STONEHENGE (Sax. Stanhengist, hanging or uplifted stones), a very remarkablo structure, composed of large artificially raised monoliths, situated on Salisbury plain, two miles from the town of Amesbury, in Wiltshire. Its neighborhood abounds in sepulchral tumuli, in many of which ancient British remains have been found. The fabric of Stonehenge, which was cumparatively entire in the early part of the present cen tury, has been so much defaced in recent times as to beat first view little more than a con fused pile of moss-grown stones; but a minute inspection will still enable one to trace its original form. When entire, it consisted of two concentric circles of upright stones, inclosiug two ellipses, the whole surrounded by a double mound and ditch circular in form. Outside the boundary was a single upright stone, and the approach was by an avenue from the n.e. bounded on each side by a mound or ditch. The outer cli me consisted of 30 blocks of sandstone, fixed upright at intervals of 31,- ft., and con nected at the top by a continuous series of imposts, 16 ft. from the ground. The blocks were all squared and rough-hewn, and the horizontal imposts dovetailed to each other, and fitted by mortise-holes in their under sides to knobs in the uprights. About 9 ft. within this peristyle was the inner circle,composed of 30 unhewu granite pillars,frem 5 to 6 ft. in height. The grandest part of Stonehenge was the ellipse inside the circle, formed of 10 or 12 blocks of sandstone, from 16 to 22 ft. iu height, arranged in pairs, each pair separate, and furnished with an impost, so as to form 5 or 6 irilithons.
Within these trilithous was the inner ellipse, composed of 19 uprights of granite similar in size to those of the inner circle; and in the cell thus formed was the so-called altar, a large slab of blue marble.
There has been much speculation regarding the origin and purpose of Stonehenge,which are still involved in much obscurity. A curious legend, first found in the Briti'sh C7ironi de of the 10th c., and repeated by Geoffrey of No»mouth and Giraldes Cambrensis, ascribes it to Emrys or Ambrosius, the last British king, who, in the 5th c.. aided by the incantations of the magician Merlin, is said to have erected it in nn mory of 960 Brit ons, who were murdered by Hengist the Saxon. In modern times, the most prevalent opinion has been that, in common with other similar structures elsewhere, it was a tem ple for Druidical worship; but this belief has been somewhat shaken by the discovery of the sepulchral character of many other monuments, which had been also presumed to be Druidical. The circular form has suggested the idea of a connection with the worship of the sun; and Stonehenge may possibly have been used for the religious rites of vari ous successive races and creeds; and also es a court of justice or hattle-rieg for judicial combats. The outer circle is evidently of a much later date than the lest, and seems to belong to a period when iron tools were in use. See STANDING STONES.