Such, then, are the facts which meet the eye when standing within Stonehenge. Each minute the stones appear to increase in bulk, and the problem of their coming grows more inscrutable. Then if wearied with such vastness, the eye may wander over the surrounding plain, broken in almost every direction by the sepulchral mounds, or Barrows, which cluster to the number of two hundred or more about the venerable stone circle. The connection between Stonehenge and the Barrows, seems almost irresistible. The hands which raised those huge monoliths must assuredly have been laid to rest almost within the touch of their shadow. Stonehenge and the Barrows, each casting light upon the other's origin, confirming and reconfirming each other's existence, knit together to-day as yesterday, by a bond of close union which even Time and speculations cannot sever.
The Lithology of Stonehenge
Weatherworn and overgrown by lichen, it is not possible at the present day to see clearly the nature of the stones which go to make up Stonehenge. For that reason only the barest outline of the monument as it appears to the unknowing eye has been given, in order that the original plan may be grasped thoroughly before entering into those important issues which help to solve the enigma of its origin. Careful investigation reveals the fact that the stones vary very much in material, and that, further, just as the stones are placed in systematic order, so, too, has the same care been exercised in the selection of the material from which each circle or horseshoe has been built. Moreover, just as the stones can be divided into groups of uprights and imposts, or "Trilithons," and "simple uprights," so, too, has it been found that while all the Trilithons are composed of a "local" stone, known generally as "Sarsen"; all the "simple uprights" are of "foreign" stone, sometimes classed together roughly as "Syenite." This latter term must be understood in a very comprehensive sense since the simple uprights show considerable variation in quality, but one and all are foreign to the county of Wiltshire; whereas the larger Sarsen blocks are to be found in considerable numbers scattered over the Wiltshire Downs. This difference in material seems to present a considerable difficulty; and the question naturally arises, How did the foreign stones come to Salisbury Plain? This point will be considered later, as it is one involving other matters, such as the ethnology of the builders and the probable region from which they obtained these unusual materials. But the Sarsens present no problem, and so may be considered first of all, for familiar as they are their story is full of interest.
The Lithology of Stonehenge.
The Story of the Sarsens
The geologist would probably describe the Sarsen stones of Wiltshire as "masses of saccharoid sandstone," which in plain English might be rendered as boulders closely resembling gigantic lumps of coarse sugar. These huge stones are to be found, though in decreasing numbers, scattered all over the plain, and particularly along the ridges of the Marlborough Downs. 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. The name has come to the stones from Stonehenge itself, and is a part of that ever interesting confusion of ideas, which has been bequeathed to us by our ancestors of the Middle Ages. To them all stone circles and megalithic monuments were the work of heathens, if not of the devil himself. Heathenism and all its works was roundly condemned, whether it be Celtic, Mahomedan, or Pagan; and the condemnation was as concise and universal as the phrase "Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics" of the Christian Prayer Book to-day. In the early days of the Moyen Age, 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.