Stonehenge - information
Useful information
· It is believed that Stonehenge was constructed somewhere between 3100 – 1100 BCE.
· Stonehenge and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986.
· Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage while the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.
· The circle was aligned with the midsummer sunrise, the midwinter sunset, and the most southerly rising and northerly setting of the moon.
· Stonehenge has a henge, or a ditch and bank, which surround the large stone circle.
· The stones of Stonehenge were placed in such a way that they increase in size towards the centre and alternate in shape between tall, thin pillar-like stones and stones of a tapering obelisk shape.
· Two types of stone were used for the construction of Stonehenge - the 'bluestones' which weighed almost forty tons and were brought from 240 miles away, and the 'Sarsen' stones which had a height of about eighteen feet and weighed twenty-five tons.