By William Long, Esq. 3 



as the writer is aware, of any early human settlements nearer to this 

 e^reat necropolis, than High-Down or Durrington. Here mnst 

 have been the Westminster Abbey, and possibly the Westminster 

 Hall, of the people of that day, who occupied the vast down 

 tracts of Southern Wilts. Here, at certain sacred seasons, must 

 have been solemn gatherings for worship, for debate, and probably 

 for amusement in the remarkable circus, which bounds Stonehenge 

 to the north. And it would be difficult to believe that this place 

 had not been so made use of for a considerable time. Years must 

 have been spent in bringing hither and setting up the many and 

 great stones of which it was composed, and it must have been a con- 

 siderable period during which were being gathered around it the 

 magnificent tumuli, which have been formed with so much care and 

 labour. One might fairly fancy that, for two or three hundred 

 years, at least, there may have been the peaceful use and enjoyment 

 of this holy place. But upon these points men are not agreed. 

 There is no " consensus " of Antiquaries about them. Every kind of 

 theory has been proposed, and as regularly combated. And so it 

 will be to the end of time. Each generation considers itself wiser 

 than the preceding, and better able to explain those matters which 

 to their fathers and grandfathers only ai3peared more difficult of ex- 

 planation as they advanced in their enquiries. And thus it has come 

 to pass that more books have been printed about the much-frequented 

 Stonehenge than about all the other megalithic structures, col- 

 lectively, which the world contains ; and that the literature of this, 

 the best known of them all, would fill the shelves of a small library. 

 To the enquirer about Stonehenge it would be a work of time and 

 trouble to seek out, in different places, and from many volumes, what 

 he would be glad to know about it; and the present compilation^ is 



• The work which the writer, at the request of his Wiltshire ArchEeological 

 friends, has taken in hand, would have been carried out, had he lived, by one, 

 who, from long study of megalithic structures and tumuli, was eminently 

 fitted for such a task. For many years Dr. Thuruam had contemplated a 

 description of Stonehenge ; and as he read, he jotted down references and made 

 short extracts, which might be of use when he was in a position to undertake 

 it. These memoranda, together with cuttings from newspapers, were most 

 kindly given to the writer by Mrs. Thurnam, and they have been of material 



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