STONEHENGE.

Erk's Work, 1 February 1941, Page 21

STONEHENGE.

I write this article hoping that it will be of interest to those of our men who in the days to come will visit the Motherland, and in their spare moments seek pleasure in seeing some of the ancient landmarks. Stonehenge, with its mysterious origin, seldom fails to exert a fascination upon those who see it for the first time. How long elapsed until its erection, from the days when the first settlers crossed into Britain from the Continent and fought for a place in the sun with the wild beasts of the swamp and forests, will probably never be known. The builders of this huge structure, being without graven or written speech, have left no record of their day or generation. That they posessed energy, ambition, and perseverance, allied to engineering skill of no mean order, is as evident as that they were being of thew and sinew. It seems reasonable to suppose that Stonehenge was built during a time of peace and prosperity, and that it formed the central shrine of a powerful early race. The builders passed away to be forgotten as a dream; their burial mounds lie around on the plain and beyond it in almost uncounted numbers; but while its gaunt ribs remain, men will continue to speculate about the origin and purpose of this great circle of stones which prehistoric inhabitants of Britain set up and made the riddle of the centuries.

The Welsh historian, Nennius (cBIO A.D.) mentions Stonehenge, and states that the stones were erected in memory of four hundred and sixty British nobles here massacred by Saxon Hengist in 472. This massacre, suggestively called “Bradychiad y Cyllyll Hirion” (“The Treachery of the Long Knives”) probably did take place here, though . the Temple was then much older, than any English Cathedral is to-day. Two kinds of stones were used in the making of Stonehenge, and experts in lithology have decided that the “Foreign” or Blue stones have come from the Prescelly Range in Pembrokeshire, my home country. The other stones are of local origin, and were found near the plain itself. There are huge stones to be found still, though in decreasing numbers, scattered all over the plain. The general name for them is “Sarsen,” but the country folk, always picturesquely-minded, call them “Grey Wethers,” and indeed in North Wilts it is not hard to conjure up their poetic resemblance to a flock of Titanic sheep reclining at ease upon the pasturage of the Downs. The alternative name “Sarsen” has an interesting derivation. It is a corruption of the word “Saracen.” But

what have Saracens to do with Wiltshire? Frankly, nothing. If I remember rightly a Sarasen is an Arabian, an adherent of Mohammedanism, and never have I seen or heard of Arabian tribes making war against our primitive fathers. The name has come to these stones from Stonehenge itself, and is a part of that ever-increasing confusion of ideas which has been bequeathed to us by our ancestors of the middle ages. To them, all circles and megalithic monuments were the work of heathens, if not of the devil himself. Heathenism and all its works were roundly condemned, whether Celtic, Mohammedan, or Pagan; and the condemnation was as concise and complete as the phrase “Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics” of the Prayer Book to-day. In early days the Saracen stood for all that was antagonistic to Christianity. Consequently the stones of Stonehenge were Saracen or heathen stones, which the Wiltshire tongue has shortened in due. time to “Sarsen.”

The Middle Ages produced a famous legend regarding one of the largest stones that comprise the circle of Stonehenge, called the “Friar’s Heel.” It is a monolith of unwrought stone standing sixteen feet high. Such untrimmed stones are to be found all over the world in connection with religious rites. Even the Jews were not without this early cult of stone-worship. “Among the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion,” writes the Prophet Isaiah. In Christian times the customed continued. The Council of Tours, as late as A.D. 657, excluded from Christianity all worshippers of upright stones; while Canute forbade the barbarous worship of stones, trees, fountains, and heavenly bodies. At one, therefore, this huge unwrought’monolith suggests religion, and probably one of the earliest and most primitive forms of worship. And this being obviously connected with non-Christian rites, it is not surprising to find that it has the following “Devil Legend” attached to it.

According to this story the Devil determined one day to undertake some great and stupendous work, for the like of which he is famous throughout the world. His new intention was to transport some huge stones from Ireland to the great stoncless waste of Salisbury Plain, and having bought over the old woman in whose garden they were, he flew over with them to England, but dropped one into the Avon, where it is still to be seen. He alighted on the Plain and made haste to set up the stones in a mysterious way, so as to puzzle people and divert them from holier things. When more than half had been placed upright he was suddenly interrupted by a passing Friar, who suddenly, recognising the enemy of souls, took to his heels. Enraged at his discovery by the Friar, the Devil, who had just taken up a stone to poise it

upon its two uprights, hurled it at the holy man and struck him on the heel. The Friar’s sanctity was evidently greater than his personal courage, for it was the stone and not the Friar which suffered most from the impact. (I can hear the Editor say, sort of thing that would happen if a huge stone was hurled at Padre Hart.” Even to-day the huge impress of the Friar’s heel is to be seen on the stone. As usual, Dawn, the Devil’s invariable frustrator, came and spoilt things, causing him to leave the work only half finished, thus accounting for so many of the stones being left prostrate. This legend, it will be seen, is neither strikingly different from the host of other Devil Legends, nor conspicuously more improbable than several of the earlier scientific theories of Stonehenge.