Stonehenge is in Wiltshire, the English county famous for the monument’s prehistoric stones and solstice alignments.
The monument stands on Salisbury Plain, about 2 miles west of Amesbury. It developed over many centuries during the Neolithic and Bronze Age, beginning with earthworks before the familiar stone settings were erected and altered. Its large sarsen stones form an outer ring with horizontal lintels, while smaller bluestones and inner trilithons occupy the center.
Stonehenge is aligned broadly with the summer-solstice sunrise and winter-solstice sunset. That alignment helps explain the monument’s continuing association with seasonal gatherings, although archaeologists still debate how its builders used the site and what ceremonies took place there.
Wiltshire contains several other major prehistoric monuments, including Avebury, Silbury Hill, and West Kennet Long Barrow. A common mistake is to identify Stonehenge with nearby Salisbury itself: Salisbury is the nearest well-known city, but the monument’s county is Wiltshire.