STONEHENGE. 
STONEHAM, a township of Lower Canada, on the 
north side of the St. Lawrence in the county of Quebec. 
STONEHAVEN, or Stonehive, a sea-port town of 
Scotland, in Kincardineshire, situated on the coast where 
the Cowie and Carron unite their waters as they flow into 
the sea. It is composed of an old and new town, the 
former lying on the south bank of the Carron, adjacent to 
the harbour; the other on a peninsula formed by the Carron 
and Cowie. This last is laid out upon a regular plan, 
having broad streets, and a square in the centre. The old 
town consists of two considerable streets of houses, built 
on fens granted by the earls marischal, within whose estate 
it was situated. The. harbour is a natural basin, sheltered 
on the south-east by a high rock which runs out into the 
sea, and on the north-east by a quay, very convenient for 
the unloading of goods; but it is neither very capacious 
nor safe, the entrance being obstructed by sunken rocks, 
although it is capable of considerable improvements. Not¬ 
withstanding its fine situation for carrying on manufactures, 
very little business was formerly transacted at Stonehaven. 
It derived its principal support from the sheriff-court of the 
county, which has its seat here. The place has on the 
whole a cheerful and elegant appearance, and abounds with 
genteel and wealthy people. Stonehaven is a burgh of 
barony, of which the jurisdiction is by the charter vested in 
magistrates chosen by the superior and feuars; 15 miles 
south-bv-west of Aberdeen, and 22 north-by-east of Montrose. 
STO'NEHAWK, s. A kind of hawk. Ainsworth. 
See Fai.co. 
STO'NEHEARTED, or Stonyhearted, ad). Hard¬ 
hearted ; cruel; pitiless.—The stony-lioartcd villains know 
it well enough. Shahspeare. 
STONEHENGE, the name of a very remarkable ancient 
monument in England, in the county of Wilts, situated in 
the middle of Salisbury Plain. It consists of a great 
collection of stones of immense size, which, from their 
being some erect, some inclined, and most of them quite 
down upon the ground, seem to have formed, at one time, 
an entire building. Their appearance at present is that of 
a perfect ruin, a confused heap of standing and fallen stones; 
but by comparing attentively their relative situations, the 
shape and dimensions of the original structure can still be 
traced ; and the most probable opinion is, that it must have 
been some Druidical temple, but of so vast a size, and the 
stones themselves forming such enormous masses, that it is 
justly regarded as one. of the wonders of antiquity. Many 
of the stones also have been squared and hewn by art. On 
the top of the outer circle a continued row of squared 
stones has been attached to the uprights by mortices and 
tenons, and various other circumstances contribute to give 
this monument a peculiar character, quite distinct from the 
temples of upright stones found in various parts of England, 
Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, &c. It presents, there¬ 
fore, an object of great interest to the antiquary, and has 
accordingly been examined with due attention and assiduity. 
Many treatises have been written on the subject, and the 
origin and history of this extraordinary antique has excited 
more speculation and discussion than those of any other 
ruin of the kind in the kingdom. At a distance, this 
monument appears only a small trifling object, its bulk and 
character being lost in the vastness of the open space around 
it. Even on a nearer approach, it often fails to astonish 
or satifsy the stranger, filled perhaps with exaggerated pre¬ 
possessions ; and in fact it is more as a subject of histori¬ 
cal and antiquarian interest, than as a spectacle that is 
calculated to make an impression on the observer. The 
whole building appears to have consisted of two circular 
and two elliptical rows of upright stones, with horizontal 
stones lying on the outer circle, in a continued order all 
around, and five imposts or horizontal stones on ten up¬ 
rights of the third row. The whole is surrounded by a 
ditch and vallum of earth, connected with which are three 
other stones. The vallum does not exceed fifteen feet in 
height, and is interior to the ditch. The entrance through 
603 
this line of circumvallation is on the north east, and is marked 
by a bank and ditch called the Avenue, which leads di¬ 
rectly from it, and separates into two branches at the distance 
of a few hundred yards. Approaching Stonehenge by this 
Avenue, the attention is first attracted by an immense rude 
stone called the Friar’s Heel, which is now in a leaning po¬ 
sition, and measures about 16 feet in height. Just within 
the vallum is another stone lying on the ground. It is 21 
feet 2 inches in length, of which 3 feet 6 inches appear to 
have been formerly under ground when it stood upright. It 
is exactly 100 feet distant from the former, and as much from 
the outside of the uttermost circle of the monument. The 
circumference of this circle is about 300 feet. It was com¬ 
posed originally of 30 upright stones, of which 17 are still 
standing ; but there are now no more than 6 imposts. Each 
impost has two mortices in it, to correspond with two tenons 
on the tops of the vertical stones. The imposts were con¬ 
nected together, so as to form a continued series of architraves. 
The uprights in this circle differ from each other in their 
forms and sizes, but their general height is from 13 to 15 
feet, and their circumference nearly 18 feet. At the distance 
of 8 feet 3 inches from this outer circle is an interior row, 
which it appears consisted, in its original state, of 40 upright 
stones. These are much smaller, and more irregular in their 
shapes, than those of the outermost one, and also differ from 
them in species. The number standing is only 8, but there 
are remains of 12 others lying on the ground. Within these 
two outer circles are arranged the two elliptical rows of stones, 
the outermost of which constitutes the grandest portion of 
Stonehenge. This is not a perfect ellipsis, but rather two- 
thirds of that figure, being open at one end. It was formed 
of five distinct pairs of trilithons, or two large upright stones, 
with a third laid over them as an impost. The largest trili- 
thon was placed in the centre, opposite to the entrance, and 
measured, when standing, exclusive of the impost, 21 feet 6 
inches in height; that next it on each side was about 17 feet 
2 inches, but the extremes were not more than 16 feet 3 
inches. A progressive rise thus appears to take place in the 
height of the trilithons of this ellipsis from east to west, and 
a degree of regularity pervading its structure, above what 
appears in the other parts of the monument. The stones are 
also more regular in their shapes, and carefully formed, than 
those in the outer circle. The interior oval consisted of 19 
uprights, without imposts. These stones are taller and better 
shaped than those in the corresponding circle, and incline to 
a pyramidal form. The Altar Stone, as it is usually called, 
occupies the interior of this oval, and may be legarded as the 
centre or keystone of the whole temple. It measures 15 feet 
in length, and is almost covered by the two fallen stones of 
the great trilithon. The other stones belonging to the monu¬ 
ment are situated close to the vallum, and within it one on the 
south-east side, and the other on the north-west side. The total 
number of stones of which Stonehenge, in its complete state, 
was composed, appears to have been 109, of which the outer 
circle contained 30, the second or inner circle 40, the first 
ellipsis 15, and the second ellipsis 19. The remaining 5 are 
the altar stone, the three stones adjoining the agger, and the 
large stone in the Avenue. The stones in the outer circle 
and outer ellipsis, with the stone in the Avenue, and those 
adjoining the vallum, are all of a pure fine grained compact 
sandstone. The second circle and the small oval consist of 
a fine grained grinstein, interspersed with black hornblende, 
feldspar, quartz, &c. The slab or altar stone is different from 
all these, being of a very fine grained calcareous sandstone, 
which strikes fire with steel. The area of Stonehenge has, as 
may readily be supposed, excited the attention of the curious 
in a high degree, and has been examined with care by dif¬ 
ferent antiquaries, but no discoveries of importance have been 
made within it. The surrounding plain, however, is covered 
with a profusion of barrows, unparalleled in any spot of 
similar extent in England, and probably in the world. Many 
of these were filled with burnt bones and entire skeletons, 
and with various relics of British art. Plans and descriptions 
of Stonehenge have been published by Inigo Jones, at the 
desire 
