Long Meg & Her Daughters Stone Circle View all content for Long Meg & Her Daughters

Travelling back fro northeast Scotland to Wessex in mid august, I stopped off to see Long Meg and her Daughters. I had wanted to visit for ages and it doesn't disappoint. The site is obviously set in working farmland and is so uncelebrated locally that you'd think it wasn't worth the visit, just a few signs from the village and no mention of it locally in the tourist information. This may mean that Meg is left alone but it's a striking contrast to Aberdeenshire where the monuments are celebrated and I was left wondering if this wonder is appreciated. I was amazed at the size of the stone circle, it's probably the biggest but it has a huge presence; the stones are much bigger than I imagined and there is just a feeling of bulk. Unlike Avebury you can take the whole thing in in one visual image and it makes sense as a panorama, maybe that's where the impression of size comes from. I visited evening and morning, drizzly and sunny. Somehow it seemed to wear the damp evening better. Walking through the double stoned entrance away fro the circle you come quickly to Long Meg, apart and aloof, slightly to the side of what would be an avenue - it's hard not to imagine a 'sister on the other side of this hypothetical avenue. Otherwize, where's the symmetry? Visiting Long Meg is a huge experience, it was so less celebrated than I thought it could be and yet so much bigger and grander than I expected. The mettled farm road cutting right through it seems so bizarre, who would build a road through something so impressive? At least the stones weren't used as hardcore. They have obviously been seen as important enough to leave well alone, to graze around and to build around, but to basically leave well alone.

Posted by chrissieboy 13th September 2000ce

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