In short
Facts at a glance
A shorter path through the same sourced claims. The full list, and the disagreements, live on the fact-check log.
The monument
English Heritage calls Stonehenge perhaps the world's most famous prehistoric monument.1
Britannica locates Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, about 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.2
The name of the monument probably derives from the Saxon stan-hengen, meaning "stone hanging" or "gallows."2
Today, together with Avebury, Stonehenge forms the heart of a World Heritage Site, with a unique concentration of prehistoric monuments.1
UNESCO lists Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites as a World Heritage Site, with the date of inscription 1986.3
When
The first Stonehenge was built about 5,000 years ago, in the period of prehistory known as the Neolithic.4
The earliest known major event was the construction of a circular ditch with an inner and outer bank, built about 3000 BC.1
In about 2500 BC the stones were set up in the centre of the monument.1
By about 2500 BC, more and much larger stones had been brought there, marking the start of over 800 years of building and alteration stretching into the Bronze Age.4
Britannica says the monument called Stonehenge was built in six stages between 3000 and 1520 BCE.2
The stones
Two types of stone are used at Stonehenge: the larger sarsens and the smaller bluestones.1
On average the sarsens weigh 25 tons, with the largest stone, the Heel Stone, weighing about 30 tons.5
Bluestone is the term used for the smaller stones at Stonehenge. These are of varied geology but all came from the Preseli Hills in south-west Wales, in English Heritage wording on that page.5
The inner sarsen arrangement is a horseshoe of five trilithons: two vertical stones capped by a horizontal lintel.6
Around the horseshoe are the remains of the outer sarsen circle, capped with lintels. There were probably once 30 stones in this circle, but many have fallen and most of the lintels and a few uprights are missing from the site.6
Alignments
The main axis of the stones is aligned upon the solstitial axis.6
At midsummer, the sun rises over the horizon to the north-east, close to the Heel Stone.6
At midwinter, the sun sets in the south-west, in the gap between the two tallest trilithons, one of which has now fallen.6
Open questions
English Heritage says Neolithic and Bronze Age people put an enormous effort into building this extraordinary structure, despite the fact that it serves no known practical function.7
On the same page, English Heritage says the interpretation which is most generally accepted is that of a prehistoric temple aligned with the movements of the sun.8
English Heritage's building page still describes the Altar Stone as made of a type of sandstone found in south-east Wales, in the area of the Brecon Beacons or Black Mountains.5
A 2024 study, published in the journal Nature and summarised by UCL, found that the Altar Stone came from northern Scotland, not Wales.9