THE RETIRED ADVENTURERS

My husband and I have travelled a lot in England, Scotland and Wales. This last year, May 2006, we went to the Isle of Lewis primarilly to see the Calanais Standing Stones. In the process we also saw alot of other very interesting historical monuments. Upon coming home I decided I did not want to do a travel log website of our trip, since I had done one in 2005. But I did want to do something with the very interesting monuments we had seen. Consequently the idea for this site germinated and here we are.

I see this site as a continuing expression for telling about historical monuments that we will also see in the future. I hope you the viewer will get as much pleasure from viewing the site as I have had in preparing it. And at the bottom of this page there is a link to a questionaire. Please fill it out and give me feedback on the site. Thanks, The Webmaster

HISTORICAL SITES

1. Standing Stones

Standing Stones come in all shapes, sizes and configurations. What we usually hear about are Circles or Rings. Nevertheless, many stones are singletons, some with designs cut into their face, called 'symbol stones'. See the bottom picture to the left. Or some such as the Trussel Stone, also pictured on the upper left.are very tall, in this case 6 meters. Archeologists have discovered that stone circles and or megalithic rings were first built in the Neolithic or New Stone Age, about 4000 BC. It is believed that the stones in whatever configuration were used for community gatherings, religious activity, and as observatories.

2. Brochs
The people living in Western and Northern Scotland over 2000 years ago were two groups called Armoricans and Albans. The Amoricans travelled north into Alban territory in the search of a peaceful place to live. The Albans were a peaceful pastoral people living in clusters. Nevertheless the two peoples, out of necessity, became talented innovators in the art of defensive warfare.

Their common enemy came from Ireland, the Celts. Celtic sea-borne raiders did hit and run tactics in the search of slaves, vengeance and loot. A dozen Celts in an open boat, or perhaps two or three boatloads acting in concert, might come skulking along the coast, seeking to surprise an isolated Alban croft, capture or kill the inhabitants, slaughter the livestock, and take anything of value, then set the thatch aflame and leave before the neighbors could rally. Consequently, people living along the threatened coasts responded by building small forts called Dun in Gaelic and Broch in Viking.

3. Cairns
Otherwise called 'Passage graves' these cairns were burial sites, probably for people of high standing in the community. They are made as a chambered tomb with a narrow passage into the interior. They are very old, 4000-5000 years. They are primarily in Scotland and the surrounding islands.

Note: The pictures are links to related outside sites.