Editing Stonehenge (section)

===="Heel Stone", "Friar's Heel", or "Sun-Stone"====
[[File:Sun behind the Heel Stone.jpg|alt=The sun is directly behind the Heel Stone at sunrise on the summer solstice|left|thumb|The Sun behind the [[Heel Stone]] on the [[Summer solstice]], shortly after sunrise]]

The [[Heel Stone]] lies northeast of the sarsen circle, beside the end portion of Stonehenge Avenue.<ref name="Stanford">{{cite book |last1=Stanford |first1=Peter |title=The Extra Mile: A 21st century Pilgrimage |date=2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=20}}</ref> It is roughly textured, {{convert|16|ft|m}} above ground, and leans in towards the stone circle.<ref name="Stanford"/> It has been known by many names in the past, including "Friar's Heel" and "Sun-stone".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Stevens |first=Edward |date=July 1866 |title=Stonehenge and Abury |magazine=The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review |publisher=Bradbury, Evans & Co |location=London |volume=11 |page=69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z_UIAAAAIAAJ&q=Stonehenge+%22Friar%27s+Heel%22&pg=PA69 |access-date=5 March 2015 |archive-date=27 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427082830/https://books.google.com/books?id=z_UIAAAAIAAJ&q=Stonehenge+%22Friar%27s+Heel%22&pg=PA69 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Measuring Time: Teacher's Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5QrAAAAYAAJ&q=Stonehenge+%22Sun+stone%22&pg=PA173 |access-date=5 March 2015 |year=1994 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |location=Burlington, NC |isbn=978-0-89278-707-4 |page=173 |archive-date=27 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427031944/https://books.google.com/books?id=r5QrAAAAYAAJ&q=Stonehenge+%22Sun+stone%22&pg=PA173 |url-status=live }}</ref> At the [[Summer solstice]] an observer standing within the stone circle, looking northeast through the entrance, would see the Sun rise in the approximate direction of the Heel Stone, and the Sun has often been photographed over it.

A folk tale relates the origin of the Friar's Heel reference.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Andrew Oliver |title=The Journal of Samuel Curwen, loyalist |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QY4EDSaA0EC |access-date=6 March 2015 |volume=1 |year=1972 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-48380-4 |page=190 |chapter=July 1776 |archive-date=26 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426223642/https://books.google.com/books?id=3QY4EDSaA0EC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=A Description of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NytRAAAAcAAJ |access-date=6 March 2015 |year=1809 |publisher=J Easton |location=Salisbury |page=5 |chapter=Jeffery of Monmouth's Account of Stonehenge |archive-date=27 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427075153/https://books.google.com/books?id=NytRAAAAcAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{blockquote|The [[Devil]] bought the stones from a woman in Ireland, wrapped them up, and brought them to Salisbury plain. One of the stones fell into the [[River Avon, Hampshire|Avon]], the rest were carried to the plain. The Devil then cried out, "No-one will ever find out how these stones came here!" A friar replied, "That's what you think!", whereupon the Devil threw one of the stones at him and struck him on the heel. The stone stuck in the ground and is still there.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brewer |first=Ebenezer Cobham|author-link=E. Cobham Brewer |title=Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable |url=https://archive.org/details/brewersdictionar000544mbp |access-date=5 March 2015 |publisher=Harper and Brothers |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/brewersdictionar000544mbp/page/n387 380] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408132005/https://archive.org/details/brewersdictionar000544mbp |archive-date=8 April 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

''[[Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable]]'' attributes this tale to [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]. Though book eight of Geoffrey's ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'' describes how Stonehenge was built, the two stories are entirely different.

The name is not unique; there was a monolith with the same name recorded in the nineteenth century by antiquarian [[Charles Warne]] at [[Long Bredy]] in Dorset.<ref>[[Warne, Charles]], 1872, ''Ancient Dorset''. Bournemouth.</ref>