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Review of Corio, David (photographs) and Lai Ngan Corio (text) "Megaliths. The ancient stone monuments of England and Wales." Jonathan Cape, 2003. Hbk, 175pp. Illus (b+w). Bibliography, index. ISBN 0-224-064649. £35.00

This is as awesome a book as some of the monuments it describes. The bare bones of the description, especially illus (b+w) hardly begin to do justice to this book. David Corio is a professional photographer and these photographs are as much works of art as documentary statements. These are carefully lit, staged (as much as you can stage a stationary object) and processed images rather than the sunny-skied tourist bait that most travel guides employ. Many are deliberately grainy in texture, some are shot at almost ground level, artificial lighting is employed against darkening skies and angles chosen to enhance the dramatic quality of the sites. Accompanying the photographs Lai Ngan Corio has written some text, some of which is specific to that site, together more general ruminations on themes and legends associated with each one.

The book starts with an introductory chapter outlining the history of the antiquarian approach to megalithic monuments in England and Wales. Not only did the antiquarians have to rediscover many of these monuments, they tried, subject to the fashions of their days, to come to some sort of understanding of who might have erected them and for what purpose. Romans, Saxons, Druids and Vikings all were suggested and wasn't until dating techniques were developed that these were seen to be wildly inaccurate (although in some instances it seems that later folk re-used some of the monuments for their own purposes.)

The Corios have adopted a geographical approach to the places they photograph and describe and a total of 56 sites are depicted, with a minimum of one photograph each. The more obvious and significant sites have several more, including a pullout photograph of Stonehenge. This isn't a detailed archaeological examination of the sites - although the text does briefly mention any recorded excavations - and so lacks any ground plans which may have helped people understand the sites better. The textual descriptions are strong on any associated folklore relating to the site and the author has even taken on board some of the modern "alternative" research into ley lines, earth energies and even UFO sightings relating to some locations.

The text tends to be a little repetitive, not due to any failing of the author, but due tot he fact that the same sorts of legends, traditions, folklore (or "fakelore") tends to accumulate around these sorts of monuments. Whilst few have all these characteristics, many of the stones do seem to be said to go to the nearest river to drink or dance round the field they are in at midnight; to the be petrified dancers; to be the burial grounds of slain soldiers, heroes or giants; to be the result of the devil (or giants) chucking huge stones around; to be associated with witches's curses or covens and so on. Other legends claim that the stones bring good health (or ill) - sometimes the same stones, whilst other legends say the stones cannot be moved and if they are calamity befalls those who move them, or the stones return under their own volition. Quite what is behind all the stories is uncertain. One suspects that most are fairly recent invention and that once a legend has been appended to one set of stones it rapidly gets transmitted to many others as well. Rare are the sites, it seems, that don't have their share of mythology.

Apart from the comment above. I haven't got many gripes with the text. Dr William Stukeley's pseudonym is given as both "Chydonax" (p18) and "Chyndonax" (p58) and under the Welsh section some monuments are still refered to as being in "Dyfed" which may indicate that the photographs were taken some time as the County ceased to exist on local government re-organsiation a few years ago. One bonus is that the actual cover of the book proper (as opposed to the book jacket) has a spelndid close up of the surface of a megalith, a subtle reminder that beneath the surface of these monuments we are dealing with geology as well as mythology.

The bibliography is quite impressive for what might be seen as more of an art photography collection and includes Julian Cope's "The Modern Antiquarian" (a prime example of a "rock" musician). (Sorry) To extend the pun, one should note that David Corio has over 100 record sleeves to his credit and the book is almost exactly the same size as a 12" vinyl LP. Unlike Julian's book you wouldn't want to take this with you as you roam the British countryside. Its proper home is the coffee table. It would look splendid in one of the clean modernist living rooms that are so much the fashion these days. In days gone by the photographs would have had a page each to themselves so they could be ripped out, framed and mounted on the walls (as has happened to so many antiquarian volumes) but modern layouts prevent that and few people would want to damage their copies of this book. 

At the price it isn't going to appeal to the tourist market and the "alternative archaeology" people may find it too expensive. That said I wouldn't say it was over-priced for what it is. It will, however, make for a splendid winter solstice or birthday present for any Fortean. So start saving your pennies now. In the meantime pop on down to the library and ask them to get a copy too.

A splendid book. 8/10

Richard Alexander