Aerial Of Stonehenge, Uk Flashback To 1906

Before this photograph,
nobody had ever seen a picture of Stonehenge from above.

In fact, it's the earliest known aerial photograph of any archaeological monument in Britain.

It was photographed by 2nd Lt Philip Henry Sharpe in 1906
from a Royal Engineers’ tethered balloon.

This historical picture is also a valuable record of the site
as it depicts the site at a time prior to its extensive 20th century excavations.

 

Stonehenge
·


This is Chorea Gigantum
…or at least that’s what it might have been known
as had the name Stonehenge not taken off!

Today the name Stonehenge is recognised the world over,
but have you ever wondered how it came about?

Here’s a brief history of its naming.
In the earliest references to the monument
it was known as ‘Stanenges’,
first in 1130 by Henry of Huntingdon,
then by Geoffrey of Monmouth six years later.

There are early documentary references to ‘Stanhenge’
and ‘Stonhenge’ around 1200 and 1250,
‘Stonheng’ in 1297, then the ‘stone hengles’
by Hardyng in 1470 and finally Stonehenge in 1610.

The first part is clearly ‘stone’ and the second part, the ‘hinge’,
might refer to the raised stones as a structure for hanging.

The term ‘henge’, which today refers to prehistoric earthen enclosures,
derives from Stonehenge.

But it had other names too.

Some earlier commentators were referring to the site as ‘Chorea Gigantum’,
a name that was said to derive from the ‘old histories’.
Inigo Jones quoted lengthy passages of ‘Giraldus Cambrensis’,
while John Wood (1747) and John Smith (1771) use a variation ‘Choir Gaur’.

When these alternative names were used,
it was thought that Stonehenge was a ‘vulgar’ term,
meaning it was common, or popular.

Subsequently, it was the name that endured.