I investigated the site of “Bluehenge” with our client John Norwood for the first time last Friday.
Bluehenge is a crucial link point in the proposed journey from the “Land of the Living” to the “Land of the Dead“. When formed in the neolithic period it consisted of a circle of 27 bluestones brought from the Preseli mountains in Pembrokeshire on a slightly ramped platform next to the apparently sacred River Avon. It may have been where bodies, after passage down the Avon, were cremated. However, at the time of the Phase II remodelling of Stonehenge, the Bluehenge stones were plucked up and taken away, probably to Stonehenge. Thus there is little to see at the site of Bluehenge except the possibly artificial platform.
This is on private property with no right of access, but it can be viewed through a wrought iron gate on the lane through the quiet hamlet of West Amesbury, or by using the path along the opposite ban of the River Avon which is used for access by fishermen.
Incidentally, I have a suspicion that the field itself belongs to Sting, along with the 17th century manor house on the other side of the lane.
- Keith
British Tours Ltd
KEITH is one of the expert British Tours guides, with a number of published works on Archaeology. You can request for him to take you on one of our personal tours in and around London, or extended tours of Britain.
Also see tours of Stonehenge and Stonehenge at Dawn.