The site, as we see it, comprises a confusing jumble of stone uprights, some capped with lintels, together with their fallen compatriots, all set within a low, circular earthwork. You can\u2019t enter the stone circle during normal opening hours (that\u2019s only possible on special tours), so for most visitors the site is visible only from afar: tantalising, enigmatic and out of reach.<\/p>\n
Follow the links below to jump to each section:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In 2018, historian Miles Russell \u2013 who\u00a0was part of a team excavating within the central uprights of Stonehenge in the first archaeological investigation there for 70 years \u2013 took on the top questions about Stonehenge for\u00a0BBC History Revealed<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n Over the years there have been many suggestions as to why the stones were set up on Salisbury Plain. The earliest interpretation was provided by Geoffrey of Monmouth<\/a> who, in 1136, suggested that the stones had been erected as a memorial to commemorate British leaders treacherously murdered by their Saxon foes in the years immediately following the end of Roman Britain<\/a>. The stones were, Geoffrey wrote, part of an Irish stone circle, called the Giant\u2019s Dance, which were brought to Salisbury Plain under the direction of the wizard Merlin.<\/p>\n The first detailed study of the stones, conducted by the architect Inigo Jones early in the 1620s, concluded that the monument could not have been the work of the primitive Britons who \u201csquatted in caves\u201d and lived \u201con milk, roots and fruits\u201d, but had to have been designed by the Romans<\/a>, probably being a temple dedicated to Apollo.<\/p>\n In 1740, antiquarian William Stukeley published his history of Stonehenge, subtitled \u2018A temple restored to the British druids\u2019. Stukeley suggested that the circle had been built by a pre-Roman Celtic priesthood of Sun-worshippers descended from the Phoenicians, who had travelled to Britain from the eastern Mediterranean \u201cbefore the time of Abraham\u201d.<\/p>\n The first official custodian of Stonehenge, Henry Browne, wrote and privately published the first guidebook, which he sold direct to visitors in 1823. Browne\u2019s theories, however, were shaped by the Old Testament; he postulated that the structure was antediluvian, meaning it was one of the few monuments that had survived the Biblical flood.<\/p>\n A popular theory within the 1960s counter-culture was that Stonehenge was an advanced form of computer or calculating device. In his 1965 book Stonehenge Decoded<\/em>, astronomer Gerald Hawkins suggests that the stones had been positioned to accurately predict major astronomical events. Many of Hawkins\u2019 ideas concerning Stonehenge as prehistoric observatory have now been dismissed, although the summer and winter equinoxes remain popular times of the year to visit the monument today.<\/p>\n![\""A\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2018\/01\/3432840-6b3cb00.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C411"\" "\\"\"A\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\nQ: Why was Stonehenge built?<\/h2>\n
Geoffrey of Monmouth suggested that the stones had been erected as a memorial to commemorate murdered British leaders <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
![\""Aerial\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2019\/09\/22-GettyImages-969125066-41acca3-e1576081035703.jpg?quality=90&resize=608%2C413"\" "\\"\"Stonehenge\\"")
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