Travels with my Father, and a Henge Confessional

[steepholm]

An odd experience driving back from my mother's this afternoon. On impulse I decided not to take my usual route (via Salisbury) but to head north through the Test valley, then take the A303 past Stonehenge before meeting up with my usual road a few miles before Longleat. It's a slightly longer route, but takes exactly the same time on account of including a stretch of dual carriageway. All the same, I don't think I've ever driven to Bristol that way before.

From the minute I set off, the car was filled with the scent of sandalwood. It's a smell I strongly associate with my father, who used it as an ingredient in his massage oils. It lasted until I (I actually wrote "we" first time) reached the barrows around Stonehenge, then slowly faded as I approached Bristol. Not coincidentally, I suspect, this route - the valley road, and the road past Stonehenge - are ones I travelled with him more than with anyone else.

It's strange I don't go to Stonehenge more, really. I think there's a kind of snobbishness attached to my feelings about it, which does me no credit. Ever since I read John Aubrey's opinion that Avebury "does as much exceed in greatness the so reknowned Stonehenge, as a cathedral doth a parish Church," I've disdained the more famous monument, and all the more so since they put the fence up. It's not just that you can't touch the stones; but in the relative blankness of Salisbury Plain distance makes them look like a stage prop, and of indeterminate size. I expect to see Spinal Tap.

Still, I feel bad about this now - my father was always very hot on intellectual snobbery - and will make a penitential pilgrimage there soon, and pay the entrance fee.

Comments

[kalypso]

Come to Castlerigg. It's a good circle, with spectacular views and free admission. Also my mother is there.

[steepholm]

It's one I've not been to, yet. In fact, I've barely been to Cumbria at all, which is something else to put right!

[cmcmck]

Since The Ring of Brodgar came into my life, I know what Aubrey meant!

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Smell often seems to be associated with spirits and memory.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think so. Either, or both.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd managed to hitchhike out to see it in '72, before the nasty fencing.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Now your only chance is to go during the Solstice.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Or one of the Druidic events. They're quite good about that, and you can hire it privately.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the information. There's something a bit odd about the the idea, isn't there? "Stonehenge - available for private hire." But I'm glad they're not totally out of bounds.

[splanky.livejournal.com]

No, you can get access to the stones if you pre-book for early morning or late evening. I did this in 2006. I didn't want to go one of the wonders of the ancient world and not be able to get close to the thing!

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/stone-circle-access/

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about that!

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

I take it "hot on" in this sense means "critical of"? Because in US usage "hot on" often means "keen on."

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

It can mean "keen on" here, too - but I think I'm not being totally idiosyncratic in saying that it can also mean, as here, "alert/sensitive to". That's what I was trying to say, anyway!

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

I do not understand why Avebury is so overlooked. Do you have any ideas on that?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Not really. I've been to Avebury ten times for every visit I've made to Stonehenge, so I'm probably not the person to ask! I can see it's harder to monetize, though, having a village stuck in the middle of it and all - maybe that's got something to do with it?

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't surprise me if there's a right way and a wrong way to visit Avebury, and lots of tourists go the wrong way. Seems to me Bob and I couldn't find a way to see it properly, where it didn't just look like random stones either side of the highway. But very likely we just didn't know enough about the setting to make sense of what we were seeing, either.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I can see how that might be - a case of not being able to see the henge for the stones. It's worth reading a bit about it in advance, and if you get the chance visiting the associated sites of West Kennet longbarrow and Silbury Hill (both within a couple of miles).

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I think Stonehenge wins because the trilithons are so spectacular and, as far as I know, unique in the UK? So everyone is staggered by the engineering involved. Also, because the main monuments at Stonehenge cover a small site, they're easier to take in at a glance, whereas the Avebury site is so large (and has the distraction of the village) that it takes time and effort to absorb. And Avebury is comparatively close to Stonehenge, so that they're in direct competition ("which one shall we visit?"), whereas the Cumbrian circles are far enough away to hold their own (and even there, Castlerigg overshadows the rest; I'm a big fan of Swinside, but it's little known because it's a longer walk from a road and the views aren't as sensational; Castlerigg plus Blencathra is a sight to match Durham Cathedral looming over the Wear).

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Stonehenge is spectacular *if and only if* you can arrange to see inside the circle - I managed it a couple of times as a student (ie way back in the murky mists of time). It's the only one with the trilithons, and those are huge. But the ring is quite small, as these things go, and the overall site isn't hugely impressive. Of the circles I've seen my favourite is Brodgar, in Orkney, which is one of the largest in the world, and has a truly stunning setting.

I do look forward to seeing Stonehenge again once they've finished the new visitor centre. The henge was horribly mutilated by those roads.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I went inside the ring when I visited as a child, before they erected the fence, but that of course was a loooong time ago.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

You should pay the extra whack and go pay it a visit in the very early morning when you can watch the sun come up from inside the monument. It's well worth it.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Now I know that option exists, I'm very tempted.

[forochel.livejournal.com]

imma have to disagree with you on intellectual snobbery in thinking avebury is more awesome than stonehenge, though; it's probably great when you can like actually get close to it and when there aren't 2034928035982035 tourists around. but I like that avebury is visibly set within a certain ritual (possibly) landscape; you have silbury hill, west kennet long barrow and ... that one other wood henge within walking distance. i'm not saying they were all synchronic though iirc silbury hill and west kennet are neolithic? but it's just more interesting to think about and BE in, from that pov.

lskdjg just realised that entire comment basically smacked of intellectual snobbery. basically what i wanted to say was that it's a nicer experience in avebury than stonehenge, personally speaking. plus avebury has a great pub. and bikers. and druids. sometimes at the same time!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

The pub is certainly a draw! There used to be a lovely veggie cafe round the back by the museum, too, though it changed hands a few years ago.

You're right of course that the ritual (I think more than likely) landscape around Avebury is spectacular. Stonehenge has one too, but nothing as eye-catching as Silbury or West Kennet. Also, the literary uses of Avebury have been more interesting (Tess of the Durbevilles notwithstanding).

[forochel.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, and there's that little museum in the barn as well! idk, i just think avebury's a better visitor experience. maybe because it's less internationally renowned, so there isn't the need to protect the henge from visitor wear-and-tear.

yeah, about stonehenge. when you know about the archaeology of the site it's really interesting, but the narrative that has been crafted around it for the public elides a lot of the interesting little stories.

what literature has avebury appeared in?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Well, I really recommend Catherine Fisher's Darkhenge, which uses the entire landscape around there in a very interesting way. It's a key element (though unnamed) in the landscape of Alan Garner's Elidor. And of course it's the setting (under the name Milbury) for the TV series Children of the Stones - as discussed in this recent radio documentary. There's a novel of that name by the same writers (can't remember which came first, though). Well worth watching on DVD, if you haven't - or indeed reading!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

And, as I've only just learned, Catherine Storr's Marianne Dreams is thought by Wikipedia at least (though without actual evidence) to be set in Avebury.