"henge" in OED has nothing to do with hanging circles or the lke. It's the pluck of an animal, as in the part that's plucked out when eviscerating same.

At the definition for stonehenge, there is a reference to the possible connection with stones "hanging" in the air.

It seems like not that long ago, but a quarter of a century ago I toured through that part of England on a bicycle. Went to Stonehenge, Woodhenge, and Avebury. All three were impressive in different ways. Woodhenge has none of the posts left, only the postholes, but I got the impression there was a great deal more precision mapping done in laying out the site originally. Avebury was impressive because the stone circle was of a much larger diameter than that found at Stonehenge. The stones themselves were not as impressive, only a few of them being dressed at all. Just oblong pieces of stone standing on edge, with no or very few smoothed sides or edges. There was an altar stone at a focal point, if I recall correctly, that had on it what was described as a blood groove.

The trioliths or trilithons are more commonly called dolmens, and those are fairly common throughout the area, and also in Ireland.

There was a great fascination with astronomy, apparently because of the power it bestowed upon those who could predict where the sun would come up and go down and when the seasons turned. I was lucky enogh to be in Ireland on Midsummer's day a few years ago, and I went quite a distance in the predawn to be at a cave in Western Ireland where the sun shown directly onto a spectacular carving only on that day. Quite something to watch.




TEd