4S Stonehenge and its Barroivs. 



rounded with a bank of earth which may have been a meridian 

 line. 



" Stonehenge stands in the middle of a fine flat area, near the 

 summit of a hill, and is inclosed with a circular double bank (Wood, 

 p. 4:^,) and ditch near 30 feet broad, the vallum inwards, after 

 crossing which we ascend 80 yards before we reach the work. The 

 whole forms a circle of about 108 feet diameter from out to out, 

 consisting', when intire, of 60 stones, 30 uprights and 30 imposts, 

 of which remain only 24 uprights, 17 standing and 7 down, three 

 feet and a half asunder, and 8 imposts. Eleven uprights have their 

 5 imposts on them by the grand entrance. These stones are from 

 13 to 20 feet high. The lesser circle is somewhat more than eight 

 feet from the inside of the outer one, and consisted of 40 lesser stones 

 (the highest six feet) of which only 19 remain, and only 11 

 standing; the walk between these two circles is 300 feet in circum- 

 ferance. The Adytum or Cell is an oval formed of 10 stones (from 

 16 to 22 feet high, Wood, p. 57,) in pairs with imposts which Dr. 

 Stukeley calls Trilithons and above 30 feet high, the imposts of 

 these and the others Camden's print calls Coronets. A MS. in Benet 

 College Library ascribed to Bede and marked N. xxx says, ' Apud 

 Stanhenges lapides mire magnitudiuis in modum portarum elevate 

 sunt ut porte arcis subposite videantur ' rising in height as they 

 go round and each pair separate, and not connected as the outer 

 pair, the highest eight feet (Wood, p. 57. Stukeley). ^ Within 

 these are 19 more smaller single stones; of which only six are 

 standing. At the upper end of the Adytum is the altar, a large 

 slab of blue coarse marble, 20 inches thick, 16 feet long, and 4 

 broad ; (Hales. Stukeley more) pressed down by the weight of the 

 vast stones that have fallen upon it. ' George duke of Buckingham 



'The diiferent ground plans of "Wood, Jones, Smith, and Stukeley are given 

 by Gough. The numbers of stones, as laid down by each of them, are as follows : 



Wood Jones. Smith. Stukeley, 



Uprights of outer Circle 



,, inner ,, 



Uprights of outer Ellipse 



,, inner ,, 



And each has the so-called altar-stone. 



