Julian Cope is one of Britain’s best known and most-celebrated post-punk visionaries. In this historical masterpiece, he takes us on an unforgettable journey across the British Isles, uncovering the first temples ever built and their myriad descendants, the relics of which can still be seen today. Compelling too is the St Peter’s Kirk Pictish-symbol stone discovered on the north-east coast of South Ronaldsay. Again, this 5ft-long sandstone monolith stands way outside accepted Celtic regions, right at the edge of the ancient Norse world. The Papil Stone, removed from the grounds of a Shetland monastery close to the Viking stronghold of Jarlshof, is another artefact brought from outside perceived Celtic realms, but this always-thorough exhibition shows us Viking jewellery directly influenced – nay, copied – from its Celtic neighbours. On display is one very large Viking 10th-century open-ring brooch discovered on Orkney’s glorious Bay of Skaill. In the exhibition cabinet, this huge brash silver artefact – originally dug up near the Neolithic village of Skara Brae – dominates its far earlier Celtic neighbour like some overly chromed 1950s Cadillac parked up next to an Austin Allegro. This, another of Wales' 'White Cairns', is almost completely subsumed within seemingly impenetrable forestry covering a minor hilltop to the west of Pumlumon. So much so that The Citizen Cairn admits to having a pretty hard time locating it, despite the monument apparently being some 50ft across. However, all's well that ends well, as they say. If not exactly 'all-white'. Curators Farley and Weetch are refreshingly defiant in defining the Celt as inclusively as possible – at pains throughout to provide maps and more maps of the Celtic worldview as its truth has migrated down the centuries. We moderns may too-often suffer from a mixing up of historical sequences, but better that, surely, than risk raising a population that is entirely not-arsed about its past. The proliferation of armchair archaeologists across the UK attests to the continued fascination that the ways of our ancestors invoke in so many of us. By keeping steadfastly to their inclusive vision of all things Celt, Farley and Weetch are helping to instil in future generations the kind of open-mindedness that has enabled our democracy to thrive. Julian Cope studies William Stukeley’s book at the Celts exhibition. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

The Painted Youths of Cothiemuir Wood Bring Gifts and a Special Feast to the Builders of their New Stone Circle within that transformed the assumed banality of the English landscape into something magical and eternally compelling. Climbing aboard the 1781 bandwagon created by Iolo Morganwg’s brand new Society of the Ancient Druids, towns across Britain revived or even invented their own Celtic-styled festivals, my personal favourite being the “ancient” Cornish street theatre of Padstow’s Obby Oss, first recorded in 1803.

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Julian Cope at Silbury Hill, Wiltshire by Cat Stevens. All other photographs courtesy of Adelle Stripe Cope’s innovative gazetteer opened up the landscape to a whole new generation of walkers, psychonauts and amateur historians. Unlike many archaeological accounts, there is no concrete conclusion, as it is a work that explores suggestion, albeit with a frequently esoteric angle.

These files have been tested on both the stable (v3) PC and beta (v4) Mac versions of Google Earth on both Mac and PC. However, if you encounter any problems—or have suggestions for ways in which it could be improved—please post them in our forum. Ah me, what Stukeley started! For this Lincolnshire rector was the most successful antiquary of the mid-1700s. His books – grandly illustrated publications every one – were lapped up by the population. To watch the migration of Stukeley’s thoughts from 1723’s overly Romanised Itinerarium Curiosum – via Stonehenge and Abury – to his posthumous (and entirely megalithically revisioned) Itinerarium of 1776 is to view at first-hand the manner in which the Celts have seduced the romantic imagination.Cope’s Notes 5 explains the precise impulses that sent the Archdrude off life’s urban highways into the nether regions of Ye Olde UK, and how he extricated himself from the Music Biz long enough to bring forth this monster tome. Here at the museum is the greatest Celtic find of all: the legendary Gundestrup cauldron. It’s my all-time favourite prehistoric artefact: huge, silver, magnificent. Wonderful castings of Norse gods, men, animals and mythological beasts festoon its sides, while a recumbent bull guards its basin. The cauldron is striking for its characters and stories (most Celtic art is non-figurative) but I long ago decided it was pointless trying to itemise these snake-gripping figures, as the Celts had so many local pantheons. This book shines a powerful light onto the past of a nation hoodwinked into believing that its history began with the Roman conquest. Cope’s deft prose examines our prehistoric beginnings through the evidence of megalithic remains and their surroundings, allowing us for the first time to reconcile the tapestry of our past with modern life. I felt that a British overview could get open-minded travellers out there to the monuments themselves - an ideal way to move the study up one further notch, getting some kind of dialogue going that will allow us all to see the context of our ancient past. To be fair, owners of the 1:25k map will note that three of the linear alignment of monuments are named... so perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised, but there you are. This, the 'Yellow Cairn' crowning 1,070ft Pen-crug-melyn at the eastern extremity, is pleasingly bathed in an orangey/yellow(ish) glow as the sun briefly reasserts its dominance following a couple of hours of intense downpour. So, needless to say, the locals know where they're at. As usual.