Introduction
One of the most persistent images of the British prehistoric past is of the Druids. Popularly associated with places such as Stonehenge, and sometimes caught up with New Age, or Neo-pagan practices, the image of white-robed people engaged in bizarre ceremonial is powerful. This photograph shows Druids at Stonehenge in 1958 – note the bemused onlookers! Druids are entangled with images of the pre-Roman past, with ideals of Celticness, and of a closeness to nature and the rhythms of the pre-industrial world. In their modern forms Druids are a romantic reconstruction with no connection to prehistoric reality. In this study we briefly examine the Druidic phenomenon.
