So you have decided to take a daytrip out of London, destination Stonehenge? Very well. That is what we call a really good idea! This ancient, mysterious monument, with its presumed mystic purposes, was erected in 2,500 BC, yet the site itself dates back even further to 4,500 BC. It calls visitors from all over the world, and rightfully so!
Some believe that the giant stone ring formation was once a religious site or perhaps an astronomical observatory. There are even theories that it was used for healing, burial and acoustics, due to its excellent sound reflection.
Now: was it aliens? Are we the aliens? How did they make it?? Because this thing is like, really big! Well, all of this questions and more, you can ponder on your way there.
You have three transportation methods to reach it: by tour bus, shuttle bus, or car.
Tour buses are an excellent option if you want to see multiple thing in one day. While you have Stonehenge-only bus tours, many combine the neolithic site with an excursion to Windsor Castle and Bath. This option is also perfect for those who want a guided day trip. You can find plenty of tours like this in The Stonehenge Tour website. They tend to be longer, lasting eleven to twelve hours.
IMPORTANT: Stonehenge is not only the Stone Circle, it is a whole prehistoric archeological site, and the Ring, although certainly the most famous attraction, is not the only point of interest.
Bus ride
You have two interesting options here:
1. Pay for a 7-9 hour trip from London including the drive to the site, a few hours at the location, and the drive back, for around £50 per person!
2. A shuttle bus is your second alternative to visiting Stonehenge from London. It is an excellent option if you want to devote the whole day exploring Stonehenge. Shuttle buses depart from Victoria Coach Station on a comfortable air-conditioned coach.
By train
Keep in mind that while it’s possible to visit Stonehenge from London by train, you can’t get there without involving an additional taxi or bus journey, and it’s difficult to predict exactly what a cab will cost unless you don’t mind phoning in advance to ask.From central London, head to the Waterloo Station and get a train to Salisbury – approximately 15km southeast of Stonehenge’s historical site. From Salisbury, you can catch the Stonehenge bus – the total price of the return train and the return bus should still be less than £50 per person.
A return trip for the train can be as low as £15 per person during the off-peak days and times, whereas the peak times will be around £45 per person – try and go during weekdays and during non-work times so you can enjoy the flexibility and lower prices.
By car
Number one tip: use postcode SP4 7DE for Stonehenge!
The outward and return trip should take around one-and-a-half hours each, subject to traffic conditions (and finding your way without getting lost)! Consider, though, that the levels of traffic in and around London are… notorius, to say the list. So be ready to show patience, check the rush hour times, and if you’re not English remember, we drive on the other side of the road.
Commodities-wise, there is a car park at Stonehenge. This is operated by English Heritage, and they may ask you to pay for parking if you are a non-member who hasn’t pre-booked a ticket. Once you pay for entry, this charge should be refunded. If you’ll have trouble walking from the car park to the stones, a visitor shuttle bus is provided.
And now that you know how to get there, here are the strange facts about Stonehenge
1. Around 180 generations have passed since the stones were erected at Stonehenge!
1.2 But people were living at the site long before Stonehenge was built: displayed in the visitor centre is a reconstructed head based on the skeleton of a real man, excavated in 1864 near Winterbourne Stoke. Radiocarbon dating shows that he died between 3,630 and 3,360BC – around 500 years before the first earthwork enclosure was built at Stonehenge.
3. In 1802 the antiquarian and archaeologist William Cunnington left a bottle of port under the Slaughter Stone (a large fallen sarsen near the entrance to Stonehenge) for future excavators. In 1923, William Hawley was investigating the location when he discovered the bottle of port kindly left there by the antiquarian. Unfortunately, the cork had decayed and nearly all the contents had gone.
4. We still don’t know how they carried the stones: the large, sarsen sandstones weigh around 25 tons each and how they carried them the about 20 miles miles from their source remains as mysterious as the henge itself. More incredibly, the numerous bluestones, weighing up to 5 tons each, were brought from Wales, so they had to cross the sea AND many miles of land to arrive in Salisbury.
5. The henge baffled the Romans: this group of warriors, famous for building roads and towns across England, left the site exactly as they found it. In fact, Roman coins, pins, jewellery and fragments of pottery are just some of the objects found. These weren’t just left behind by Roman tourists, they are thought to have been left by people visiting Stonehenge as a shrine, perhaps to appease the spirits of the… temple? Burial? We don’t know, and probably they didn’t either.
6. Cow jaws were prized items for our ancestor: the cow jaws found were several hundred years old when they were placed on the floor of the Stonehenge ditch. (per radiocarbon analysis, dated to a period before the ditch was dug.)
7. About 115 prehistoric axe-head carvings were found on the stone: They date from around 1800–1700 B.C. but until 2011 with the first complete 3D laser scan of the stones, we only knew 44 of them. It revealed details normally invisible to the naked eye, including tool marks 4,500 years old, when the stones were being shaped and erected. There were also scores of carvings added when Stonehenge was already 700 years old.
8. The first aerial photograph of Stonehenge was taken more than 110 years ago: It was shot by Lieutenant Phillip Henry Sharpe from a military air balloon in 1906 belonging to the Royal Engineers’ Balloon Section.
9. Stonehenge was bought at an auction in 1915 for £6,600 by local business man Cecil Chubb, who (reportedly) came to the auction just to buy some dining chairs. Three years later Chubb gave the monument to the nation, to be cared for by the then Ministry of Works. Many restorations and excavations have taken place from 1919 to 1929, and again between 1958 – 1964. So now Stonehenge sits within a restored landscape, giving a sense of its original setting.
10. The five Neolithic Houses are based on real dwellings: they were built based on archaeological evidence of houses found at Durrington Walls. Each one had a chalk floor, a hearth and stake-built walls. Radiocarbon dating has shown that these houses were inhabited for about 50-100 years in around 2,500 BC, the time that the monument was being erected. The closeness of the dates raises the strong possibility that the inhabitants were involved in the construction of the sarsen stone settings and in celebrations at Stonehenge.
We hope you liked these 10 and a half facts about Stonehenge, and if you think we missed something, please let us know, we LOVE knowledge!
Enjoy your daytrip!