More about the stones continued ………..

_Elsa_

‘The Slaughter Stone - This large sarsen gets its gruesome name from the over-active imagination of the Victorians. Originally standing upright at the entrance to Stonehenge and flanked by additional stones that are now missing, the surviving stone lies horizontally. Shallow depressions on its surface collect rainwater which reacts with iron in the stone and turns a rusty red. This red water may have been inspiration for the stone’s lurid but inaccurate name!

The Sarsens - The outermost setting of Stonehenge, if completed, was a circle of 30 upright sarsens, capped by horizontal lintel stones all carefully shaped. The source of most of the sarsens is generally accepted as being on the Marlborough Downs, some 19 miles to the north, although new research on their origin is currently underway. When freshly worked, the surface of the sarsens would have appeared much brighter and whiter than the grey stones you see at Stonehenge today.

Stone 56 - The tallest of the sarsens at Stonehenge, Stone 56 is the only remaining upright of the tallest trilithon at the head of the inner horseshoe. This stone was carefully worked to create a vertical side, which would have been the slot through which the setting sun at winter solstice could have been viewed, before the other half of the trilithon fell. Stone 56 has an obvious tenon on top, and there are corresponding mortice holes visible on the now fallen lintel.

Stone 68 - There were up to 80 bluestones brought from the Preseli Hills in south-west Wales to Stonehenge. Some show no signs of working but some, like Stone 68, are elegantly grooved, and this was probably intended to be jointed to another stone that has a corresponding tongue. This shaping suggests that the stone was relocated here after having been used previously in some other arrangement, perhaps as part of the double bluestone arc.’ (Source) 

Let’s continue - Three more stones

Start at the beginning – Jean-Luc time travels to the Stonehenge