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Sunday, March 21, 2021


I saw a guy building a rock fence like that in 
Cornwall once, but he had his pants on.

 

6 comments:

  1. That's a drystone wall or "hedge" - in the sense of a "protection". It's a very ancient skill, using interlocking stones without mortar, dating back to Neolithic times. Some stone walls are thought to date from 5,000 BCE. There are many in North-Western Europe, particularly in Cornwall, where they are used to delineate fields and keep the winds off the crops. Professional stonewallers exist to this day - but, yes, they do normally wear clothes...

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    1. I visited a number of Neolithic sites on that same trip to Cornwall and became fascinated with them. Since then, I've visited dozens of locations in Cornwall, Devon, Wiltshire, Wales, Scotland, and Brittany. My favorites are the big complexes at Merrivale on Dartmoor and Callanish in the Outer Hebrides.

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    2. Wow, you've travelled in Britain more than I have! My parents had a country house only 30 minutes from Stonehenge, in Wiltshire. There was nothing there in those days but a bus stop on what you would call a "county two lane". One of my jobs in the village was to fill the jerrycans with paraffin the older people used for their heaters at the local garage and deliver them. I often got a sixpence or even a shilling in tips and I would save them until I had the return bus fare and then sneak out of the house, walk the 1½ miles to the bus stop - which took an hour because it went via Edinburgh - and wander around the stones. It was a very abandoned and atmospheric place. All the fuss began when one of the Japanese TV channels did a series on monolithic sites - they have an enormous amount of them - and it was bought by TV channels in Europe and North America. The Americans came in their droves - a day trip from London, lunch in Bath and then the afternoon at the henge. Today, you can't see the stones for the people. And English Heritage charge you a handsome £21 for the privilege!

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    3. Stonehenge these days is way too busy, but they had to redevelop the infrastructure, or it would have become untenable to let people look at it. And they are still fighting over that road. I've been going there since 1988, so I have followed its evolution.

      I don't know if they still do this or not, but in 2015, my late partner Bear and I signed up for an after hours "private" visit. They only had it in Summer, and we had to sign up months in advance, but we were allowed onto the site for unrestricted access for about two hours. They allowed us to roam freely even in the inner circle which is always closed to casual visitors. There were 20 of us total plus two minders whose job was to keep folks from climbing or defacing the stones. It was a awesome experience, and it ended with a spectacular sunset that we viewed through the stones. One of the happiest memories of being with my beloved Bear.

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  2. Very cute. Imagine a whole gang of naked men doing this.

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