INTRODUCTION In the south of England, in a place in Salisbury Plain, thirty upright blocks mysteriously and powerfully rise to a flat

meadow. Those blocks are over four metres high and two and a half metres wide. There is one thing that scientists agree with, and that is that the place is the best witness of a megalithic culture in Europe. This place is known as Stonehenge.

Stonehenge was built around 1600 BC. Now there are thirty blocks on the outside of the circle and forty-nine small blocks on the inside of the circle. When Stonehenge was built there were two Heelstones, but now one is missing. In the centre of the two rings there are four Station stones and the Altar. Stonehenge is also a kind of a mystery. That is why many stories of Stonehenge have been made up and passed down from generations to generations. monument. They have grown into legends that serve to explain the exsistence of the

The structure of the Stonehenge (9)

I will not forget, the stones that are set In a round, on Salisbury Plains Though who putem there, tis hard to declare The Romans, or Merlin or Danes.
(Walter Pope, the poet, 1676) (1)

These are some of the myths:

 Every five thousand years someone opens one gate using a stone and releases a horrible catastrophic event in that way. Stonehenge appeared at the time of druids who used it as a sacrificial temple for performing their bloody rituals.

Ceremony of druids (10)

It was an astronomical observatory of the Bronze Age.

It was a model of the Solar System containing nine instead of twelve planets.

 Stonehenge was the largest Neolithic cemetery and a resting place.

The legend of The Heelstone and the myth about King Arthur might be the most interesting ones: The legend of the Heelstone Many believe that the devil was the architect of

Stonehenge. According to this legend, the stones originally belonged to an old woman from Ireland. The devil wanted the woman to sell them to him and she accepted. He used his magic powers to move the stones back to Salisbury Plain where he set right all the stones. He bragged that no one could tell how many stones there were. Then the local friar said: That is more that can be told, which was the correct answer. The devil became so angry that he threw one of the largest stones at the friar. It hit friars heel which rejected the stone. It is strange that there is the imprint of the foot in the stone that archeologists today call The Heelstone.

The myth about King Arthur Another myth says that King Arthur was responsible for the creation of the Stonehenge. The stones were in Ireland, but the Irish didn't want to give them up, so the king killed 7,000 people. All the king's men couldn't move the stones, so wizard Merlin used his magic powers to move them in the Salisbury Plain, where they are nowadays.

CONCLUSION Stonehenge certainly wouldnt be the same without its myths and legends. The fact is that there are many more myths about Stonehenge than it can be mentioned and that is its real magic. You can explore them day after day and never get bored. You can always read and learn something new and

want to know more and more. You can study its architecture or its myths, or you can study both as a whole. Even if you aren't interested in researching the history of Stonehenge, you can't be indifferent just looking at those stones, because they have magical powers to make you admire them.

Stonhenge in storm (13)

BIBLIOGRAPHY (1)A.B., Great Stone Circles, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1999 (2)A.B., Circle of Stone-The Prehistoric Rings of Britain and Ireland, The Harvill Press, 1999 (3)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge (4)http://ezinearticles.com/?10-Myths-and-Theories-AboutStonehenge&id=4217065 (5)http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/stonehenge/fea tures/stonehenge-myths (6)http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/gemprojects/hm/0102-1-stonehenge/legends.htm (7) http://www.mendhak.com/85-stonehenge-theories-mythsconstruction-and-images.aspx (8)http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgvkc1QXgm1qgdpcao 1_500.jpg (9)http://stonehenge.zorger.com/stonehenge_images/Stonehen ge_Original_birds_eye_view.png (10)http://dummidumbwit.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/druids -sacrificing-to-the-sun-in-their-temple-called-stonehenge-

from-a-plan-of-stonehenge-by-dr-stukeley-in-the-ashmoleanmuseum-oxford-engraved-and-pub-by-the-artist.jpg (11)http://www.eternalidol.com/wpcontent/uploads/2009/04/blakes-frowning-sarsen.jpg (12)http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/images/mlw_0001_00 03_0_img0132.jpg (13)http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgu4nbC6Ba1qgtdvdo 1_500.jpg