Stonehenge was bought at auction in 1915.

World History

S tonehenge has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, but back in 1915 it was privately owned by one man — a barrister named Cecil Chubb, who purchased the prehistoric monument at an auction for £6,600 (more than $1 million in modern U.S. currency). Stonehenge had been privately owned since the reign of Henry VIII, passing from one wealthy proprietor to the next. According to popular legend, Chubb purchased the monument as an unusually extravagant gift for his wife, who purportedly sent him to bid on a set of curtains and got more than she bargained for when he instead returned with one of the most famous structures in the world.

The more likely reason for the purchase is that Chubb, hearing that an American was interested in buying and relocating the monument, wanted to ensure that the iconic landmark remained in the possession of locals. In fact, in 1918, Chubb donated Stonehenge to the British public. In recognition of this generous gift, Prime Minister David Lloyd George elevated Chubb to the level of nobility, and he became Sir Cecil Chubb, First Baronet of Stonehenge. The Neolithic monument is now owned by the British monarch and managed by English Heritage, which charges tourists a small fee to visit. Locals, as Chubb insisted over a century ago, still get in for free.

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By the Numbers

Approximate age (in years) of Stonehenge

5,000

Combined total weight (in tons) of all the stones in Stonehenge

120

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Did you know?

Stonehenge is built to align with the solstice.

While nobody knows for sure what the exact purpose of Stonehenge was — it was built around 5,000 years ago, after all — archaeologists have discovered several features of the monument that suggest it was, in part, meant to serve as a solar calendar, as the positioning of the stones aligns perfectly with the summer and winter solstices. When standing in the center of Stonehenge as the sun rises on the first day of summer, an observer will see the sun shine directly into the center of the monument, and the largest stone in the henge will cast a shadow that also extends directly into the center. There's also strong archaeological evidence that Stonehenge once featured a structure that precisely framed the setting sun on the winter solstice, just before it dipped below the horizon.

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