Page "Stonehenge" Paragraph 43

According to Geoffrey, the rocks of Stonehenge were healing rocks, called the Giant's dance, which Giants had brought from Africa to Ireland for their healing properties.

The fifth-century king Aurelius Ambrosius wished to erect a memorial to 3, 000 nobles slain in battle against the Saxons and buried at Salisbury, and at Merlin's advice chose Stonehenge.

The king sent Merlin, Uther Pendragon ( Arthur's father ), and 15, 000 knights, to remove it from Ireland, where it had been constructed on Mount Killaraus by the Giants.

They slew 7, 000 Irish but, as the knights tried to move the rocks with ropes and force, they failed.

Then Merlin, using " gear " and skill, easily dismantled the stones and sent them over to Britain, where Stonehenge was dedicated.

After it had been rebuilt near Amesbury, Geoffrey further narrates how first Ambrosius Aurelianus, then Uther Pendragon, and finally Constantine III, were buried inside the " Giants ' Ring of Stonehenge ".

In many places in his Historia Regum Britanniae Geoffrey mixes British legend and his own imagination ; it is intriguing that he connects Ambrosius Aurelianus with this prehistoric monument as there is place-name evidence to connect Ambrosius with nearby Amesbury.