Salisbury
Woodhenge
Discovered in 1999, Woodhenge is even older than parts of Stonehenge. It dates from about 2300BC and is 20 miles away from its stone cousin. The monument would have consisted of rings of tall wooden posts that were aligned to the midsummer sunrise, and must have looked very impressive.
Rings of concrete markers now mark the spot where the posts would have originally stood.
Address: Signposted from the A345 road, just north of Amesbury
