This should count as folklore really, as I’m not sure how ‘some antiquary’ knew about Druidical traditions, but there we are. Plus I’m not sure how the sun could have reflected off it with 300 people crowding around. Sometimes I think it might be fun to go to Stonehenge on the solstice and then I remember it’s always full of Other People :)
In The Presence Of The Sun.
Congregations at Stonehenge have of late no longer been rare. Last week some Wiltshire antiquary called public attention to the Druidical tradition respecting the altar stone, and its peculiar reflection of the sun at daybreak on the longest day. In consequence of this some 300 people proceeded to Salisbury Plain to witness the spectacle. At 3.44 a.m. the sun rose beautifully, and its resplendence upon the altar stone, sacred to ancient fire-worship, was grand in the extreme. Since this success, numbers of visitors have assembled at the Circle daily before daybreak. – Mayfair
Quoted in the Northern British Daily Mail, 12th July 1878.
With you Rhiannon on the other people comment! It does seem that stone bothering could be considered a pursuit for introverts...we should all have a secret sign like the Masons so that when we come across each other in the field we know we are kindred spirits
Oh totally! Like a special tie pin (if we lived in an era where people wore ties), rather like my nerdy lens on a lanyard signals to other lichen/moss-ogling naturalists. Whatever we choose perhaps it should be orange and blue chevroned like the TMA book.
I'll get sewing some. Then you can all look at the lichen.