AS the Stonehenge Wish You Were Here exhibition opens on May 1 we bring you 17 dates and figures about the iconic ancient stone circle's more recent history 

1823 - The first Stonehenge guide book was written

1847 – The railway reached Salisbury just eight miles away - hotels became busier and shops sold a range of souvenirs.

1883 – Stonehenge was listed by the government as a monument that they wished to schedule but it wasn't scheduled until 1918, when Cecil Chubb gave it to the nation.

1893 – William Judd published his guidebook. William was a photographer at Stonehenge and unofficial custodian of Stonehenge in the 1890s.

1894 – Picture postcards were introduced in Britain and rapidly became popular souvenirs of a visit to Stonehenge.

1901 – The tallest of the sarsens was winched upright, changing the appearance of Stonehenge and providing a convenient means of dating early photographic images – pre or post-1901.

1901 - An admission charge was introduced at Stonehenge and has been in place ever since.

1915 - Stonehenge was sold at auction to local man Cecil Chubb for £6,600

1920s - Café opened on site for the first time and visitors could buy guide books and packs of photographs from here as well as a cup of tea. Before the first shop opened at Stonehenge, these souvenirs would have been available to buy in Salisbury and Amesbury from the late 19th century

1958 - An entire fallen trilithon (two uprights and a horizontal lintel) was re-erected alongside a wider programme of restoration and excavation.

1984 – English Heritage was created and took on responsibility for guardianship of Stonehenge

1986 – Stonehenge, along with Avebury and other associated sites, was inscribed on the World Heritage list.

18 – The number of languages spoken by the staff and volunteers working at Stonehenge in 2015 (French, Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Greek, Iranian, Lithuanian; German, Portuguese, Dutch, Mandarin, Welsh, Tagalog, Flemish, BSL)

1.3 million – The number of visitors to Stonehenge in 2014 – over half of whom are from overseas.

150,000 fridge magnets are sold each year in the Stonehenge shop. The fridge magnet is the most popular gift in the shop.

150,000 postcards are sold in the Stonehenge shop per annum – the most popular postcard is an aerial shot.

40% of the products in the Stonehenge shop today are produced locally and 60% are produced in Britain including: jewellery cast from leaves found in the woods next to Stonehenge; ales from Pewsey and Netheravon; replica swords from Warminster; prints and cards by local artists; and books by local authors.

Authentic Stonehenge gifts include bluestone objects and jewellery from the original Preseli quarries, replica Neolithic jewellery and luxury silk scarves with magnified images of the Stonehenge stones. And the Amazing Pop up Stonehenge written by Julian Richards.

*Source: English Heritage