Callanish

On the remote northwestern Isle of Lewis stands one of the most spectacular megalithic monuments in the world, a stone circle forming part of a huge Celtic Cross, built over four thousand years ago. Behold Callanish This small book, packed with fine old engravings, is a great new introduction to the Stonehenge of the Hebrides by one of the leading writers and lecturers in the subject.

• callanish And Other MegAlithic SiteS Of the Outer hebrideS by Gerald Ponting First published 2002 AD
• Dedicated to the memory of my colleague, friend and mentor during my years on the Isle of
• 1 intrOductiOn Stonehenge is justifiably worldfamous, but far to the north in the Outer Hebrides sta
• 3 2 An impressive megalith, almost 16 feet tall, stands at the centre, set at one end of a burial ch
• 5 4 the PrehiStOric envirOnMent warm and dry in the Neolithic The Isle of Lewis seems a remote and u
• 7 6 the POwer Of A chief the social context of Callanish At Callanish, as at other stone circles, in
• 8 PhASeS Of cOnStructiOn five thousand years at Callanish A major excavation took place at Callanish
• 11 10 inchAnterS And druidS the earliest writers on Callanish In A Description of the Lewis by John
• 13 12 the fAMOuS AntiquAriAn Callanish as a serpentine temple William Stukeleys careful drawings of
• 14 A blAnket Of PeAt is Callanish a restored site By the Iron Age, the climate had deteriorated, and
• 17 16 AntiquAriAnS ArchOlOgiStS a helpful Danish visitor One of the limitations of the early antiqu
• 19 18 Henry Callenders paper of 1854 Notice of the Stone Circle at Callernish included the birds eye
• 21 20 The chambered building exactly fitted the small space between the central stone and the easter
• 23 22 With the discovery of the cairn at Callanish in 1857, a visit to the site became a must for al
• 27 26 the rediScOvery Of StOne 33A buried for over one hundred years Sharbau drew 48 stones. Today
• 29 28 the PrOtectiOn Of cAllAniSh the Inspector calls In order to support Parliamentary approval of
• 31 30 viSitOrS frOM the cAStle eerie noises in the midsummer mist One of PittRivers roles was to per
• 33 32 AMAzing legendS Of the StOneS cuckoos, wrens, witches and a magic cow A legend common to many
• 34 beyOnd the fringe the Sleeping Beauty as the White Goddess A range of hills in southeast Lewis ta
• 37 36 SOMe theOrieS AbOut cAllAniSh a rude astronomical observatory Callanish has been explained in
• 38 AStrOnOMy At the StOneS Admiral Somerville and Professor Thom Admiral Boyle Somerville surveyed C
• 40 MegAlithic Science measurement, geometry and astronomy Only some stone circles are truly circular
• 43 42 A little bASic AStrOnOMy the movements of the Sun and Moon The sun rises in the east and sets
• 45 44 movements of sun and moon, handed down as oral tradition and preserved in megalithic structure
• 47 46 cnOc ceAnn A ghArrAidh Callanish II At the end of a culdesac road, about half a mile to the so
• 49 48 The Gaelic name of Callanish III, pronounced croc filiver vegg, means little Fillivir hillock.
• 51 50 indePendent Or interrelAted reasons for numerous sites in one area Why are so many standing s
• 53 52 SiteS On lewiS And hArriS This list, continuing over the next five pages, records brief detail
• 55 54 1. The Standing Stones of Callanish Callanish I, Turusachan, Calanais, the Stonehenge of the
• 57 56 SiteS in the uiStS And bArrA NORTH UIST Cladh Maolrithe, standing stone at Borve on Berneray,
• 58 PublicAtiOnS Of intereSt There are many good general books about British stone circles, both popu