Stonehenge Isn't Even a Henge

If you do go up to Scotland to do a video on the henges there, make sure you visit TORHOUSEEKIE STONE HENGE near Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway ("where?????"). It's my favourite. Beautiful.

Fantast.....amazzz...er...wow! a mini 'Standing With The Stones' if ever I saw one. There are many types of stone circle of course and over two thousand or so years their uses evolved, I have a view that when people first settled down on the land to farm, they wanted to establish their historical right to the territory. The ancestral house/dwelling/hut would be closed off/enclosed by stones as a no-go, spiritual location wherein the locals remembered and venerated ancestors. The site would also be tangible proof of occupation. It looks like Avebury might well be an example of this. There is also a suggestion that long barrows might also have a similar back story. Then there are circles which are possibly containment areas for livestock, ie Rollright Stones. Thornborough reminds me of outback cattle pens in Australia rather than 'ritual' sites. Close to water, perfect for livestock management. Anyhoo, fab video WC21!

Well done, I learn something new with every episode. I look forward to all of them! Thanks Darren and team.

The idea of some henges being used for hunting, a bit like those desert kites, is interesting.

I can definitely see a second career for you as a Sheep wrangler.
I love putting on your vids on an evening, kicking back and relaxing after work. You should be snapped up by BBC’s ‘Countryfile’. 😉
I’d never seen or heard of Arbor Low before, massive ditch & banks, nice one.

I appreciate your accommodations for those of us that grew up only being taught the imperial measurement system.
Having said that, I still enjoy a pint now and then.

Wonderful video. I've always wondered about the name "henge." Whoops...quotation marks. Force of habit I guess. Really great information. Thanks so much.

SIGHTSEERS REFERENCED! I love that film, alongside the whole Alice Lowe expanded universe. I've never been sure which stone circle they're in when the Steve Oram character murders the National Trust member with a rock because they get criticised for not picking up after their dog. Which is weird, because they're super-specific about most of the c-list tourist sites they murder people in. I need to rewatch it ASAP!

To be hengified by a ditchoholic. What a world

No, no, you got it all wrong ..... as usual. 😀😀What is a Henge. Any fool can see that the Henge ditches were filled with water, to make fish, geese and duck ponds, for feeding the villagers. The centre was a safe place to put the sheep in at night, to keep the wolves in the forest from taking the sheep away.
That's what the narrow causeway was for.

There's no totalitarian one-way system :)

GREAT VIDEO 👍🏻 Still don't believe yet ???

Another excellent film, Mr WC21 (UK) Productions Ltd. Congratulations on the 10k subs. Especially enjoyed the Max Bygraves reference. Am going to have to deduct a point for the omission of the second "s" in palimpsest. But, to be fair, I'm also going to have deduct myself several thousand for conjecturing Gib Hill might be a site later used associated with a gibbet, based on no more research than a couple of bottles of red, and a vague memory that sometimes prominent places, especially those on hundred boundaries, or away from settlements, at least, were used as places of execution, in whatever we call the late pre Norman, early Medieval period now

Good effort !

(Most unoriginal comment ever but...) Your videos are always an absolute treat on a Sunday, thank you 👍

Seems like it all "henges" on being circular.

Have you tried prunes?

That's a big chopper

Excellent video. This professor approves. And congrats on the 10k subs!

Thank you so much, really loved this one, can't help noting henge features in some neolithic rock art????

Great intro wc, arbor low was worth saying amazing for, come on.

I see you were on a "Play Away" schedule !

Oh no! What have you done? I only come here to hear you say 'amazing' and to castigate you for imperial (or metric) measurements. Fuming.

Another superb video

Another banger.. excellent stuff, and there's much ado about henges.. it could make an ant Aquarian "unhenged!" I too love Mayburgh Henge, I love anything the Eden Valley.😂

Excellent, thanks for the hard work, I think they must have had several purposes at the time they were built. I bet some wild parties went on there in them too.

This video was really interesting. To fully understand the different classifications Im going to have to watch it again. The 'henge' in Derbyshire was particularly fine. Why is this the first time Ive seen it in screen. It looks far more interesting and intact in a natural way than Stonehenge that has been reconstructe and become disneyfied just for filthy lucre sake. P.S Is it two entrances or one entrance and one exit controlling the trade going on inside? Thats if they were used for trading and gatherings.

not just hunting 😅 hunting livestock... if there is a midwinter alignment. The midwinter calender function is to set the date, the optimum date for livestock slaughter
If anyone can find evidence of neolithic haymaking, I might reconsider
It's quite important because it means that people were well fed in January and February.. in fact the meat would probably run out about the same time we have Lent now.
If people watch TT 'road to Stonehenge' it's all there, only the conclusion was a random reversion to 'ritual'

There is just no way it wasn’t warmer back in the Neolithic!

Had a look through the comments but didn't see any reference to this... I think it's Gib Hill (with a soft "g" as in "j") as, apparently, there was a Gibbet placed upon it.

Thanks for doing Arbor Low. I'm there many times per year, and always on the summer Solstice. I thoughtfully sit there, working out what the use was; Religion, public celebrations, music festivals, slaughter of live stock, and even Saturday night p*ss up. What you say? Peace and goodwill

Congratulations on 10k subs!

Applaud your eschewing the word “amazing” in regard to pre-historical sites. Every antiquarian/archeologist/historian should carry a thesaurus and refer to it when tempted to (over) use that word when other more appropriate and descriptive terms are available. 🤭😬 Great video again by the way‼️👏

Henge means a gallows, a place of public hanging. Stonehenge means stone gallows because that's what it resembled to the Saxons. Hence Stonehenge is the only henge.

Your videos go from strength to strength. I am devastated that I used the word palimpsest in a comment to you earlier, but I I take comfort in not being an historian. Very well researched, challenging of orthodoxy, lovely weather. Thank you and don't forget you owe Tweedy a pint 🙂

Hey Darren, a certain old IT guy who used to help you out a few years back here. Salutations from Finland! Good to see you're making a little YT channel success for yourself, overtaken my own modest sub count as well! 🙂

You did make up the word "Hengified". I've heard it before. You've still got "Mumbo Jumboist " to your credit.
I visited Bakewell but didn't make it to Arbor Low. Too much Cherry Tart. Was that a Stanley Unwin reference? Asking on behalf of me finger-toes...

Subbed last week. Haven't stopped watching your videos since. Great "content".
I particularly like your musings on "the not very well lit early medieval.... ages" 🙂
Keep up the great work and you're welcome for helping you to pass 10,000 subs 👍
Edit: what if the "henges" were "sanctury" for trading? ie, your security inside was guaranteed and you're free to trade safely?

Hi Darren, What a great compendium of .. ahem .... "henges". A mammoth task to put that together and try to make some sense of it. It's a lot to take in, so I've watched twice now!!

I was wondering about the etymology of the word. It seems to originate in Yorkshire. The Wiki entry quotes the OED. This seems to be 1740 with the meaning hanging stones. Elsewhere I've seen 10th century mentioned. Does this mean that Stonehenge is authentic and those without hanging stones are not? Who knows!!

Loved the Brian Cant Ltd graphics and a guest appearance from Humpty Dumpty and the good old test card!! The text messages were very funny and the outro as awkward as you will ever get, as sour faced as Tweedy will be with his pint of grapefruit ale!!

Now here's a thing I went to see Teardrop Explodes, in about 1984, they were playing in a henge, no it's true, no lie. A henge it was as sure as any ring of stones with a bank is a henge. I confess it might not be ancient as those that you showed us today. Maybe in the future Milton Keynes Bowl will be known as a henge ... all I need to do is edit it's wiki entry!!

Great video Darren, well done!!

All the best!!

I love your videos. 8 wish I had someone as interesting as you living around here in Suffolk

Fascinating episode but you had me with Brian Cant and Sightseers shame I can't subscribe twice. Joking aside great episode and as always thank you for your time it's much appreciated.

To Henge or not to Henge?
Here there be Henges!
A Henge, a Henge, my kingdom for a Henge!
So, if I understand you correctly, there is only one Henge, that is, Stone Henge, being hanging stones.
All the others are circles with ditches, entrances (1 or 2), banks, and sometimes built around stone circles. And there is no consensus on what to call these circles or classification for them.
I'm no expert, not even an amateur, but they look like enclosures to me.
So that will do for me! 😂

And another 500 subscribers this last week. Very very well deserved. Excellent video, again.

What a corker of a video. I'm hoping to get to visit Cornwall and Wales soon. And yes, I'll be one of the tourist sheep visiting Stonehenge along the way. I hope you won't frown upon me too severely. I'll confess, part of me would prefer to head north from there. That three-for group of henges looks amazi...er, fascinating.

Oh, well - I suppose you'll get to Raise Henge, Alston, eventually. 75m. diameter - double entrance - inner ditch. Threatened by housebuilding. There's an association between double-entrance henges, a Roman road and an ancient trackway. Three things together, spanning millennia and never explained by anybody. Several examples including this large one in Alston. A Stonehenge Free Festival was a spectacle and a half - the Thompson Twins as the sun goes down eg. The Cumbria county arch excavated S-henge. What were they for? I say:- fleecing the traveller.