The Stonehenge Map

In common with other ancient peoples, the builders of Britain’s stone rings attached particular importance to north, east, south and west, which may have been regarded as the four corners of the earth or the directions of the homes of the gods that regulated the earth and the heavens. The sides of the Great Pyramid deviate from major directions by less than a tenth of a degree. The orientation of sanctuaries to the east has a long history. The entrances of nearly all Celtic shrines faced east and most Christian churches are oriented roughly east-west.

The commanding hills were essential reference points for travellers. In flimsy craft the traders in flint, volcanic rock and metals faced around Britain’s coasts some of the world’s most treacherous waters. On foot travellers had to avoid impenetrable forests, swamps and unfordable rivers.

The highest hilltops may have been regarded as the homes of powerful spirits. Burmese tribesmen worshipped hill-spirits and would not cultivate land near the hills for fear of causing offence. In Europe Mount Parnassus in Greece and Mount Ida on Crete were thought of as the homes of gods. There are several references in the Old Testament to places of worship on high hilltops.

The builders of many megalithic rings included indicators of directions they regarded as important. North, east, south or west is often marked by a conspicuous stone, and many axes are north-south. The biggest boulders at the huge Long Meg ring in Cumbria, stand at nearly the exact east and west. An entrance and a tall pillar are situated south-west of the centre. South-west is the direction of the midwinter sunset as well as Helvellyn (225°.6) and Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain (229°.3)..

The only distinctive feature on the horizon from the monument is Beacon Hill four miles to the east (86°.4). It provides a panorama that extends north to Inkpen Beacon, south to the Isle of Wight and west to the Mendips.

Stonehenge’s placement is as remarkable as its architecture. As three of the commanding hills of southern Britain lie almost exactly east, west and north-west it was a most favourable location for communication with the powerful forces associated with principal hilltops and directions. Sixty-three miles away at almost east (89°.6) is Leith Hill, the highest point in the south-eastern zone of Britain, that is, the area east of a line from the Wash to the Solent. Dunkery Beacon on Exmoor, the highest hill in south-west England, apart from the north Dartmoor tors, lies practically due west (269°.85). Dunkery Beacon is seventy-six miles from Stonehenge, but it can be sighted at west and Beacon Hill near Stonehenge at east from the southern Mendips.  

The twin summits of the Black Mountains, the nearest range of high hills to Stonehenge, are almost north-west (314°.27). The summits, which are about a mile apart, are in line with Stonehenge seventy-seven miles away. The distant views include west Wales, Dunkery Beacon and Whitehorse Hill. 

Various simple methods would have facilitated long-range surveying. Smoke signals by day and beacon fires at night were used in ancient China, Egypt and Greece. A column of smoke can rise to at least 1,500m enabling the direction of a distant hilltop to be ascertained even if the view is blocked by intervening high ground.

The planners of large circles probably used their feet and fingers. This is well illustrated by their greatest achievement: the erection at Stonehenge of thirty massive sarsens, capped by thirty lintels, in a perfect circle forty paces of 74cm across. The Heel Stone stands a hundred paces of 77cm from the circle-centre. At forty enclosures there is a simple relationship between the number of pillars or postholes on the perimeter and the number of paces used to set out the radius or diameter. At Stonehenge fifty-six pits, called Aubrey Holes, lie on the circumference of a circle with a radius of fifty-six paces of 77cm.

The sarsen in the outer circle standing due east of the circle-centre is lavishly decorated with axe-carvings.

The axis was directed towards a dual target: the sun and an important landmark nineteen miles away. At midsummer the sun would have appeared above the horizon at 49°.9.  49°.9 is also the bearing of Inkpen Hill, the western summit of the Inkpen ridge, which is the highest land in central southern England.

The transportation of some eighty blocks weighing up to four tons from the Preseli hills in south-west Wales to Stonehenge is one of the strangest events in prehistory. What was the motivation for a project involving a hazardous land and water journey of some 200 miles?

The summit of the Preseli ridge, Foel Cwmcerwyn, offers a vast panorama that includes the mountains of Wales and eastern Ireland as well as the high moorlands of south-west England. Foel Cwmcerwyn is the only commanding summit in the British Isles with views of important landmarks in four major directions. The southern summit of the Black Mountains, which can be seen at nearly east (89°.0), is north-west of Stonehenge. Dunkery Beacon, which can be sighted at south-east (136°.1)  lies practically west of Stonehenge. Lugnaquillia, the loftiest peak in Ireland outside Kerry, is visible at virtually north-west (315°.3).

Significantly, horizon features mark the direction of true north from Foel Cwmcerwyn. The summit of Bardsey Island and Mynydd Mawr, the headland of the Lleyn Peninsula, appear on the horizon as adjacent humps of the same height. The bearing of the mid-point between them is only a tenth of a degree from true north. It is also noteworthy that Snowdon and High Willhays on Dartmoor, the highest points of Wales and southern England, are visible from Foel Cwmcerwyn at similar angles from north (20°.51) and south (21°.08). 

The axis of Stonehenge is directed towards the midsummer sunrise in addition to a landmark. In the period when the bluestones were transported an observer on Foel Cwmcerwyn would have seen the sun rising at midsummer near to the summit of Pumlumon, the highest of the south Cambrian Mountains.

The bluestones were incorporated in various reconstructions of Stonehenge. The view from the top of Foel Cwmcerwyn was the quintessence of the ring-builders’ belief system: it was the only location in their world from which it was possible to observe horizon features indicating four major directions as well as the sun appearing at midsummer behind a prominent mountain. The bluestones transmitted the potency and magic of a unique place to a unique temple.

Stonehenge must be considered in the context of other significant monuments. This section includes some of the topographical relationships and design features of seven major structures.

The paired Grey Wethers circles  (SX 638 831), the largest on Dartmoor, were carefully laid out. The circle-centres are fifty paces (38.9m) apart and virtually north and south of each other. High Willhays, the loftiest Dartmoor tor, is exactly north-west and the summit of the Quantocks lies about north-east (43°.9).

With a diameter of 150 paces (113m), the Great Circle at Stanton Drew near Bristol (ST 600 632) is the largest true circle of megaliths in Europe. Inkpen Hill lies nearly east (90°.5) and Pen y Fan, the summit of the Brecon Beacons and the highest point in southern Britain, is situated almost north-west (314°.3).

The shape and location of Silbury Hill (SU 100 685), Europe’s largest prehistoric mound, suggest that it was intended to be a model hill. The summits of Silbury, Inkpen Beacon (104°.18) and Leith Hill (103°.83) are almost aligned.

The top of Whitehorse Hill is due south of the attractive Rollright circle on the Cotswold ridgeway (SP 296 309). Leith Hill, which can be sighted from Whitehorse Hill, lies about south-east (136°.4) and the northern summit of the Black Mountains is nearly due west (269°.9). An imposing slab a hundred paces (76m) from the circle is oriented east-west. 

The Twelve Apostles ring (NX 947 794) just outside Dumfries is the largest stone ring in mainland Scotland. The local landmarks of Beacon Hill and Burnswark are due east. The long axis of the oval is oriented almost north-south. The summit of Ben Macdui, Britain’s second highest mountain, lies practically due north (359°.75).

The Ring of Brodgar on Orkney (HY 294 133) is only slightly smaller than the Great Circle at Stanton Drew. Originally sixty flagstones formed a near-perfect circle 140 paces (103.6m) across. The tallest pillars are at the south and west. Ben More Assynt, the loftiest peak in the northern Highlands, is virtually south-west (225°.2). The highest points of the Orkney and Shetland islands, the summits of Ward Hill on Hoy and Ronas Hill, lie exactly opposite to each other from this spectacular site. 

The Ballynoe circle near Downpatrick (J 481 404) is the finest megalithic circle in Ireland. The true circle has a diameter of forty paces (29.9m) and the largest stones are at the north and south. At midwinter the sun would have set behind the pyramid-shaped summit of Slieve Donard, the highest point in northern Ireland, which lies nearly south-west (226°.0).

The ring-builders attached special significance to the major directions and the highest hilltops; they used these cartographic concepts to position their structures. The degree of accuracy achieved by the surveyors, who were working without technical equipment, is extraordinary. For a period as long as that from the fall of the Roman Empire to the present day communities gathered within the sacred barriers of megaliths and banks to communicate with the forces that held sway over their precarious lives.

Nowadays little attention is paid to landscape features or major directions, but they are essential keys to an understanding of the beliefs and practices of the inhabitants of Britain in the age of Stonehenge.