Stonehenge and Avebury: Postcard from Space

Postcards to friends of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site

I was reminded recently of a moment, as a child, returning from a week away with my school, when the coach I was on drove past Stonehenge.

The only time I’d previously seen Stonehenge was in a book or on the television. Of course I was impressed! Surprised – strangely – at how small it seemed in relation to how my rather overactive imagination had protrayed it, but impressed nevertheless.

At the exact moment that we drove past, Concorde flew over a short distance away, posing above the stones in a photogenic way. If this were today, everybody would have had a camera with them, most likely on their phones, but this was the 70s, so nobody was prepared for this unique photo opportunity.

At the time, and at the age I was, it almost felt like Concorde was from the future. Like a rocket. Or a spaceship.

Roll on 30 years, and fantasy has been replaced by reality. A spaceship has been photographed flying over Stonehenge!

Photo credit: Tim Burgess (http://www.flickr.com/photos/perfexeon/)

And here’s a photo from space taken by Commander Hadfield (Commander of the International Space Station) himself!

Stonehenge is in this picture if you know where to look. The bend in the river at Amesbury helped me find it. pic.twitter.com/FDnwhsKhkn

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) March 30, 2013

G.O.

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This is part of a series of short “postcards” that anyone with something to share is welcome to submit, whether that is a digital snap and a “wish you were here” or something more involved. Please do join in by sending your postcards to theheritagejournal@gmail.com

For others in the series put postcards in the search box.