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How the UK's ancient stones are drawing renewed awareness of the sacred

On Nov. 5, 2025, astronomer Carolyn Kennett led a full-moon hike from the Church of St. Buryan to Boscawen-Un, with 19 walkers participating.
Amid shifting religious affiliation, public engagement with stone circles has grown, with nearly 3,000 enthusiasts in the U.K., where Christians are 49% and unaffiliated 40%.
The circle's configuration includes 19 evenly spaced uprights and one slanting quartz pillar, resembling a sundial, set in remote grazing fields with no defined roads and minimal detritus.
Walkers treat Boscawen-Un as sacred and entered the circle quietly to meditate, with a handfasting about 30 years ago and a wedding planned next July.
By contrast, major managed sites such as Stonehenge, a protected monument managed by English Heritage, draw more than a million visitors a year, while some research finds modern paganism arose mid-20th century and Ethan Doyle White, a scholar and visiting lecturer, views many practices as recent inventions.

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