It's that time of year again when a bunch of unwashed, benefit scrounging, anti-social, left wing, anti-capitalist, weirdo, sub criminal social misfits - or "druids" as we have to call them for PC reasons - descend on Stonehenge to mark the rising of the Sun at the winter solstice.
Meanwhile, mapping experts have identified a curious cluster of seven roads around Swan Street in Manchester which are all perfectly aligned with the midwinter sun, just like the prehistoric monument at Stonehenge.
Winter Solstice: Stonehenge crowd gathers for sunrise
22 December 2014
BBC News
English Heritage opens the ancient stone circle for both the winter and summer solstice
The winter solstice has been celebrated by about 1,500 revellers who gathered to watch the sunrise at Stonehenge.
Druids and pagans were joined by a mass of revellers at the ancient monument, accompanied by a soundtrack of pounding drums, chanting and dancing.
Although Sunday was officially the shortest day, Monday's sunrise was the closest to the moment when the North Pole was tilted furthest from the sun.
However, a heavy blanket of grey cloud kept the sunrise from clear view.
Senior druid King Arthur Pendragon (pictured centre) said the event celebrates a message of hope
Pagans and druids were joined by hundreds of people who wanted to experience the event
Senior druid King Arthur Pendragon, said: "What we're really here for is to celebrate the fact that the cycle of the world turns, and from now on the days get longer and it's the return of the sun.
"It's a time of change and hope is renewed - the same message really from a pagan perspective as from a Christian perspective.
"That's what this season is all about - a message of hope."
Last week English Heritage - which manages the stones near Salisbury in Wiltshire - reported a record number of tourists in the past year.
The body said 1.3 million people had visited the site since the opening of the £27m visitor centre in December last year - a 9% increase on the previous 12 months.
This means a continual reinforcement of the message that the stones need to be looked after and treated with respect, it added.
Heather Sebire, English Heritage's curator for Stonehenge, said: "People think that because it's stone it's virtually indestructible - but in fact the stones are quite fragile.
"We know through our research - we had a wonderful laser survey done - that many stones have carvings that you can't see with the naked eye.
"So they can be damaged and we do ask people to respect the stones while they're here."
At the scene: Karen Gardner, BBC Wiltshire
I've just been passed by a giant lampshade playing the accordion and I think I've seen the widest selection of wellingtons ever known in one place on the earth.
It's the middle of Salisbury Plain, it's an ancient monument. We never [usually] get as close and everyone is here because they want to be here.
In front of me there are people from Korea and I can hear German accents behind me.
I have spoken to Canadians and all sorts of people - all here for one reason and that's because Wiltshire has one of the best ancient monuments in the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-30573434
*************************************************************
Manchester's Stonehenge? Cluster of seven streets near Northern Quarter found to be aligned with the Winter Solstice sunrise
Manchester Evening News
Dec 19, 2014 13:34
By Paul Gallagher
Mapping experts have identified a curious cluster of seven roads around Swan Street in Manchester which are all perfectly aligned with the midwinter sun, just like the prehistoric monument at Stonehenge.
Swan Street, which is aligned to the Winter Solstice sunrise
Sun-worshippers hoping to mark the Winter Solstice on Sunday could avoid a trip to Stonehenge - and celebrate on the back streets of Manchester’s Northern Quarter instead.
Mapping experts have identified a curious cluster of seven roads around Swan Street which are all perfectly aligned with the midwinter sun, just like the prehistoric stone monument in Wiltshire more than 200 miles away.
It means that the roads all point directly in the direction of the sunrise on the shortest day of the year on 21st December.
The streets in question are already steeped in history as they stand in the cradle of the industrial revolution, but their alignment with the midwinter Solstice was not known by local historians until now.
It is not clear if planners deliberately laid out the roads in the area to line up with the Solstice or if the alignment is a coincidence.
As well as Swan Street - which is home to legendary music venue Band On The Wall - the other roads in alignment are Cable Street, Addington Street, Marshall Street and Bendix Street which all lie in a grid to the north. They are joined by Cotton Street and Gun Street which run alongside Great Ancoats Street.
Manchester streets aligned with Winter Solstice
The seven roads are among a number of other routes around Greater Manchester identified as lining up with the Winter Solstice on a plan created by mapping expert Dimi Sztanko.
However, the roads adjacent to the Northern Quarter are unusual because there are so many of them clustered together in the same line.
Dimi has identified streets in cities around the world which align with the winter and summer solstice using the OpenStreetMap project in which volunteers post the co-ordinates of streets online and make them freely available.
Since publishing his maps online, he has been sent pictures of the rising and setting sun by people living on the streets in question. “I was really surprised that so many people picked it up”, he said.
“The main purpose of this project was to encourage people learning more about the history of their local area.”
Dimi said he believed the fact that the roads near the Northern Quarter are all aligned to the rising midwinter sun could be an accident because of the circular centre of Manchester.
The real Stonehenge
Tour guide Elizabeth Sibbering, who takes tours around Ancoats and New Cross, said the area had been covered in farmland until the late 1770s when farmers sold off land to builders.
“I hadn’t heard this link to the Solstice before but I think it is likely to be a random coincidence”, she said. “The streets are in a gridiron pattern because they were sold as parcels of land.
“It’s something I would need to look into further, to see how the fields were laid out before the roads were built.”
London-based Dimi, who works in IT, added that he thought a section of Claremont Road at the edge of Alexandra Park in Whalley Range, is more likely to have been designed to line up with the midwinter sunrise.
He added: “Alexandra Park was designed in 1868, and I believe there is a better probability its northern part is aligned in the direction of solstice intentionally. It looks like its northern entrance is a good place to meet the sunrise on Sunday.”
However, any druids planning on donning their robes to hail the rising sun in Ancoats or Whalley Range are likely to be disappointed - the latest weather forecast is for heavy cloud and rain.
Manchester's Stonehenge? Cluster of seven streets near Northern Quarter found to be aligned with the Winter Solstice sunrise - Manchester Evening News
Meanwhile, mapping experts have identified a curious cluster of seven roads around Swan Street in Manchester which are all perfectly aligned with the midwinter sun, just like the prehistoric monument at Stonehenge.
Winter Solstice: Stonehenge crowd gathers for sunrise
22 December 2014
BBC News
English Heritage opens the ancient stone circle for both the winter and summer solstice
The winter solstice has been celebrated by about 1,500 revellers who gathered to watch the sunrise at Stonehenge.
Druids and pagans were joined by a mass of revellers at the ancient monument, accompanied by a soundtrack of pounding drums, chanting and dancing.
Although Sunday was officially the shortest day, Monday's sunrise was the closest to the moment when the North Pole was tilted furthest from the sun.
However, a heavy blanket of grey cloud kept the sunrise from clear view.
Senior druid King Arthur Pendragon (pictured centre) said the event celebrates a message of hope
Pagans and druids were joined by hundreds of people who wanted to experience the event
Senior druid King Arthur Pendragon, said: "What we're really here for is to celebrate the fact that the cycle of the world turns, and from now on the days get longer and it's the return of the sun.
"It's a time of change and hope is renewed - the same message really from a pagan perspective as from a Christian perspective.
"That's what this season is all about - a message of hope."
Last week English Heritage - which manages the stones near Salisbury in Wiltshire - reported a record number of tourists in the past year.
The body said 1.3 million people had visited the site since the opening of the £27m visitor centre in December last year - a 9% increase on the previous 12 months.
This means a continual reinforcement of the message that the stones need to be looked after and treated with respect, it added.
Heather Sebire, English Heritage's curator for Stonehenge, said: "People think that because it's stone it's virtually indestructible - but in fact the stones are quite fragile.
"We know through our research - we had a wonderful laser survey done - that many stones have carvings that you can't see with the naked eye.
"So they can be damaged and we do ask people to respect the stones while they're here."
At the scene: Karen Gardner, BBC Wiltshire
I've just been passed by a giant lampshade playing the accordion and I think I've seen the widest selection of wellingtons ever known in one place on the earth.
It's the middle of Salisbury Plain, it's an ancient monument. We never [usually] get as close and everyone is here because they want to be here.
In front of me there are people from Korea and I can hear German accents behind me.
I have spoken to Canadians and all sorts of people - all here for one reason and that's because Wiltshire has one of the best ancient monuments in the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-30573434
*************************************************************
Manchester's Stonehenge? Cluster of seven streets near Northern Quarter found to be aligned with the Winter Solstice sunrise
Manchester Evening News
Dec 19, 2014 13:34
By Paul Gallagher
Mapping experts have identified a curious cluster of seven roads around Swan Street in Manchester which are all perfectly aligned with the midwinter sun, just like the prehistoric monument at Stonehenge.
Swan Street, which is aligned to the Winter Solstice sunrise
Sun-worshippers hoping to mark the Winter Solstice on Sunday could avoid a trip to Stonehenge - and celebrate on the back streets of Manchester’s Northern Quarter instead.
Mapping experts have identified a curious cluster of seven roads around Swan Street which are all perfectly aligned with the midwinter sun, just like the prehistoric stone monument in Wiltshire more than 200 miles away.
It means that the roads all point directly in the direction of the sunrise on the shortest day of the year on 21st December.
The streets in question are already steeped in history as they stand in the cradle of the industrial revolution, but their alignment with the midwinter Solstice was not known by local historians until now.
It is not clear if planners deliberately laid out the roads in the area to line up with the Solstice or if the alignment is a coincidence.
As well as Swan Street - which is home to legendary music venue Band On The Wall - the other roads in alignment are Cable Street, Addington Street, Marshall Street and Bendix Street which all lie in a grid to the north. They are joined by Cotton Street and Gun Street which run alongside Great Ancoats Street.
Manchester streets aligned with Winter Solstice
The seven roads are among a number of other routes around Greater Manchester identified as lining up with the Winter Solstice on a plan created by mapping expert Dimi Sztanko.
However, the roads adjacent to the Northern Quarter are unusual because there are so many of them clustered together in the same line.
Dimi has identified streets in cities around the world which align with the winter and summer solstice using the OpenStreetMap project in which volunteers post the co-ordinates of streets online and make them freely available.
Since publishing his maps online, he has been sent pictures of the rising and setting sun by people living on the streets in question. “I was really surprised that so many people picked it up”, he said.
“The main purpose of this project was to encourage people learning more about the history of their local area.”
Dimi said he believed the fact that the roads near the Northern Quarter are all aligned to the rising midwinter sun could be an accident because of the circular centre of Manchester.
The real Stonehenge
Tour guide Elizabeth Sibbering, who takes tours around Ancoats and New Cross, said the area had been covered in farmland until the late 1770s when farmers sold off land to builders.
“I hadn’t heard this link to the Solstice before but I think it is likely to be a random coincidence”, she said. “The streets are in a gridiron pattern because they were sold as parcels of land.
“It’s something I would need to look into further, to see how the fields were laid out before the roads were built.”
London-based Dimi, who works in IT, added that he thought a section of Claremont Road at the edge of Alexandra Park in Whalley Range, is more likely to have been designed to line up with the midwinter sunrise.
He added: “Alexandra Park was designed in 1868, and I believe there is a better probability its northern part is aligned in the direction of solstice intentionally. It looks like its northern entrance is a good place to meet the sunrise on Sunday.”
However, any druids planning on donning their robes to hail the rising sun in Ancoats or Whalley Range are likely to be disappointed - the latest weather forecast is for heavy cloud and rain.
Manchester's Stonehenge? Cluster of seven streets near Northern Quarter found to be aligned with the Winter Solstice sunrise - Manchester Evening News
Last edited:
