The Phœnician origin of Britons, Scots & Anglo-Saxons : discovered by Phœnician & Sumerian inscriptions in Britain, by preroman Briton coins & a mass of new history : with over one hundred illustrations and maps
234 PHGENICIAN ORIGIN OF BRITONS & SCOTS
Sir N. Lockyer and others. This “ Friars Heel” peak, indeed, while soaring to the south of the middle line of the “avenue ’’ and far above its plane, could not possibly give the point of Sunrise on the horizon, as by the time the Sun had risen to the top of the Friar’s Heel pillar the actual sunrise had long passed, and that at a point considerably to the north of the Friar’s Heel peak.
Similar observation stones I also found in several other of the larger Circles containing the S.W. sector, and bearing the diamond marking obviously for the back-sighting in the observation. It is thus evident that the primary purpose of these great prehistoric Stone Circles erected by the BritoPheenicians was for solar observatory determination of the summer solstice ; though the existence of outlying indicator stones and avenues in other directions in some Circles suggests that they were used secondarily sometimes for fixing other solar calendar dates. These great observatories thus attest the remarkable scientific knowledge of solar physics possessed by their erectors, and their habit of “ shooting the sun,’ as well as their great engineering skill in moving and erecting such colossal stones.
These Stone Circles have been supposed to have been used also as Sun temples, This has been inferred from the existence of special entrances at the cardinal points, and also from the elaborate avenues attached to some of them, and supposed to have been used for ritualistic processions ; and it is also suggested by the apparent later use of some of them by the Druids as temples. They were undoubtedly considered sacred, as seen in the frequency of ancient burials in their neighbourhood. This is especially evident at Stonehenge where the great numbers of tombs of the Bronze Age in the neighbourhood of that monument, and the remarkable riches in gold and other jewellery interred along with the bodies implies that it had been a sacred burial place for the royalty and nobility of a considerable part of Ancient
Thus “ Long Meg ”’ Circle, near Penrith in Cumberland (where the Observation Stone is a roundish boulder “ table ’ with mark on the top nearly breast high), and the Cireles at Oddendale and Reagill in Westmorland near Shap.