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I'm working in Salisbury next week and thought about going to Stonehenge whilst i'm so close.
Had a look on google earth and it looks like it's ring fenced and it's £20 to get in.
Is it worth it?
Planned to ride down the back roads on my bike but I bet you can't take a bike in either?
Any yokle feedback would be great.
worth it ? it's some stones and some grass... £20 is hysterical !!!! lol.
And you know that scene in spinal tap with the tiny standing stone? Yeah that's actually life size.
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@51.4284542,-1.8545631,3a,75y,0.32h,79.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sR2jQEf4IDG_B6NPVOGQjQQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en">go here spend it on something to eat and see some ancient stones for free
Worth it IMHO.
Yeah, it's great. It's free if you're National Trust by the way. Do it AND Avebury!
Worth seeing once in your life, good call on Avebury
English Heritage.
Good call on Avebury. We did both on the same day.
Worth it, to me. Always wanted to go, was pleasantly surprised. Thought the museum at the visitor centre was crap though, way too much audio visual displays, I can see that sort of stuff on telly or t'internet. When I go to a museum I want to see old stuff. Avebury much more atmospheric.
If you've got a bike, there is a bridleway/byway that gets within 300m of the stones, short ride down from Larkhill.
I was speaking to someone last week and they compared it to the Angel of the North. Which means something at the side of the road to stop and have a quick look at but not worth going out of your way for.
Edit: Jesus H Christ, at least the Angle is free! £60 for a family ticket! At least Dick Turpin wore a mask etc etc
Asa above, there's a track bridleway NW right past the stones (300m), but also you can roam all over the adjacent area of the avenue, cursus etc (NE), which means you can get pretty close.
You could do an excellent atmospheric ride taking in some great pre-history if you combine all around Avebury (including fyfield down) and stone henge...best make sure they're not firing on the artillery ranges though!
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/ @51.1789342,-1.826083,3a,75y,76.46h,86.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2toQT4rUKwZdv46KZSdYUQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en-GB
Save yourself £20.
I just stod at the road side and took a couple of photos as I'm tight!
No, IMHO.
a) You can't get anywhere near it any more because morons were chipping souvenirs off it, you might as well see it on TV. If you do decide to go, pack binoculars.
b) There are many many other stone circles in the UK. Avebury is cool, that's a good shout.
c) Twenty quid is a pisstake. What's that paying towards, maintaining the fence that keeps you out?
It's paying for the upkeep of the 400 sites in the English Heritage portfolio.
Annual membership is worth it if you are going to visit more than a couple of them.
(c) pretty much, that and building an AV display hut for AV displays you could have seen on the internet, and which would then not have disturbed the important archaelogical site etc.
I went to see the Avebury stones on an Equinox.
Place was full of hippies drinking funny tea and playing drums.
Can't remember a damn thing.
I took my daughter on the way back from Devon last month. Joined for the year instead of paying on the day. £5.64 a month for 2 of us to visit all English Heritage sites as often as we want. She loved the place and would go again, preferably not when it's rainy and windy next time.
I did a very nice ride including Avebury that went past Stonehenge a few weeks ago - you get pretty close for free - no way would I pay £20! It's an odd bridleway, riding past all the hippies and oldies in their clapped out campers sitting their round their campfires looking at piles of rocks!
What an odd place...
£20 to get in? What a bloody rip! Didn't there used to be a free festival there? When did it get sold/annexed off?
If you're interested in the pre-history of the UK then it's probably worth it. If you go and "just" see a bunch of stones in a grass field, perhaps less so.
It’s paying for the upkeep of the 400 sites in the English Heritage portfolio.
But the OP isn't visiting those. Do the other 399 not have entry fees?
Annual membership is worth it if you are going to visit more than a couple of them.
In a past life I was a National Trust member, I had to cancel it when I lost my job and never really had much cause to renew it. I got more value from that than I would have from English Heritage, and there's only so many subscriptions one can subscript to.
I much prefer Avebury, walk amongst the stones, decent cafe, decent pub, couple of museums etc.
But the OP isn’t visiting those. Do the other 399 not have entry fees?
Some are free. Some won't generate enough for their upkeep. Stonehenge and a few other Big Hitters will help fund them.
For example, Avebury is free but NT funded.
The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar seems apposite.
I think you'll be disappointed TBH, it's my local, but it's a bit underwhelming. I ride past quite frequently, as other have said there's a track very close if you're on the bike https://w3w.co/models.ranted.estuaries
Avebury Stones are cool though. Or closer, Old Sarum is nice - usually an ice-cream van there too. You could do aloop from the Catheral, up to Old Sarum, then use the King Alfred route to go from Old Sarum up the the Stones, or cut left by Stings house, across the grassy hill and leggit across the A303
Visit Salisbury cathédrale and see if you can get access to the roof space, it has the original wooden scaffolding all the way up the spire. Incredible médiéval carpentry. There's Old Sarum too, also English Heritage but cheaper and probably better luck with a bike. Nice steep hill to get in too!
Twenty quid is a pisstake. What’s that paying towards, maintaining the fence that keeps you out?
You're really paying for the visitor center. But can't choose to go to one without the other
You can see everything there is to see from the free path running past the site. And I say this as a NT member with free entry. Also the path has less fannies on it!
The best views of Stonehenge are actually from a distance taking in the country around it anyway.
Avebury is awesome and much more impressive.
When did it get sold/annexed off?
You can still go on soulstices
Just drive pass traffic will be going slow enough we took kids recently whilst on the way to cornwall - Needless to say kids were not impressed and apparantley I wasted 3 hours of there holiday. So was definitely my last trip to the stones it's certainly good to see once.
Reading the reviews it seems people who paid extra for a guided trip had a much better time, not sure what the cost is.
On the subject of standing stones these are pretty amazing and 2000 years older, bit of a detour for the OP though.
https://www.wildernessscotland.com/blog/scotlands-stonehenge-standing-stones-callanish/
1/5 of your soul.
Standard druidic tax.
If you plan to drive past, pick your time wisely. Last time I went the traffic ques were massive and it took ages to get there.
Save your £20 and put it towards your very own one
Very old meets ancient
Don't feel I missed out by not going in
Some are free. Some won’t generate enough for their upkeep. Stonehenge and a few other Big Hitters will help fund them.
Makes sense I suppose, if you consider it a charity donation rather than an entrance fee.
English Heritage.
Yep, but you can get in for free with a National Trust membership.
If you really think it's just some stones and grass, I'd suggest it's not for you. I think it's pretty awesome.
My folks used to walk up there in the 60's and sit by the stones for a picnic ..not a soul about . How things have changed and generally not for the better it often seems.
Deffo worth going if you want NT or EH membership (both are valid). You can find discounted membership rather than sign up on the day.
This is how close you get
It's a better veiw from the old bridleway it puts the stones into the settings. + Hippie vans and dogs. way less inster posters looking for that perfect pouting pose..
Cuckoo stone is not far as is wooden hence.
Definitely go to the cathedral the stone masonry folk could still be working round the back.
also, go see silbury hill down toward avebury
about the size of a pyramid, made of dirt, a few man hours of labour getting that thing together
There’s a good circular walk taking in Avebury, the ridgeway, west kennet barrow and Silbury hill, all in about 7 miles and for free!
Best thing about the visitor centre is that it tells you all about the ancient landscape (way more there than just the stone circle) and for me that was very interesting, but then I love thinking about ancient stuff.
If you go looking for some spectacular thing like most tourists* then yeah you'll be disappointed.
* actually I don't know why most tourists go to these things. Most of them are useless without a desire to try and understand the past as well as possible. It's a museum, not entertainment. I think this is why people are disappointed.
Yes well worth it (and getting EH membership while you're at is will pay off if u visit a couple of castles in the next year)
The visitor centre is pretty good, with the 360 video wall of the stones, molgrips point about wider landscape is good way to understand it all.
Make sure you walk the proper way from the visitor centre as it's how it would have been entered back in the day
and yeah tag on Avebury, silbiry Hill & West Kennet long barrow if u have the time
Agree with that @molgrips
I love standing and staring into the surrounding landscape, having a ponder, the stones are just a part of that. Go up at sunset and it's magic.
I went years ago with my then-girlfriend. We were ambling about taking it all in when a car went past with a kid hanging out the window shouting "THEY'RE JUST STONES! THEY'RE JUST STONES!!!".
Took the shine off a bit.
If you go looking for some spectacular thing like most tourists* then yeah you’ll be disappointed.
Any good spots for epic selfies or a banging tik-tok?
Saw them on a family holiday in 1969 when they weren't fenced off. I have photos somewhere.very few people there. Certainly none in any of our photos.on the same holiday as a contrast we saw the moon landing crappy black and white tv o. A French campsite.
Any good spots for epic selfies or a banging tik-tok?
Go to the seaside. Go to the beach, in fact, then right down to the sea, and get in it.
£20 to get in? What a bloody rip! Didn’t there used to be a free festival there? When did it get sold/annexed off?
When the bloke who bought the site as a gift for his missus gave it to the nation to save it. It was nearly destroyed during the war because it was seen as an obstruction to the military.
The real reason it’s fenced off is because of erosion to the surrounding soil by visitors, the NT put gravel and hard standing around the stones, then discovered that the gravel being kicked around by visitors was doing more damage to the stones than had been done over the previous 5000 years, so it was fenced off.
Avebury is definitely worth a visit, as is Silbury Hill and West Kennet Longbarrow, although they do tend to attract feral hippies with drums, and some jackass who has titled himself King Arthur Pendragon and says he’s a Druid, all of which is total bollocks, he’s an ex-biker, and Druidism is a Victorian concoction dreamed up by men who fancy a bit of cosplay in the open air. The Stonehenge-Avebury complex predates Druids by around 2000 years, approximately. Although there are signs warning not to, it’s quite possible to climb Silbury Hill, I’ve done it, but it’s best to approach from the Avebury side where you’re less visible.
Easily accessible if you’re on a bike is West Woods, closer to Marlborough, near Lockeridge and Clatford. I haven’t got an exact location, but a W3W reference ///factoring.stays.tribal should get you to this part of the woods, where these stones are:
The significance being that this is the actual source of the outer Trilithons, which surrounds the smaller, inner Bluestone ring which was dismantled from its original location in the Prescelli Mountains in Pembrokeshire and moved to Salisbury Plain, then the Sarcens were shaped and moved from West Woods and erected around the Bluestone ring.
There’s quite a lot of trails and paths around West Woods, so worth checking out.
Here’s a detailed article about the structure of the Sarcen stones, and how the original location was found, there’s a photo of the location taken roughly 20-30 feet from where mine was taken.
Worth a read, Sarcen stone or silcrete, is bloody hard stuff, no wonder it was chosen for a structure like Stonehenge and Avebury.
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/stonehenge-secret-sandstone-quartz-crystal-1998477
The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Nice cliche to use but while we know the price the value is very subjective. Some people value it, reading the history, seeing something for real etc,. while others don't. If there is no value then clearly the price is going to seem high but then if there is no value in it you would already not be going as I think most people are aware of what Stone Henge is so a question the OP can really only answer themselves - is it worth it to them.
There's some granite on the hill up the road from me, probably older than SH & pretty much untouched by human hands, I'll let you view that for £15, bargain!
Avebury has some better local sites including an impressive mound and vistas. And a pub. But you can do both. And I’ve driven past Stonehenge many many times on the 303 but never stopped. I’ve been to Avebury half a dozen times and would happily go again.
Some people value it, reading the history, seeing something for real etc,. while others don’t.
I go to a lot of museums and most people are just strolling through and not reading any of the blurb. I get that, to an extent - it's a peaceful space and sort of meditative. I try and read everything on display though, because I'm there to learn about the subjects and when knowledgeable people have gone to the trouble of writing me a story, and I've paid to get into the place where it's being told - I might as well read it.
The problem with Stonehenge is that if you just wander through it like most people do, there isn't a lot to actually see. You need to read and learn. Yes, it's expensive, but I view these things as a donation to a conservation and archaeology charity which is what it is.
Avebury is a great place too. But don't drive there - the riding on a summer's day is unbeatable. Plan a loop on the many many byways and/or roads, it's all beautiful, and stop at Avebury for lunch at the NT cafe.
Agree it’s great if you want to learn the history of them and the wider local area. Would probably get a lot out of it and £20 seems a bargain. I’m with the small kid shouting from the car in this one though.
Another well worth it from here.
Went 2 years ago as i worked close to it for some months.
Its one of the places i would see pictures off and read about when a kid so always wanted to see it.
My first bank card when i moved to the UK had stone henge printed on it so was always remimded about it.
We arrived late when we wanted to go.
The 30 year old camper van we borrowed broke down! Who knew!
Anyway as we were too late for the £20 entry we walked round the side on the bridleway.
I don't feel I missed anything by being 20m Futher away.
and says he’s a Druid, all of which is total bollocks
while I get the sentiment, the site has been around for thousands of years and was probably used in all sorts of ways over the millennia that the original builders on the site (and the folks who made all the additions over the years) couldn’t have imagined. Druidism is as legitimate a use as any other
I read the blurb in the visitor centre then ended up doing a lot of riding on the Ridgeway. Having learned about Stonehenge I could start to see why there are so many hill forts along that road and why the road is there.
Back in those days the low land down in the Thames valley would have been dense forest and probably pretty wet; and you could be ambushed by animals or humans at any point. The chalk downs would have been naturally treeless though and decent grazing; and from there you could get down to the Kennet or the Ray would would lead you to the Thames, SE England and London where you could easily meet up with people who've bobbed down the Rhine which covers a pretty huge area. When you look at rivers as the ancient motorways the whole landscape starts to change.
Did not know that about West Woods, thanks.
Silbury hill, the largest man made hill in Europe? It's very cool, but nowhere near the size of a Pyramid (assuming we're talking Egyptian, maybe one of the iddy biddy one for the queens)
The circle at Stantern Drew is good. Slightly smaller than Avebury, but nobody has heard about it. It's basically a farmer's field. One of the stones is in the pub garden.
Anyway,no, it's not worth it, just walk past on the row.
TBH I think it's definitely worth it if you're into it- I'd always been fascinated by stonehenge, the scale of it is ridiculous and just thinking about the distance the stones were transported, all that sort of thing so it becomes a lot more than the sum of its parts. I did feel pretty disappointed by how far you're kept from the stones but I don't think it's really true to say you get the same experience from the bridleway- you're almost as close but much more restricted in angles.
The comparison with Avebury isn't fair on either site tbh, they're both amazing but in pretty different ways.
I’m working in Salisbury next week and thought about going to Stonehenge whilst i’m so close.
As others have said just drive a few miles further and go to Avebury where you can walk amoungst the stones for nothing and there's a decent pub in the middle of the circle.
Good call above to sack off Stonehenge and visit Salisbury Cathedral. Time it right and the pupils of the cathedral school will be walking through in full robed garb and you'll think you're in Hogwarts
Much as I slightly obsess over prehistoric sites, I've never been to Stonehenge - feels a bit clinical and I prefer to be able to fully access a site.
As mentioned, probably better to tour the other local sites - The Ridgeway, Woodhenge, Durrington Walls, The Avenue, Avebury, Silbury Hill, West Kennet, etc. How they all connect in the landscape is for me more interesting than any one individual site.
Might upset the purists, but if you're interested in this stuff grab The Modern Antiquarian by Julian Cope. Mad as a box of frogs but does know his stuff and gives an interesting personal view of these sites. But yeah, read some 'proper' archaeology too...
Druidism is as legitimate a use as any other
Not if it’s a concoction invented by Victorians into cosplay, based on nothing more than lies written by Roman invaders many years after the events.
Especially when ‘King Arthur Pendragon’ keeps demanding that the human remains in the museum in Avebury are handed back and reburied, because ‘ancestors’.
Who’s ancestors, exactly? I want to see DNA analysis to prove that those remains have any connection with any living person anywhere near the Avebury/Stonehenge/Durrington Walls complex.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Uther_Pendragon
He’s from sodding Yorkshire, he’s more likely to have Viking ancestors than Druids from North Wales!
@llama - West Woods are great, it’s possible to spend a happy afternoon wandering around them and hardly see a soul, except around the May bank holiday, because of the bluebells.
The best bluebells are farthest away from the car park and picnic area, along the Wansdyke and down along the byway that takes you to where the sarsen stones are. That’s when I usually go over, as you can see in the background of the photo above, which I took earlier this year.
And I’ve driven past Stonehenge many many times on the 303 but never stopped
My MiL lives down near Yeovil, I've also driven past it many times and I've stopped every single time. And then started. And stopped. And started. And stopped. And started.....
Get on with that tunnel, if you know what a huge benefit it's been to the A3 at Hindhead for the transport, the tranquility of the countryside above and the quality of life of the nearby villagers!
I want to see DNA analysis to prove that those remains have any connection with any living person
Given the way the maths works with ancient DNA, the remains are probably related to every living native of western Europe and complaining that some-ones beliefs are "made up cos-play" is a slightly reductionist argument I'm afraid, because, well, all religion...etc etc. (including the original religious ceremonies at the site..)
It's harmless and it only winds you up because you let it. Getting angry because some old boy from Yorkshire has found something that makes him happy is a bit mad, no?
Get on with that tunnel
Would be an act of brutal and idiotic destruction at a site that has the potential to let us understand who knows what about the people that inhabited the ancient world. It's a site of world importance, let alone this Island. Our responsibility is to preserve and study it as best we can, not bore a giant hole right through the middle of it so people going on holidays aren't inconvenienced for half an hour. It's grossly stupid.