Myths and Legends
Many different myths and lengends surround stonehenge as it is full of mysteries including; How the stones actually got there, who built stonehenge, why did they built stonehenge and what was stonehenge used for?
The Legend of the Dancing Giants
'One day, the giants were dancing and circling around on the Salisbury Plain. Suddenly, they were frozen and turned into
stones. This explains why Stonehenge consisted of concentric circle.Many people believe this legend in the past because the shape of Stonehenge somewhat resembles the shape of giants holding hands, standing in a circle' -National University of Sinapore
stones. This explains why Stonehenge consisted of concentric circle.Many people believe this legend in the past because the shape of Stonehenge somewhat resembles the shape of giants holding hands, standing in a circle' -National University of Sinapore
The Sun and her followers
One day a long time ago, a group of followers of the sun (back then people worshipped and communicated with the sun) wanted to build a temple in which to worship the sun. The sun told them that they could find wood at a small forest by the river. By the next day, the followers had managed to build a woodhenge, the sun was very pleased with their efforts. But after some time the sun had gotten stronger and now a woodhenge was not good enough and so the sun instructed them to build a stone henge. The followers to the sun travelled up north, as instructed by the sun, to search for the sacred stones. Once they had found the stones they returned and destroyed the woodhenge to replace it with a Stonehenge.
The Gateway Legend
Stonehenges are also known as the “stone gallows”, (marks the end of somwone’s life). some people believe that the stonehenges are gateways to where human originally came from, so some believe that people return to the place they came from.The legend goes on to suggest that around every 5,00 years someone tries to opemn one of the stones and fro
The Legend of the Heel stone
Some people also believe that the devil could have been the architect of Stonehenge; This is because it is believed that the devil tricked the old women who owned the stones originally, out of them, he did this by telling her she could have as much gold as she could count in the time it took him to move the stones, obviously as he was disguised as a gentleman she thought it would take him a very long time. But when she agreed the devil used his magic to transport them to Salisbury plain and she did not have enough time to count any gold out. When the devil was back in Salisbury, he set up the stones and bragged to everyone that none of them would be able to tell how many stones there was there. But a local friar said “that is more than thee canst tell”, (which means, “That is more than can be told”). That was the correct answer and so the devil got very angry, so angry that he threw one of the large menhirs (a single standing stone) at the friar, the menhir hit the friar’s heel but the friar was so strong that his heel dented the menhir. Today the stone is referred to as the ‘Heel stone’ or sometimes it is referred to as ‘Friars Heel’
Merlin and King Arthur's uncle
'Many of the old myths feature giants building Stonehenge , but one of the earliest legends, found in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, dating from the 12th century, involves Merlin. After vanquishing the Saxons, the British King, Aurelius Ambrosius, decided to erect a memorial to the four hundred and sixty British nobles who were treacherously massacred by the Saxons at Amesbury Abbey He called Merlin, who said ‘Send for the Giants Round’. This was a ring of stones said to have been transported to Ireland from Africa by the giants. The King’s brother, Uther Pendragon, set forth for Ireland with fifteen thousand men. They reached Mount Kilaraus, where the Giants Round stood, but try as they might they could not dismantle the stones. Merlin saw this and laughed and used his magic powers to take down the stones himself and bring them here, then erected them again in exactly the same way as they had stood in Ireland. King Aurelius and Uther
Pendragon are both said to have been buried here at Stonehenge'- English Heritage
Pendragon are both said to have been buried here at Stonehenge'- English Heritage