*****Drombeg Stone Circle , Ireland****
Dormbeg Stone Circle in County Cork is a tight little colection of 9 meters (30 )feet in diameter. It's of a type known as a recumbent stone because the largest stone lies on its side flanked by two smaller ones.This is deliberte ; the stone didn't fall down. What this means is anyone's guess, although the local claim that it's a "Druid's Alter" is fanciful because the circle dates to the Bronze Age , Radiocarbon dating on a burial found in the center of the circle yieled a date between 150 BC and 130 AD.
The Ring of Brodgar , Orkney Isles , Scotland
The wind swept Orkney , Isles north of Scotland are covered in prehistoric remains. The Ring of Brodney , is built of thin, tall stones on a narrow isthmus between two lochs. Its architects obviously had an eye for dramatic setting. It dates to between 2500 and 2000 BC . In the northern most stone circle in the British Isles and also the third largest at 104 meters ( 341 ft ) in diameter. Like many major circles it's part of a network of sites, with tombs and single standing stones scattered in the area around it . Legend has it that the Vikings were so impressed with the Ring of Bridgar when they arrived in the nieth century AD that they worship their gods here. Some Viking Runes carved into the stones may suppoet this theory.
****Avebury , England************
Bigger than Stonehenge , the site of Avebury just 17 miles north of Stonehenge consists of a massive stone circle 331.6 meters ( 1088 ft ) in diameter with two avenues of stones leading to a pair of smaller stones circles. Construction began around 2900 BC , roughly the same time as its neighbor . Other monuments , such as the mysterious artificial mound os Silbury Hill and the West Kennet Long barrow, an ancient tomb., an easy walk away. During the Middle Ages the locals got religion and decided this pagan monument needed to go. They knocked over several stones until one fell over and crushed one of the vandals. Everone thought this was just a legend until modern archaeologists dug up a fallen stone and found the skeleton of a man underneath with some stone 14th century coins in his pocket !
*******Rollright Stones , England **************
This stone circle makes a un day hike from Oxford . Most stone circles are pretty small. This one is only 33 meters (108 feet ) in diameter but has some interesting details. One stone has a hole through which you can see a tall monolith called the King Stone in a nearby field. A nearby dolmen ( a small roofed tomb of stone ) is called the Whispering Knights. Legend says the circle and these two outlying monuments are a king and his knights who were turned to stone by a witch. Actually the circle and monolith were built by prehistoric people between 2500 to 2000 BC. The Whispering Knights dates to about 3500 BC . In prehistoric times, the presence of one monument encourged people to build more.
Every year thousands ot tourists flock to Stonehenge, the iconic stone circle on Salisbury Plain, England . While so much attention is focused on this site , especially with the recent discovery of another monument near Stonehenge, people often forget there's thousand more stone circles in the British Isles and continental Europe. Built during the Neolithic starting about 5,000 years ago, these sites are beautiful and have a lot of strange folklore over the centuries, like the mistaken belief that they were built by Druids or giants .
My Spin : Maybe ..just maybe, one day I will get to see the stone circles...watch closely you may just see my PiC and myself strolling along the pathway looking at the past . So come on and join us. It will be a hoot.
Kicking back and having fun....
Well done and very interesting PIC and I like the way you put the pictures and copy. You are becoming a computer geek. I will send you an official 'geek badge'.
ReplyDeleteThankyou....I'm trying to get the hang of this stuff and like you said , it's fun .
ReplyDeleteYes you are turning me into a 'geek.'
Sweetie...I foubd being a computer 'geek' is more fun than trying to do another woman's man.
See ya later...luv....PIC