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Interesting Facts About The Top Tourist Spots In The UK

One of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, England offers nearly limitless options for tourists looking for fun activities and must-see sights.

This small but important country on the beautiful British Isles has a fascinating history, vibrant cities, and a rich cultural heritage. Numerous historic sites range from prehistoric megaliths and ancient Roman ruins to mediaeval castles and urban centres.

Tourist Spot in U.K

Stonehenge is the top tourist spot in the U.K. Stonehenge’s history is shrouded in mystery. The unusual stone circle, located in Wiltshire today, is one of Britain’s most well-known tourist attractions.

Stonehenge is a wonder

At Stonehenge, a man-made wonder, standing stones create a vast circle. Our predecessors built the monument over many eras, thousands of years ago. Prehistoric landmarks are among the most well-known globally; they are also among the most mysterious riddles.

It must be at least a century old

It wasn’t always like this, and it wasn’t always a stone ring. The circular earth wall and ditch at this site date to around 3100 BC, but according to popular belief, the first stones were erected between 2400 and 2200 BC.

The stones were repositioned, new ones were added over the centuries, and the current configuration was built between 1930 and 1600 B.C.

There is no documented evidence of its creation

This documentary, released in conjunction with the recent resolution of the genesis enigma surrounding the Sarsen Stones, investigates what we know and don’t know about this remarkable Neolithic monument.

This is, of course, the primary reason for the site’s high volume of inquiries.

It could have been a cemetery

Among the 50,000 bones discovered in the area in 2013, archaeologists discovered the cremated remains of 63 men, women, and children. While some bones date back to 3000 BC, others only to 2500 BC, making this a one-of-a-kind collection. Stonehenge may have started as a burial ground, but it’s unclear whether that was its primary purpose.

Some of the stones were reportedly transported from more than 200 kilometres away.

The sun rises above Stonehenge on the summer solstice of 2005

It would have taken significant technological advances at the time to transport them from a quarry near the Welsh town of Maenclochog to Wiltshire.

They are a type of rock known as “ringing rocks.”

The monument’s stones have exceptional acoustic properties, explaining why they had to be transported such a long distance. These rocks are thought to have medicinal properties by some ancient societies. A Maenclochog is a “ringing rock.”

Stonehenge is mentioned as a sacred site in Arthurian legends

According to legend, after 3,000 Saxon lords were slaughtered in a battle with the Celtic kings, Merlin took Stonehenge from Ireland and rebuilt it as a memorial to their memory in England.

A look at the first people to step foot on British soil. Dr Selina Brace of the Natural History Museum joins Noo Saro-Wiwa, a travel writer, on this episode.

It sparked a bloody civil war in 1985

On June 1, 1985, approximately 600 New Age pilgrims and approximately 1,300 police officers engaged in a pitched battle for several hours, known as the Battle of the Beanfield. A police roadblock seven miles from Stonehenge stopped a group of Stonehenge Free Festival organisers on their way to set up the festival.

The altercation injured eight police officers and sixteen passengers, and 537 people were detained in one of the largest mass arrests in English history.

Every year, around one million people visit it

Stonehenge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the ongoing tales. When it first opened to the public as a tourist attraction in the twentieth century, visitors could stroll among the stones and even climb on them. Although the monument has been cordoned off since 1997 due to the stones’ catastrophic degradation, visitors are only permitted to see the stones from a safe distance. There are exceptions to this rule during the summer and winter solstices and equinoxes and spring and fall.

It is built with a combination of two different types of stone

Sarsen stones and bluestones make up the larger outside stones and the smaller interior stones at Stonehenge. Sarsen stones, a type of local sandstone, can be found in the surrounding area about 20 miles away. However, the bluestones come from Wales’ Preseli Hills. They are more than 140 miles apart.

Stonehenge and astronomy have a long history

Stonehenge has a long and interesting relationship with astronomy, according to English Heritage research from 2010. This is a noteworthy feature because of the monument’s alignment with the summer and winter solstices. This was discovered in 1720 by William Stukeley, a pioneering British archaeologist. Since then, astrologers have studied Stonehenge, looking for connections between its structure and the stars.

Stonehenge is mentioned in the Arthurian legend

According to tradition, Stonehenge was rebuilt on Salisbury Plain as a memorial to the 3,000 noblemen who perished fighting the Saxons after Merlin transported it from Ireland, where ancient giants had created it.

The evidence suggests that Stonehenge was first built in Wales. In 2021, evidence of a Stonehenge-like circle of stones was discovered in Wales, just a few miles from a quarry where some of the bluestones are mined.

They could have been in Wales for a long time before being transferred to Wiltshire to build Stonehenge.

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