Imagine you're married to a man who buys you a unique and expensive gift with his money.
Cecil Chubb, a British lawyer, went to an auction in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, to buy curtains for his wife on September 15, 1915. He didn't bring home what his wife wanted. On the contrary, he bought Stonehenge on a whim with £6,600 of his £100,000 fortune. It is said that Mary Chubb was not very pleased with this romantic gesture. This might be because the price was as much as £680,000 in today's money, and besides, what would he do with a bunch of gray stones that couldn't be worn on one finger?
Sir Cecil Herbert Edward Chubb, 1st Baronet (14 April 1876 – 22 September 1934), was the last private owner of Stonehenge prehistoric monument, Wiltshire, which he donated to the British government in 1918.
Stonehenge has been on the world heritage list since 1968. According to UNESCO, it is "the world's most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle". Stonehenge is in the south of England and consists of a circle of large standing stones. Those interested in the area at English Heritage say that the first structure was built more than 5,000 years ago and that the stone circle was built around 2500 BC, in the late Neolithic period.
Stonehenge has been privately owned since the Middle Ages. It has been operated by the Antrobus family since the early 1800s. When the heir to the property died during World War I, the property was put up for auction. In the auction catalog, the land was named "Lot 15: Stonehenge and approximately 30 acres, 2 bars, 37 forts of adjacent land".
Before the auction, there was talk that a wealthy foreigner could buy Stonehenge, take it apart, and move it to another country. Mr. Chubb's frenzied shopping spree may not have stemmed from romance, but rather from his desire to keep this landmark a part of British history. Although he had purchased the monument as a gift to his wife, Chubb did not want Mary Chubb to be the only one to admire and enjoy the monument's stunning beauty and mysterious appeal. He gave the monument to the government in 1918 with a donor bill, which stipulated that people should not pay more than one shilling per visit and that local residents could visit it for free. Adult visitors today pay £14.50, but residents still have free entry.
When Cecil Chubb bought Stonehenge, it had a place in history and a fancy title. David Lloyd George, who was prime minister at the time, bestowed the title of Sir on him a year after the purchase. Sir Cecil Chubb became the First Baronet of Stonehenge.
A gift that still remains a mystery
Most modern scholars agree that Stonehenge was once a cemetery, but they have yet to figure out what else it was used for. The most interesting question is how a society without modern technology or even the wheel (invented in Mesopotamia, in what is now Iraq in the 4th millennium BC) built and put together such a colossal structure.
Even more mysterious is how it was built. The sandstone slabs that make up its outer ring came from nearby quarries, while the bluestones that make up its inner ring came from the Preseli Hills in Wales, about 200 miles from Stonehenge. In the past, how did people without modern tools or engineering skills transport 4-ton rocks over such long distances? There are a few ideas that have popped up.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, who lived in the 1100s and is known for his story about King Arthur and his legendary account of English history, says that the Wizard Merlin built Stonehenge. King Aureoles Ambrosias wanted to build a monument for his dead people. He had heard that the Giants used the magical blue stones of Africa to build the Ring of Giants, a stone circle in Ireland. Ambrosias' soldiers defeated the Irish but could not move the stones. Merlin came to the rescue and using his magic he carried the stones across the sea and set them on the mass graves of the fallen heroes. According to legend, Ambrosias and his brother Uther, who was the father of King Arthur, are buried here. The problem with this theory is that Stonehenge was built several thousand years before Merlin or the real-life people who are said to have inspired him.
In the 1600s, an archaeologist named John Aubrey said that the Druids were responsible for the construction of Stonehenge. However, radiocarbon dating showed that Stonehenge was built more than a thousand years before the Celts moved into the area.
In the 1960s, astronomer Gerald Hawkins suggested that the megalithic group of stones worked as an astronomical calendar, with different points corresponding to astrological events such as solstices, equinoxes, and eclipses.
The mystery still continues. Stonehenge is one of the most famous and well-known places in the world and attracts a large number of tourists every year. Cecil Chub has made it possible for people living in Salisbury to visit it as often as they want and for free.