YeinJee's Travel Journal

Stonehenge is one of the most mysterious places in England, probably around the world as well. I always wanted to visit Stonehenge; the rock formation has been on my must-visit list ever since I first learned about it on TV when I was around 5. Seems like my childhood dream came true.

Photo of the Stonehenge

The Stonehenge was first erected more than 5000 years ago and being re-modified (categorized into 3 phases in general) until the most recent at around 1600BC.

There are a number of hypothesis for Stonehenge, but nobody really knows who and why they built the monument. The stones are said to be arranged astrologically and the general belief is that it was built for worship purpose.

My sister who visited the site earlier had warned me that the stones are much smaller than expected… it’s true. Stonehenge isn’t as gigantic as I anticipated, but it’s still pretty huge though. Set the size aside; I was really glad that I was able to see Stonehenge with my own eyes, it was a wonderful feeling.

What I didn’t expect was that the location of Stonehenge is actually pretty close to a highway (you can see the cars from the site). Modern development vs. prehistoric monument… such irony.

Lacock is a small place to navigate, and it’s impossible not to bump into the St Cyriac’s Church.

The wooden door of the entrance was pretty heavy; I got into the church and I was the only person around. The church was so quiet and peaceful, I felt like I could spend hours just sitting in the church even though I am not a Christian.
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Lacock is a village in Wiltshire; most of its building constructed in the 18th century or earlier.

Red Lion Pub (top left); street, buildings and houses in Lacock village

The driver first brought us to have a glance of Lacock Abbey, which was used for some filming of Harry Potter movies. I wonder why we were the only group of tourist there; the abbey should be flocked with Harry Potter’s fans if it was really used for the filming… perhaps it was still early. We then dropped by the village for an hour break…

The village itself is quite a beauty; with its old and nicely decorated buildings. The abbey and the village are mostly owned by the National Trust, which works to preserve and protect the coastline, countryside and buildings of UK.

In order to preserve the ‘originality’ of Lacock, TV aerials and overhead cables are not allowed in the village. Life should be ‘pretty interesting’ in Lacock, I guess.

Another attraction of Lacock is the Fox Talbot Museum that commemorates the life and work of William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877), former resident of Lacock Abbey, and one of the pioneers of modern photography. The museum wasn’t opened when I visited there, too early.

I joined a day tour to Bath and Stonehenge. The tour departed on 8am, on a Mercedes-Benz MPV, with a driver (who was also our guide), as well as 13 other tourists.

The driver stopped midway on the journey, and pointed us to a large horse-like figure, on a hill slope distance away.

Honestly I was blurred about what he said (something about chalk), as I never read or heard anything about that prior to seeing it. I only learnt later when I surfed online, that the ‘horse’ is Cherhill White Horse, or Oldbury White Horse.

Cherhill White Horse and Lansdowne Monument

Cherhill White Horse is one of the famous chalk figures that have been carved into hillsides in England; also known as hill figures.

The figures are usually created by clearing the grass and soil on the hillside, and exposed the bedrock which is normally white chalk, a form of limestone.

There are vary reasons for carving the figures; most of the white horses are believed to be carved as a symbol of good luck.

The age of the figures varied too, from as old as Bronze Age to as recent as the past century. The Cherhill White Horse that I was seeing was created in 1780.

The figures need to be maintained to stay visible; a major restoration was carried out on Cherhill White Horse in August 2002, involving re-cutting the outline of the horse, fixing shuttering to hold the chalk in place, and resurfacing the horse with 160 tonnes of fresh chalk. [reference]

Lansdowne Monument

Nearby the Cherhill White Horse is an obelisk, the Lansdowne Monument, which was erected in 1845 by the Third Marquis of Lansdowne to commemorate his ancestor, Sir William Petty. It’s said that the obelisk is the highest point between London and Bristol, interesting ain’t so? [reference]