Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-29
ENCLOSURE OF sToNEHENGE.
Speculation as to the Meaning of the
Megaliths.

From the Nineteenth Century.
We may not know exactly what Stone
henge originally was; but we are all con-
WINGED that it was either place of wor-
ship. a place where rites thought to he
pleasing to some higher power were per-
formed. or a place of burial for the Illus
trious dead, or a place of tribal meeting
perhaps for the browning of kings, or, as is
very probable, place used for more than
one Of these purposes. 1t is also quite GER
tain that of it's kind 1t was a place of the
highest Importance. It may be regarded
as the Westminster Abbey Of some tribe or
race which in the neolithic age spread over
the south of England. Obviously, 1t must
have been a place Of resort for a whole ma
ton of people-the one place of all others to
which public highways would lead. No one
would suggest that street leading to the
doors of Westminster Abbey was not a
public highway because it stopped there.
it seems to be equally absurd to say that
a road is not public road because 1t stops
at Stonehenge. No doubt changes of race,
changes of faith. changes in the distribu-
ton of population. might have relegated
Stonehenge to obscurity. and might have
led to such a dfsuse of the ways leading to
str,ction But it happens not to have been
so. So remarkable was Stonehenge that
when it ceased to be used for worship,
meeting or sculpture. 1t became q wonder in
itself and continued to be place of re-
sort from one motive or another through
out the centuries. Indeed 1t is not quite
clear that there has not been something
in the nature of continuing rite performed
at Stonehenge from age to age Popular
traditions cling strangely about these meg
aliths.
In Brittany, to the present day, weird
customs, obviously unconnected with Chris
and blessed by the priests, are observed be-
fore many a prehistoric stone. At Stone
henge there Is. and has been beyond living
memory, an assembly of persons on the
longest day of the year to see the sun rise
over the top Of tie Friar's Heel and strike
the altar stone. The modern view of Stone
henge is that 1t was a temple of the sun; IL
SO, this gathering on June Fl Is obviously q
remnant of sun WorshfD. Can there be any
better reason for the existence of roads
than that they lead to a place so remarka-
BILE that year by year It brings people many
miles to take part In q gathering the origin
and significance of which have passed into
oblivion? Is it not idle. in the face of such
facts to suggest" that there cannot be a
public right Of way to- Stonehenge because
It's stones were placed there by man and
may be removed by man? AS a matter of
fact, they are older than anything else In
the nature Of a building which the British
Isles can show. Removable they may be,
but centuries have seen them standing In
the same place. and centuries have seen
them an object OF interest and an object of
resort. The megaliths of Stonehenge saw
old Sarum grow into a great city; they saw
it deserted: they saw Its buildings fall to
pieces; they have seen 1t for centuries a
mere series of concentric earthworks; they
have seen the new city OF Salisbury now
old as British cities go) rise mushroomlike
in it's stead. If any structure of man can
claim permanence. it is Stonehenge II the
public character of road depended in any
degree upon the permanence of the object
to which it leads Gas matter of law, 1t
does mott, assuredly no place could lay as
good claim to be worthy terminus Of a
public road as Stonehenge