Megalithic sites of the British Isles

Megalith - from the Greek Mega = huge and lith = stone

Single standing stones and rings - standing silent sentinel in remote parts of the British Isles in tribute to their builders from long ago. For thousands of years they have waited - over a hundred generations of mankind. What did they mean, why were they constructed - we do not know. Some of their very attraction is that these reminders of the dawn of Man are mute, no writing and very little imagery or art has been passed through the millennia from these ancestors. Visitors wonder, but the stones hold their secrets, and maybe they will hold their mystery for ever. Archaeologists infer that they were ceremonial or ritual sites, simply from the sheer collective effort needed to raise them. Too many sites which hold human remains seem to be called burial chambers. Such logic might, in thousands of years time look at churches which often contain human remains and sarcophagi and conclude that the cathedrals of Europe were grand burial chambers too... Maybe it is better to say we do not know.

This listing is not a complete list of megalithic sites - I have listed the sites in the order which I think they should be. These are some of the sites I have been to and enjoyed - I hope you enjoy them too :-)

	Site	notes
	Callanish	Large cross-like setting with tall slender stones on the Isle of Lewis
	Newgrange	Fantastic barrow with alignment so the midwinter sunrise shines into the central chamber down a long passage
	Castlerigg	Lovely setting for this pretty circle in the Cumbrian mountains
	Rollright	The closest stone circle to London with fantastically gnarled limestone stones
	Swinside	Attractive setting near the sea for this large circle
	Arbor Low	All the stones are prone in this circle within a ditch
	Hurlers	Three stone circles close together on Bodmin Moor
	Long Meg & Her Daughters	The midwinter sun rises over Long Meg when viewed from the centre of the circle
	Nine Maidens	Attractive stone row
	Trethevy Quoit	Portal Dolmen