Seahenge, Norfolk: The ancient Bronze Age circle that lay hidden for 4,000 years

Seahenge lay beneath the shifting sands of the north Norfolk coast almost until the dawn of the 21st century.

The sacred 4000 year old site of Seahenge exposed briefly by the shifting sands on the Norfolk coast near Hunstanton.
The sacred 4000 year old site of Seahenge exposed briefly by the shifting sands on the Norfolk coast near Hunstanton.
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

In 1998, a man named John Lorimer was walking along the beach at Holme-next-the-Sea when he stumbled upon an extraordinary Bronze Age timber circle that had emerged overnight from East Anglia’s shifting sands.

Archaeologists and druids flocked to see the 55 posts circling an upside-down tree, roots in the air, a relic from 2050 BC.

Cast replica of Seahenge prehistoric tree stump at the King's Lynn Museum, Norfolk.

This 8ft-wide centrepiece — which was felled in springtime, scientists say, and may have been a ceremonial place from which decaying bodies could travel to the afterlife — is now on display at the Lynn Museum, King’s Lynn, together with half the original timbers and a life-size replica of what has become known as Seahenge.

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Annunciata Elwes
Annunciata Elwes (née Walton) joined Country Life after founding a literary and music festival at Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, and working at The Sunday Times Travel Magazine.