Temples

Last week after church we decided to visit the grounds of the LDS temple near London. It was a beautiful, peaceful place surrounded by an abundance of cultivated nature.
Today after church we visited a temple of another sort: Stonehenge. And while it was beautiful in its own way, it lacked the glorious peace and spirit that I have come to associate with the word “temple.”
They were both delightful and I would highly recommend visiting both to learn about their purposes and the people who use(d) them.
Now, for pictures

London LDS temple

Temple Grounds

Neolithic Era hut

It could take over 100 grown men to pull the stones across rollers. The stones came from a quarry over 150 miles away from the temple site

the front

The entire site is surrounded by this ditch (a henge). At the time it was built, the entire site was white.The stones, the ground, the ditch.

Just me geeking out over ancient religion. No big.

The stones at the back of the site (here) were less carefully carved, some even shorter or thinner. apparently no one cared about the backside of the temple.

The main stones were once surrounded by 56 posts, each containing human remains. they believe these 56 stones are the oldest. So, Stonehenge is a temple built in a cemetery.

A barrow! I told the kids to say "I love dead people!" Is that terrible? The minute I saw these I thought of The Hobbit and Bilbo getting lost in the barrows. Turns out that scene is a lot creepier than him getting stuck in a hill. He was stuck in a tomb!

Janey was extremely excited about the sheep.