Last updated at 12:11 21 June 2007

A professional puzzle inventor has solved what he considers the oldest riddle of them all - Stonehenge.

Bruce Bedlam, 56, has built a scale model of the ancient stone circle as he believes it was originally constructed - as a round building.

The inventor, whose Bedlam Cube was featured on TV's Dragon's Den, came up with his theory some years ago but has now built a replica.

He believes that the Wiltshire monument was created with a large, domed roof made from wood and covered in wooden tiles.

Bruce believes the siting was significant and the sun would enter the interior at every solstace through one of the ten doors.

The enormous interior would have been illuminated at various times of the day and every part of the building was correlated around the number three.

The theory suggests that beams were used to create a roof that came to a point above the monument.

They were held together in place by gravity and the shape would have been accousticaly perfect, according to Bruce.

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He believes it was more of a government building than a religious one and would have been where important decisions were made.

Bruce, from Bournemouth, Dorset, said: "I first saw Stonehenge in 1972 when I was in the army and later I decided to solve the puzzle.

"I knew it would take me a long time and a I drew up a list of questions and tried to find a common dnominator.

"I treated it like a large jigsaw puzzle in which many of the pieces were missing and came to the conclusion that Stonehenge must have been a building - and why not?"

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"The blue stones were transported there because the people wanted to retain the power, and the roof was made from beams of wood. It all revolves around the number three.

"Connecting the beams would have been three rings of cross members.

"The first ring and largest was half the height of the building.

"The second ring of cross members was two thirds the height of the building and the third was where the roof covering would end.

"The height of the Sarsen Circle is exactly a third of the height of the building and the outside diameter is a third of the internal circumference.

"The angle of the roof is an isosceles triangle with the height of one and a base of three "If you stand in the centre of Stonehenge, the distance to the Sarsen Circle is exactly the height of the building.

"I have created 3D drawings on a computer but now I have actually built a model in a 1:50 scale.

"While building it I got some idea of how the whole thing would have been put together all those years ago.

"My theory was laughed at when I first proposed it, but over the years more people have become intrigued.

"I think the building was more for government use than religious use, but there still would have been high priests.

"I think nearby woodhenge was used as a debating chamber and people would travel to stonehenge to make the decisions." 3D models of the theory designed by Geoff Coope, 36, a student and Bournemouth and Poole college will, go on show tomorrow at the college's campus.

Thousands of hippies and druids will congragate at Stonehenge tomorrow morning for the summer solstace.