<< Our Photo Pages >> Stonehenge Car Park Postholes - Timber Circle in England in Wiltshire
Submitted by AngieLake on Saturday, 22 October 2022 Page Views: 28029
StonehengeSite Name: Stonehenge Car Park Postholes Alternative Name: Stonehenge Mesolithic Postholes, This is now an Ex Car Park, it has ceased to be etc...Country: England County: Wiltshire Type: Timber Circle
Nearest Town: Amesbury
Map Ref: SU120424
Latitude: 51.180709N Longitude: 1.829704W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
Ogham visited on 5th Aug 2009 - their rating: Cond: -1 Amb: 3 Access: 5
coldrum visited - their rating: Cond: -1 Amb: 2 Access: 5
AngieLake mdensham have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: -1 Ambience: 2.5 Access: 5
NB: 'Timber Circle' site type used as the closest to 'Timber Posts or Alignment'.
To quote from an EH publication*, 'The Stonehenge Companion':
"Pre-Stonehenge Pits - During work on an extension to the visitor's [sic] car park four (or possibly five) large postholes were found, all dating from the Mesolithic period before construction on Stonehenge began. The dubious fifth hole may have been where the root of a large tree once sat. In 8,000 BCE, the holes held pine posts nearly two and a half feet thick, which rotted in situ, and three of them seem to have been aligned on a rough east-west axis. Nothing similar has ever been found in Britain that dates so far back, but rows of posts from a similar period have been found in Scandinavia."
*[Printed edition of 2006, currently on sale in visitors' shop.]
We already have a photo posted on the Stonehenge site page by Baz in Dec 03, and there were several comments under this one, which I've copied and pasted here:
OS Grid Ref. SU120424.
In 1966, prior to the laying of the Stonehenge car park, three large post holes were discovered during an excavation of the site. Pine charcoal found within the holes has been dated to c8,000BC, which means that these post holes were in use 5,000 years before the commencement of Stonehenge. The post holes are now marked by circular patches of white paint upon the tarmac.
[Baz – 29.12.03]
Has there been any authoritative speculation as to purpose - the remains an earlier 'henge' perhaps, or what? What could it be about this particular site that held ancient men's interest for millenia, and promoted such an investment of monumental hours and titanic effort in creating the successive structures and modifications to existing structures?
[Septimus Rocket – 13.9.04]
Check out the alignment of these three holes: compare with the alignment of the three Giza Pyramids, the three massive henges comprising Thornborough Henges Complex. Surely it cannot be coincidence that all of these ancient markings mimic the "not-quite-straight" alignment of the three stars that comprise Orion's belt...
[Colin Reynolds – 17.1.05]
Also check out the Devil's Arrows at Boroughbridge, three stones that I expected to be in a straight line, and was quite suprised to find they were not. It immediately made be wonder about an association with the stars on Orion's Belt The arrows are not far from Thornborough henges, and quite possibly associated with them.
[Nicola Didsbury – 17.1.05]
The Devil's Arrows were originally 4, maybe 5 stones, weren't they?
[David Raven – 17.1.05]
Is the "not quite straight" alignment of all these sites identical? has anyone actually measured the angle of deviation from straight? If the angles are not identical then as ANY 3 points will form a similar "not quite straight" line the probability is overwhelming that the whole thing is a coincidence.
[enkidu41 – 18.1.05]
Even if it is a coincidence, it still leaves me wondering why these monuments are not in a straight line. Were these post holes the remains of a circular structure, which would explain the curvature, or are the three holes there in isolation? Its pondering things like this that keeps me enthralled by our ancient stones (even holes!), the whys and the mysteries, and knowing that we will never really know....
[Nicola Didsbury – 18.1.05]
I quite agree! I'm more than happy to speculate on their being formerly part of a circular structure (in fact, quite likely in my view) but this is quite different to Colin Reynold's view that the angle formed by the three marks is, in each case, a reflection of the three stars of Orion's Belt! Pshaw!
[enkidu41 – 19.1.05]
Actually at the three posts are seperated by 3000 years in the radiocarbon dates with the earliest dating to 11000 BC so its more likely that these represent a phased structure rather than any kind of henge or palisaded enclosure. There is a tree hole to the north of the posts which may have been the focus for the posts suggesting that they were religious in nature and probably totem like posts. Coincidently there is also a fourth post which was found during the digging of the pedestrian tunnel to Stonehenge during the 1980s leading too speculation that there are probably more undiscovered posts.
[Ian Coady – 3.1.06]
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