Tag Archives: Stonehenge

Winter Hill

January 6, 2018archeology, beauty, England, history, poem, Poetry, winterarcheology, Avebury, Neolithic, poem, poetry, prehistory, silbury hill, stone circles, Stonehenge, winterThe Cheesesellers Wife

Steep green turfed pudding
summit ringing terraces
slopes carved by sheepen hooves,
local springs, winter born, fill a surrounding pool.

Built near ancestral dead, venerable springs,
the great stone circles
and an ancient way once trodden by mammoth.
The largest winter hill and the last,
Silbury still haunts and surprises.

This great last monument of the Stone Age in England is not far from where I live, and continually fascinates me. Image from and further information at heritageaction

We have captured the stones

July 1, 2017archeology, Life, philosophy, poem, Poetry, speculative poetryarcheology, Life, Long Barrow, poem, poetry, prehistory, speculative poetry, Stone age, stone circles, StonehengeThe Cheesesellers Wife

We have captured the stones in their circles
First with maps and sketches
Now with our many photographs
They would otherwise move
Dance in the moonlight
Shuffle away to the devils lair
Creep up on a King or a witch

We have opened the barrows to sunlight
Pinned them to history by interpretive notices
Collected the bones within
Lurking on ridges, smothered with grass
Besieged by fields and fences
Children explore and play in the chambers
Where once ancestors dreamed

Do the stones protest at their confinement?
Do barrow wights still lurk after dark?
Have we chased away the Gods-smith?
Do we care?

Avebury Stone

April 24, 2017archeology, art, astronomy, beauty, Painting, watercolourancient, archeology, art, Avebury, beauty, history, Painting, sketch, Stone age, stone circles, Stonehenge, watercolourThe Cheesesellers Wife

One of my interests (my sons may term it an obsession) is prehistory – which was born from childhood visits to ancient sites in or near the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire. Not so far from the end of the Vale is Avebury stone circle, arguably more spectacular than Stonehenge. Here is a sketch of one particular stone in the Avebury circle, and a rather colourful watercolour interpretation.

Circles

November 19, 2016archeology, children, history, Life, nature, poem, Poetryarcheology, Avebury, England, history, Life, nature, poem, prehistory, Stone age, stone circles, StonehengeThe Cheesesellers Wife

Circles

Dance a long dance at dawning
Dance a slow dance at end of day
Sing loudly together in the morning
Shout our names to the Sun as she goes away

These islands are littered with circles
Stone, earthen, timber , large and small
Little stones hidden in moorland heather
Megalith giants standing tall

We are the people of the circles
We are the people of the dawn
You will never understand us
Your link to your ancestors is torn

Dance a long dance at dawning
Dance a slow dance at end of day
Sing loudly together in the morning
Shout our names to the Sun as she goes away

Stone Circle

July 1, 2016archeology, art, poem, Poetry, Science, Technologyarcheology, Avebury, beauty, IT, Life, poem, poetry, prehistory, science, Science Fiction, SF, Stonehenge, TechnologyThe Cheesesellers Wife

Stone Circle

Consider the stone circle
Do the stones collect impressions?
Perhaps imprinted like old photographs
Perhaps locked in their silicon crystals
Perhaps they link into the earth beneath
Using ants and their nest structures
To record the thoughts of those who visit

Maybe it’s my sense of place that deludes me
Makes me feel that the stones are listening
My need to bring some mystery to this circle
When it is already full of real mystery and strangeness
Why and how being the biggest
But I want to hear the builders, eavesdrop on long ago visitors
And so stretch fingertips to the stone to download the recording