Massive Bluestone fingers
reach out of crumpled turf
grasping at the present day
Sun favours the other hill
and we chill in a silent wind
Path forecast:
sloshy with wet bits,
good tufts
We are lost in cloud at the Place of Eagles
Copyright © 2021 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Some watercolours of Avebury Stone Circle and of Stonehenge…..
On the plains
forest deep
springwater wells up
fills a hollow
where Aurochs drank
So came our mothers and fathers
shooting arrows
flinging spears
to take abundant meat
Settling close by
they found a special magic
for flints taken from the waters
turned colour
to a wondrous
startling
Pink
And history began
Copyright © 2019 Kim Whysall-Hammond
………Blink Mead near Stonehenge appears to be the site where everything started. Algae in the waters nearby turns the surface of flints a truly shocking pink. It is strongly suggested that this is why the whole landscape of Sailsbury Plain became sacred, culminating in the biulding of Stonehenge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blick_Mead
…and an Auroch is a very large cow…. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs
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.
Copyright © 2018 Kim Whysall-Hammond
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 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?
Copyright © 2017 Kim Whysall-Hammond
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
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
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
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
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
The Cheesesellers Wife 