Picture overload! Castle Combe, Avebury, Lacock and STONEHENGE!

Prepare for the pictures that are now before you. I will do my best to make this organized, perhaps with titles of the places, and then captions with what I learned. Here we go!

NOTE: You can click on the pictures to make them bigger!

Castle Combe

When villages seem to be in a time warp, it is almost certainly because of extreme economic turmoil. There are a few villages like this in England, as cotton was the #1 industry and was shoved out quickly during the industrial period. 

Castle Combe is one of these villages that was hit hard by the  job losses when cotton started slowing down.  However, it has left us such a lovely little village!

There's a little blue circle under the sill: it is how they would know if the house is insured. So, if there were to be a fire, these are the houses that would be saved first

Market cross: although the area around it may look small, it was used as the central market place back in the day!

Gorgeous building #1

Gorgeous building #2

Avebury

• The henge here is older than that of Stonehenge
• People didn't reside in Avebury, but rather came to celebrate and visit.
• Was re-discovered in the 1600's 

SHEEP FIGHT! Ewe fight, to be precise

Originally there were 98 stones within the circles, but the church didn't like them  so they did their best to break them down, bury them and get rid of them by all means!

This was one of the stones that the church attempted to get rid of. They had buried it deep in 1325, but it was later dug up. Underneath it, there was a skeleton that was identified as a barber surgeon. With him was a surgical knife, three coins, and other various surgeon supplies. It is now named as "Barber Surgeon Stone". 

These are a part of the smaller circle of stones. All the stones are sandstone, just like Stonehenge.

Playing around with dousing rods. They acted quite funny for all of us when  we approached the stone. For a few they crossed over, while for others they wanted to keep pointing at the stone even when the carrier turned around.

Today was such a lovely day for looking at the stones and taking pictures!

Devil's Chair. Here, one could make a wish--but careful, as the devil controls it!  The name of this stone  is the reason that the church took interest in the henges, and why they tried to get rid of all of the stones!

A great view of the henge

 Silbury Hill

The largest pre-historic man made structure, although no one knows what its purpose was (I feel like this might be a reoccurring theme!)

 White Horse

Crafted in 1780, this white horse was one of thirteen carved into the countryside across Wiltshire; only eight remain. They were seen as a symbol of power.

Random wedding, where the beautiful bride and groom were about to depart in a horse drawn carriage!

They were married in a thatched-roof church :) When it comes to thatched houses, only the rich own them now, as they are quite expensive to maintain!

 Lacock

Lacock Abbey. Here, there was filming for Harry Potter (Hogwarts scenes), but even more importantly, the first photographic negative was take of its very window.  

The George Inn is one of the oldest pubs in the UK to be able to sell alcohol, being established in 1361.  We ended up having lunch there today.

Cute little telephone booth :)

Before WW2, Lacock was owned by the Tolbert family. Post-WW2, however, they were sold to the National Treasury. The cool thing about them, though, though is that they are not able to be purchased; instead, one most rent. The families that get priority in renting are the ones that have been around in the town the longest. So, there are still families residing in this small town that trace back to the 15th century!

It is because of the renting of houses that this beautiful little town has not been taken over by the rich, retirees, like many others of its nature. Instead, the town is bursting with life, from very young to very old :)

 Stonehenge

Wow.

There are many questions as to why Stonehenge was erected. One of the possible answer is as a status symbol, much like many other buildings are. I mean, can you imagine just stumbling upon this? Even knowing today what I was about to say left me in awe.

The largest stone in the henge weighs 45 tons. 

Myself in front of the most well known henge.

One of the biggest mysteries is how the stones were transported. There  were just so many that weighed such great amounts!

Stonehenge can also be used as a calendar. 

It seemed that a lot of the myths revolving around the creators of Stonehenge had to do with Merlin, the wizard we all know and love. 

I personally thought that this was cute, but I also find it important to note the location of the henge. AKA the middle of nowhere. 

Part of the reason that it is so incomplete is because people used to be able to walk up to it and chip off pieces of the stone to keep as souvenirs. 

Okay, okay, I admit that I took a lot of photos of Stonehenge. It was one of the most fantastic sights I have yet to see!

A very complete side of it, only missing the top parts. Oh! And they had little nobs on top of the standing stones that would perfectly fit into grooved holes in the laying across stones. 

A picture, clouds closing in

The heel stone

What is would have originally looked like

That was basically my day! After we got back from the tour, I grabbed some dinner (crispy duck salad) and headed back to the hostel!

Tomorrow I'll be looking to visit the Roman Baths, then will hop on my train.

Much love,
Lynette

PS: Anyone interested in looking at the uncut version of my photos? I'm talking 100 instead of the 40 I attached here. Warning: A LOT are more angles of Stonehenge. :)