Stone Circles and Henges: At the Centre of the Neolithic Cosmos

Prehistoric stone circles vary enormously, but perhaps we can understand their differences by looking beyond the stones themselves, to the landscapes in which they were built. This also means looking at the ways architecture and landscape come together to shape our experience of place. In this film, I visit Neolithic stone circles and henges in northern England, including Castlerigg, Long Meg and Her Daughters, Mayburgh and King Arthur’s Round Table, exploring what their different forms and settings might tell us about how people experienced these monuments. The architecture of these monuments only seems to be part of the story. The surrounding hills and valleys can encircle the monuments too, creating a relationship between architecture and landscape that can be experienced as a kind of circular world. Could places like Castlerigg have been understood as being at the centre of a Neolithic cosmos? This film grew out of research for my doctoral thesis on stone circles and henges, completed in 2000 and revisited over many years through field observation and experience.