Stonehenge Facts for Kids

A Picture of Stonehenge
  • Name: Stonehenge
  • Location: Wiltshire, England, Europe
  • GPS Cordinates: 51°10’44″N 1°49’34″W
  • Building Type: Prehistoric Stone Monument
  • Built: Between 3100 BCE and 1,600 BCE
  • Annual Visitors: 800,000 (estimated annual average)
  • Annual Revenue: $9.6 million (2011 annual estimate)

23 Stonehenge Facts for Kids

  1. Stonehenge is a prehistoric stone monument that was built in Wiltshire, England, Europe.
  2. Stonehenge is a ring of menhir stones (free standing).
  3. The GPS coordinates for Stonehenge are 51°10’44″N 1°49’34″W.
  4. Stonehenge is one of the most popular landmarks in the United Kingdom.
  5. An estimated 800,000 tourists visit Stonehenge every year.
  6. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown of England and managed by the English Heritage.
  7. Stonehenge was dedicated to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1882.
  8. The function and uses of Stonehenge are subject to debate. It was built by a prehistoric culture that didn’t leave behind any written records. Some theories include it was used as a religious site, an astronomical observatory or burial site.
  9. Archeologists still don’t know how a prehistoric culture built Stonehenge. The weight of the stones and the nearest location of the stones used would have made it extremely difficult to build in prehistoric times.
  10. Some of the stones used at Stonehenge came from locations more than 150 miles away.
  11. Archeologists estimate it took over 1,000 years to build Stonehenge.
  12. Archeologists estimate Stonehenge was built during the Bronze Age.
  13. Archeologists estimate Stonehenge was built around 5,000 years ago.
  14. Archeologists estimate Stonehenge was built between 3000 BCE and 2000 BCE.
  15. Each free standing stone at Stonehenge have a height of about 13 feet.
  16. Each free standing stone at Stonehenge have a width of about 7 feet.
  17. Each free standing stone at Stonehenge have a weight of about 25 tons.
  18. The Heel Stone at Stonehenge is aligned with the Sun. On the shortest day of the year (winter solstice), the sunsets over the Heel Stone. On the longest day of the year (summer solstice), the sunrise overs the Heel Stone. This may have been used by prehistoric cultures to track the seasons.
  19. During the Middle Ages people thought Stonehenge was built by Merlin the Wizard.
  20. In the 1870s, English naturalist, geologist and biologist Charles Darwin studied earthworms at Stonehenge.
  21. In 1985, the Battle of the Beanfield was fought because of Stonehenge. New Age travelers fought local police for several hours. The New Age travelers were stopped in route to Stonehenge to setup the Stonehenge Free Festival. The Battle of the Beanfield resulted in the biggest arrest in English history.
  22. There are a lot of conspiracy theories that claim aliens either built Stonehenge or helped humans build it. However, there is no evidence to support aliens had anything to do with Stonehenge, or that aliens exist in the first place.
  23. Stonehenge is a popular location for movies. It appears or is depicted in several movies, including National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985), Ice Age (2002) and Transformers: The Last Knight.

Find More Facts About Stonehenge

About the author
Facts Editor

This is an author profile for articles that are created from a collaborative effort. It is not uncommon that articles on this site were either written, researched or fact checked by several authors and team members. So this author profile will be displayed to reflect that. Our team of editors, writers and fact checkers do extensive research before publishing articles on the site, and we do our best to provide the most accurate information possible.