Stonehenge

Stonehenge and Old Sarum,  Mon 30/6/14

This is now out of order - but never mind.  Our visit was mentioned in the "Salisbury" entry but now here are a few images to support my comments.

Stonehenge is so well known but only partially understood.  Being there, looking up at the enormous blocks of stone is both inspiring and mystifying.  The scale of human effort is almost unbelievable.  It's a place where it's hard to avoid "superlatives".

The Land Rover "trains" carry visitors from the
Interpretive Centre to the fringe of the stone circle

And now for the Old Sarum images.  The site is not far from the Stonehenge monument but ccomes from quite different periods.  The Normans built a castle and cathedral within the earth ramparts of an Iron-Age hilltop fortress.  The site was occupied for 2 centuries before being abandoned in favour of a more open site on the Salisbury Plains.

The remains of the original "Salisbury" cathedral

View of present-day Salisbury from Old Sarum.
The cathedral spire dominates the landscape.