It is seldom that the eye of the artist, as well as that of the archaeologist is to be found in one and the same individual. Mr.
Heywood Sumner, F.S.A., to whom I am indebted for far more assistance in this volume than his beautiful and characteristic penwork, has seldom been so happy in his choice of illustration, for Stonehenge is one of those subjects which belongs to him of right, by virtue of that understanding draughtsmanship which he has applied with such valuable results to the "Earthworks of Cranbourne Chase" and elsewhere.
Readers are specially asked to give his plans kindly attention. They are based upon the Ordnance Survey Maps, with the sanction of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. They are far more interesting, and less fatiguing, than the usual guide book production. The bibliography of Stonehenge is frankly too heavy a subject to attempt even briefly. A complete bibliography arranged under authors' names alphabetically by W. Jerome Harrison, F.G.S. (1901, Devizes), will be found quite solid reading in itself. Readers anxious to extend their information, would do well to study Mr. Gowland's Report in "Archaeologia," 1902, side by side with Sir Norman Lockyer's Report to the Royal Society, of the same date. The two leading schools of thought can thus be contrasted at first hand. The Wilts Archaeological Magazine _passim_, and particularly 1883 and 1876 should be consulted, the latter article by Mr. W. Long has stood the test of publicity for forty years, without appreciable damage. A curious writer to whom Mr.
Sumner is specially indebted is Mr. H. Browne of Amesbury; whose conclusions must not be taken seriously, but who has lovingly illustrated his work with restorations and sketches: it is all the more pleasant therefore to render thanks to a painstaking but not always appreciated worker. Last of all--greatest of all--Sir Richard Colt Hoare, whose "Ancient History of South Wilts," 1812, remains to-day a classic. These grand volumes mark the dawn of the new era of the field archaeologist. The foregoing names are few, but they are as old and tried friends, to whom reference can be safely made, and seldom in vain. When Hoare and Long have been digested, few authors have much else to offer, including the writer of the present lines.
A most pleasant debt of obligation is to the new owner of Stonehenge, Mr. C.H.E. Chubb, who has rendered great assistance in the compilation of this little handbook. Himself a citizen of New Sarum, and a Wiltshireman by birthright, he can well be trusted faithfully to discharge his duty to the grand old Cromlech. A constant visitor to Stonehenge, he has already given a foretaste of his policy in revising the rates of admission to the military; a very gracious act, based on a common-sense appreciation of the usual condition of the pockets of H.M. forces. Landlords are not always as liberal.
Last of all, my sincere thanks to Dr. H.P. Blackmore, Honorary Director of the Salisbury and Blackmore Museums, for reading and revising my manuscript.
FRANK STEVENS.
THE MUSEUM, SALISBURY.
_April 1, 1916._