Day 21: Wiltshire County, England

June 24, 2013 (Happy Birthday, Mom!!!)

The location of Wiltshire county in England

Today we rode a coach van on an all day tour of prehistoric sites and villages in Wiltshire County. Wiltshire county is the county east of Bath and is the location of the famous Stonehenge. Our tour began with Stonehenge but also went to Avebury (a bigger and older henge and stone circle site), saw Silbury Hill, two Cherhill White Horses and the two very old villages of Lacock and Castle Combe. It was a very exciting and full day so this will probably be long and full of pictures!

We started off at 8:45 this morning on a coach style van that held 16 tourists and the driver. Our driver, named John, had been doing this on and off for 20 years and was incredibly knowledgeable and funny which are two great qualities in a guide.

Our first stop was Stonehenge which was about 55 minutes away from Bath. It was built in 3 phases starting with the henge (a large bank and ditch), then bluestones and then more stones placed into the shape that we see today. This was built between 4000-5000 years ago! About 1/3-1/2 of the stones is actually below the earth which you cannot see. The stones were transported from 150 miles away (remember there was no wheel yet)! The ditch that was dug had to be dug with only deer antlers as picks and cattle shoulder blades as shovels. To get the stones placed on top of the two standing stones was a work of engineering on the part of the people. They have stood the test of time partially because of the way they are "fastened" together, with the vertical rocks having a stone "peg" and the horizontal top rocks having a notch for it to fit into. There is a lot of astronomy to these rocks as well. They two ends line up with the winter and summer solstice sunrise and sunset. You can even tell what month it is based on the rocks. Probably the most interesting thing about this monument is that no one knows why it was built. It could have been a way to show off their wealth and power or a temple or religious monument. We don't know and probably never will.

                         The "peg" and notch that helps keep the rocks in place

After Stonehenge we headed north to the village of Avebury where another stone circle and henge is located. This one is actually 16 times bigger and almost 1000 years older! It is much less touristy and therefore there is no entrance fee and no gates to restrict you from touching the rocks. It also has a more active history since it was built. It has been destroyed by locals throughout history. In the 14th century the people set about destroying all Pagan temples so they knocked over the stones and buried them. They didn't get them all done seemingly due to the Plague that took precedence in their life. Later in the 17th century, people used them to build the local village buildings. Why pay to have rock hauled in when we can bust these up right here? In the 1920s a budding archaeologist named Keiller decided to resurrect the monument and set about unearthing the buried stones and standing them back up. He also placed concrete markers where the old ones that were now in buildings used to be. His work was seemingly interrupted by the second world war. However, he did find something interesting under one stone: a body! It was the body of a 14th century barber surgeon (Yes, a traveling man who could both cut your hair and perform minor surgeries you needed). It was thought that he was either buried under the stone of crushed by it. His body was supposed to be sent to the Royal College of Surgeons which was bombed in WWII and most of it was destroyed. However, although it was thought to have been destroyed it was found in 1998 in the London natural history museum (How do you just find a medieval body?!). At Avebury these rocks were not beaten into rounded shapes as they were at Stonhenge and therefore have their natural shape. Again, we don't know why these rocks were placed or the henge built (again with deer antlers and cattle shoulder blades). This one has no astrology to it and some seem to think it may have been a fertility worship monument.

The rock the barber surgeon was buried under

This was the very large bank of the henge (only half its original height). Can you spot Clayton on the top?

From the henge bank looking down on the stones

Us between the Gateway stones. You can see how enormous they are!

We also some some other prehistoric sites on our trip out to the stone monuments. On our way we saw Silbury Hill, the tallest prehistoric human-made mound in Europe. It is a 6 level pyramid of chalk (the ground of the area) which is then covered by dirt...yes, they built a pyramid and then covered it in dirt. We don't know why. Maybe they wanted to make a dirt mound and built the pyramid to hold the mound or maybe some other people buried their pyramid? It was built in the prehistoric time (so no real tools) even before Stonehenge or Avebury!

Silbury Hill

The other prehistoric site was 2 Cherhill White Horses. As I said this county is mostly made up of calk while Bath is made up of Limestone. The first white horse (there are 8) was carved into a hillside sometime between 1000-700 B.C. and is called the Uffington White horse located farther east than we were today. We saw two "copies". The Westbury white horse was carved into the chalk hillside 300 years ago trying to mimic the historic white horse who at the time the people thought that the Celtics had carved (they didn't). This horse is actually not chalk anymore. In the 1950s somce of the city council thought it would save them money to concrete over it instead of re-carving it every 10 years or so. Obviously a bad idea, but now it is concrete. The Cherhill white horse was also carved in the 18th century. It had wine bottles as a glass eye but were taken by the 19th century possibly as souvenirs.

Westbury White Horse

Cherhill White Horse (By the way, I learned that the fields of yellow flowers are canola used to make canola oil)

For lunch we ate at a pub in Lacock called The George Inn which was built in 1361! Lacock is a small little village where there has been no major building in 200 years. All of the properties date from the 13th-18th centuries and were thriving places due to the wool industry during this time. It has the staggering population of 120, yes one hundred and twenty. It has been used as a film location for the first two Harry Potter movies and was the town of Meriton in the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice. 

Where we ate

After Lacock, we ended our tour by going to the most beautiful village in England (as voted/determined by someone). Castle Combe had only one street with 50 cottages on it. However, these cottages cost 500,000 pounds ($772,000) to 3 million Pounds ($4.6 million) each. This town was the film location of the original Dr. Dolittle in 1967 and most recently Spielberg's Warhorse. 

The church in town

What very expensive cottages look like

The stream at the bottom of the only road of the village

After Castle Combe, we went back through the English countryside to Bath. We got back into Bath about 5:15 and walked along the shops until everything closed at 6. We went back to the hostel for a bit before heading out to find supper. We found a mexican restaurant which is not very common over here so we went in. It was actually in an old church which was interesting in itself. It was nicely decorated and our food was probably a higher quality than back home, but Clayton says he will be happy to get home and eat "real Mexican" (which for him is El Nopal in Carrollton). Tomorrow we plan to do some sightseeing around the city of Bath before heading back to London Wednesday morning. 

Inside the restaurant

Our beautiful food

The outside (doesn't look like a Mexican restaurant)

Most importantly of today, it is my beautiful mother's birthday! She has shown me how to care for people, be a devoted wife and loving mother. I love her dearly!! Sorry I am not home to spend it with you, but know that I think of you everywhere I go. 

Thinking of you at Stonehenge

Thinking of you at Avesbury

Thinking of you in the most beautiful village in England