Why are there 56 Aubrey holes at Stonehenge?

We can probably assume, then, that he would prefer to be remembered for something slightly more glamorous than a selection of very old holes in the ground. read more

The 56 Aubrey holes themselves are named for John Aubrey who discovered them with a rod that he pressed into the soil all over the Stonehenge site feeling for buried features. They form a ring just inside the ditch and bank that marks the edge of the Stonehenge monument. read more

After re-excavating one of the holes in 2008, among other locations on the site, the team was led to conclude that the long-term use of Stonehenge over the ages was principally as a cemetery and to estimate that 240 people are buried there, most of them in the Aubrey holes. read more

There are no stone chips at the bottom of the Aubrey Holes, but large numbers elsewhere on the site. It may be that 56 stones were brought to Stonehenge as natural boulders around 3000BC, and erected in the Aubrey Holes. read more