The stones are great

And magic power they have

Men that are sick

Fare to that stone

And they wash that stone

And with that water bathe away their sickness

Laymond

Indeed the stones are great, and certainly have had the power to capture the imagination of poets and artists down through the centuries. When I first started collecting poems on the megalithic theme, a colleague warned that I'd be hard pressed to find even half a dozen on the structures and prehistoric sites of Britain, Ireland and the European continent. Since then Megalithic Poems has grown out of all expectations, and there are now several hundred poems here, and an equal number of drawings, paintings, prints or photographs to accompany them - perhaps the largest anthology of its kind anywhere.

The poems stretch over a period of some eight hundred years; from Laymon's poem Brut (above) of 1215 describing Stonehenge, to poems written only a few months ago. What does this tell us? Well, perhaps that not only have these structures inspired poets like Blake and Wordsworth (as well as artists such as Constable and Turner) down through the ages but also that this marvellous, mysterious megalithic heritage of ours continues to inspire us even today.

At a time when so much of our heritage is at risk through development and mismanagement (Tara in Ireland for example, even Stonehenge and Avebury) perhaps these poems, and the images that accompany them, will continue to inspire those who would take time out from busy lives to visit and ponder upon this often overlooked aspect of our heritage. Not only that, hopefully this anthology will also act as a warning that these places, built by our forefathers millennia ago, are in constant need of our care and attention lest, after thousands of years having, "...brav'd the continual assaults of weather..." (William Stukeley) they are finally lost for all time through the greed, ignorance and insensitivity of the 21st century.

I hope that the poems and images on the megalithic theme found on these pages will become a useful resource for those interested in the poetry, art and the history of our megalithic past - none of which would appear here without the remarkable efforts and creativity of those who have written about megaliths or portrayed them in their work - not forgetting of course those who originally conceived and built these amazing structures! To everyone, a very big thank you. I hope you'll find as much pleasure browsing through the anthology as I've taken in compiling it.

Littlestone

Index of poems, poets, pictures and places.

The Megalithic Poems internal search engine is on the right of the page under Links. Once you've keyed in a search word the relevant information will appear under the Gideon Fidler Stonehenge image above.