This guest blog by Wiltshireman Prof. Dr Terence Meaden is an ode partly written in Wiltshire country dialect. It is a companion piece to the Silent Earth blog dated on 6 June 2019 about the summer solstice sunrise and the core meaning of Stonehenge. A link to the original post is here. In the Stonehenge blog of 2019 it was explained how the planners’ concepts and belief in the Marriage of the Gods, or hieros gamos, was translated by the Stonehenge planners into watchable dynamic action involving stone-to-stone union by the Heel Stone’s moving shadow and its penetration into the female fertility monument that is Stonehenge. It is a joy to watch. Unfortunately, every year on 21 June great crowds stand in the path of ... Read More

This guest blog by Wiltshireman Prof. Dr Terence Meaden is an ode partly written in Wiltshire country dialect. It is a companion piece to the Silent Earth blog dated on 6 June 2019 about the summer solstice sunrise and the core meaning of Stonehenge. A ... Read More

Dr Terence Meaden Explains the Core Meaning of Stonehenge as Achieved by Shadow Casting of the Heel Stone upon the Altar Stone at Midsummer Sunrise A guest post for Silent Earth prepared May 2019 In this blog the archaeological decoding of the fundamental symbolism of Stonehenge is explained. The monument’s master plan was prepared by a Stonehenge architect about 2550 BCE, this being the reasonable date assignable to the raising of the biggest sarsen stones, which are in the middle of the monument. These biggest stones surround a central zone inside which the Altar Stone lies recumbent at the focus of the monument. The great sarsens of Stonehenge would have been set in place before the sarsen stones of the outer ring of lintelled sarsens. ... Read More

Dr Terence Meaden Explains the Core Meaning of Stonehenge as Achieved by Shadow Casting of the Heel Stone upon the Altar Stone at Midsummer Sunrise A guest post for Silent Earth prepared May 2019 In this blog the archaeological decoding of the fundamental symbolism of ... Read More

In an opening blog for Silent Earth here, Dr Terence Meaden began by explaining his discoveries of the visual happenings that recur annually at the ancient agricultural festival dates at Drombeg Stone Circle. First, were the intriguing spectacles that return biannually at the spring and autumn quarter dates at what many people call the equinoxes? Beltane and Lughnasadh were introduced, as well. Later blogs will provide photographic evidence of what happens on the other major festival occasions, notably at the solstices and at Samhain and Imbolc. Below is an ode in three stanzas written by Dr Meaden about the beauty and meaning of such happenings when considered in the context of a fertility religion, such as may be inferred for the Megalithic Age of Britain ... Read More

In an opening blog for Silent Earth here, Dr Terence Meaden began by explaining his discoveries of the visual happenings that recur annually at the ancient agricultural festival dates at Drombeg Stone Circle. First, were the intriguing spectacles that return biannually at the spring and ... Read More

A guest post by Peter Norton   A ruinous chapel hidden in woodland with streams, birds and trees for company and only accessible by foot. St Luke's Chapel was built on land given to Cistercian monks from Netley Abbey by a local landowner around 1246, but after the 1500s (Dissolution) the community left and the chapel fell into obscurity and all that remains now is the western end.     A small alter has been constructed from the debris, and a wooden crucifix resides over the graves of Sir David and Lady Olga Milne-Watson, who actually built the large house nearby in the early 1920s. They so loved the chapel that they saved what you see today and requested that their mortal remains be interred ... Read More

A guest post by Peter Norton   A ruinous chapel hidden in woodland with streams, birds and trees for company and only accessible by foot. St Luke's Chapel was built on land given to Cistercian monks from Netley Abbey by a local landowner around 1246, ... Read More

Part 1: The March and September Quarter Dates A guest post prepared by Dr G. Terence Meaden mid-March 2019 Advances in archaeoastronomy are announced that introduce a new approach to examining the axial and recumbent stone circles of Ireland and Scotland by studying them at sunrise on what are deduced preplanned dates built into the monuments. Since 2012 research has advanced swiftly on several fronts and in this first article for Silent Earth the studies are illustrated with reference to the splendid Drombeg Stone Circle in County Cork, South-West Ireland (Figure 1).   [caption id="attachment_4985" align="aligncenter" width="707"] Figure 1. Drombeg Stone Circle[/caption]   HOW TO STUDY RECUMBENT STONE CIRCLES Until now most megalith-archaeoastronomy enthusiasts stood at the geometrical centre of recumbent stone circles gazing at ... Read More

Part 1: The March and September Quarter Dates A guest post prepared by Dr G. Terence Meaden mid-March 2019 Advances in archaeoastronomy are announced that introduce a new approach to examining the axial and recumbent stone circles of Ireland and Scotland by studying them at ... Read More

A guest post by Peter Norton. Avebury is 33 miles from Salisbury SN8 1RF, a sweeping partial avenue of erect stones, missed by many who just visit the Avebury complex. It is roughly a 2 mile walk with parking at the Avebury National Trust car park covering the length of the Avenue and back. The West Kennet Avenue connects the south entrance of the Avebury Henge to the Sanctuary one and a half miles away on Overton Hill. The Avenue is thought to have been constructed around 2400 BC.   [caption id="attachment_4966" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Spring with Waden Hill in the background to the west.[/caption]   It is believed to have consisted of about 100 pairs of stones spaced at intervals of 80 feet, with the ... Read More

A guest post by Peter Norton. Avebury is 33 miles from Salisbury SN8 1RF, a sweeping partial avenue of erect stones, missed by many who just visit the Avebury complex. It is roughly a 2 mile walk with parking at the Avebury National Trust car ... Read More

Before the town of Poole in Dorset existed, Ower, towards the south-eastern side of Poole harbour in the Isle of Purbeck (now lying within the Rempstone Estate) was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Ora'. The entry in Domesday reads 'The same Abbey (i.e. Milton Abbey) holds Ora.' In the time of King Edward the Confessor (1003-1066A.D.) it was taxed for 3 hides. 'No ploughland is held here, but 13 salt workers (salinarii) pay a rent of 20 shillings.' H.P. Smith M.B.E, J.P. wrote an enchanting and informative article titled 'Memories of Ower' published in The Dorset Year Book of 1940 and observes: 'In the days when Corfe Castle was under construction, Ower Quay saw busy days, for it is on record that timber ... Read More

Before the town of Poole in Dorset existed, Ower, towards the south-eastern side of Poole harbour in the Isle of Purbeck (now lying within the Rempstone Estate) was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Ora'. The entry in Domesday reads 'The same Abbey ... Read More

Sometimes described as the 'oldest road in Britain', the Harrow Way ('Harroway', 'Old Way', 'hard' or 'old' road) is a trackway of great antiquity running east-west across southern England. My interest in its passage particularly across the Stonehenge landscape and environs was first aroused on reading an article by Alex Down 'On Trackways and Place-names', published on Dennis Price's blog Eternal Idol on August 17, 2013. L.V. Grinsell's The Archaeology of Wessex, published in 1958, observes 'The origin of the name is uncertain: derivations of the name have been suggested from har (hoary with age), herewag (military road), and hearg weg (the road to the shrine or holy place, doubtfully Stonehenge).' In Aubrey Burl's 'Stonehenge', published in 2006, he writes: 'The Harroway led for miles ... Read More

Sometimes described as the 'oldest road in Britain', the Harrow Way ('Harroway', 'Old Way', 'hard' or 'old' road) is a trackway of great antiquity running east-west across southern England. My interest in its passage particularly across the Stonehenge landscape and environs was first aroused on ... Read More

On Thursday 21 September 2017, with the kind permission of the landowner, I observed the Autumn equinox sunrise over a near cloudless horizon at Bohonagh Stone Circle east of Rosscarbery in Co. Cork, Ireland. This is a stone circle of the Cork/Kerry series in the recumbent style, and originally consisted of 13 stones. There is a well defined axial orientation of the two portal/entrance stones and the recumbent stone on the opposite side of the circle to the equinox sunrise around 21 March and 21 September each year. Dr. Edward M. Fahy excavated the site in the Autumn of 1959, establishing that 6 of the original stones remained in position, three others had fallen, and four had been taken by 'stone robbers.' On completion of ... Read More

On Thursday 21 September 2017, with the kind permission of the landowner, I observed the Autumn equinox sunrise over a near cloudless horizon at Bohonagh Stone Circle east of Rosscarbery in Co. Cork, Ireland. This is a stone circle of the Cork/Kerry series in the ... Read More

During the recent dry spell in the summer of 2018 Silent Earth filmed the Mount Pleasant of Wessex prehistoric site and its environs from the air. As there is little to see from ground level and the field remains under plough to this day, this enigmatic site on which the known activities of man span the first half of the third millennium BC through to Saxon times is much overlooked. Here at the heart of Hardy's Wessex on the southeastern outskirts of Dorchester (and 600 metres to the west, Thomas Hardy's house at Max Gate) is a complex site that played a significant role in the evolution of the peoples of Wessex over millennia. Below: The prehistoric complex lies in the upper centre of this photograph on a gentle ... Read More

During the recent dry spell in the summer of 2018 Silent Earth filmed the Mount Pleasant of Wessex prehistoric site and its environs from the air. As there is little to see from ground level and the field remains under plough to this day, this enigmatic site ... Read More