Lucky WorldRecord Crowds for Summer Solstice

Revellers encouraged to stay sober at Stongehenge

Thousands celebrate pagan ritual at Stonehenge

A record crowd of about 36,500 revellers has welcomed the dawn of the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge.

The number of people attending the event caused roads in the area to become gridlocked in the hours leading up to sunrise at 0458 BST. English Heritage, which manages the ancient monument, said the car park was full with 6,500 cars two hours before sunrise. Warm weather and the fact that this year's solstice fell on a weekend helped draw a record crowd.

"There has been a great atmosphere and where else would you want to be on midsummer's day?" said Peter Carson of English Heritage, the body in charge of Stonehenge.

Stonehenge, which sits on Salisbury Plain about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of London, is one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions, visited by more than 750,000 people a year. It was built in three phases between 3,000 B.C. and 1,600 B.C. Mystery surrounds the monument's original purpose. Some theories hold that the stone circle was a grave site because 350 burial mounds surround the structure.

The event to mark the dawn of the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere has grown in popularity since a four-mile exclusion zone around the site was lifted nine years ago.

Solstice celebrations were a highlight of the pre-Christian calendar, and in many countries bonfires, maypole dances and courtship rituals linger on as holdovers from Europe's pagan past.

Police drafted in extra officers and said there would be a zero-tolerance approach to drugs and drunkenness, with an alcohol limit of four cans of beer or a bottle of wine per person imposed by English Heritage.

Supt Nick Ashley said: "The celebration has been peaceful and enjoyable for the majority who were present to celebrate in a safe manner. English Heritage had issued an advisory note to visitors which warned: "Summer Solstice is not a good time to experiment with drugs - the crowd, the noise and the sheer size of the place are likely to make any bad reaction much, much worse."

Meanwhile, a limit of 200 tents was set at a field near the Avebury Ring after residents complained about the number of visitors to that site in 2008.