It's a chalk horse. Dig down a little and you hit chalk. So why not create some art as this local farmer did in 1805 in honor of one of Napoleon's defeats.
There are almost a hundred stone circles in the UK and this one is at the top of the heap. It is actually the 3rd stone circle built on this spot. Earlier ones were removed to make way for this one of massive stones. No one know why the others were built or removed. No one knows why this was built. The stone was quarried a long ways away and had to dragged here. The top stones were notched and fit over carved pegs in the upright stones. A couple of the top stones have fallen or were removed, so the henge looks worse for the wear.
Because the henge aligns the summer and winter solstices, many think it was a giant calendar or place to worship a sun god. There is evidence of a road from the henge to the nearby River Avon, so some assume, the road leads to where the local settlement would have been on the river.
Not far from Stonehenge is another stonehenge in Avesbury. It is a mile long and contains stones as the picture above indicates. Over time some of the stones have been removed for local building projects. the removed stones have a small monument, like the one in the picture above, to indicate where they would have been in the circle. An interesting note here: because of the size of this henge, it is the only henge in the UK with a pub inside of it. We stopped in the Red Lion pub for a drink before the coach trip back to London.
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