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In what is becoming far too frequent an event, another ancient monument has been damaged in Cornwall due to the carelessness of a driver.
The Trevellan or Trevellion wheelheaded cross is one three ancient crosses located in Luxulyan parish, in the village of Lockengate. The cross has previous damage, possibly due to its earlier movements. First recorded in 1870 at Trevellion Farm in use as a hedging stone, it was moved to the Mission Chapel in 1902. When the chapel was sold in 1972, the cross was placed in its current location at the roadside at Lockengate.
This wheelhead cross is rough-hewn and has similar cross designs on both faces. It was mounted on a modern base and stood nearly 2m high.
But the cross has now been dislocated from its base due to a vehicle reversing into it, judging from tyre tracks in the following photo, supplied by Cornwall Crosses expert Andrew Langdon, to whom we are indebted:
Luckily, the cross shaft does not appear to have been fractured, so it should be able to be re-set without too many problems.
Questions remain though: was this just carelessness, or a deliberate act? And why do so many of our ancient monuments get damaged by vehicles every year? It’s not just our wayside crosses (Cornwall is blessed with several hundred such monuments) but also our ancient bridges and other scheduled buildings. It is a fact that many Cornish roads and lanes are narrow, and modern vehicles are larger than at any other time. But the A391, on which this monument stands, is not a minor lane but a fairly busy road, leading from the A30 to St Austell. The cross is not close to the roadside, but set back, on a junction:
There is therefore no obvious reason why a vehicle would need to use the grass verge in a reversing manoeuvre. So was it hit head-on, by a driver who possibly lost control trying to turn left too late or too fast? Unlikely but possible…
Negotiations are underway to have the cross re-erected and we can only plead with all drivers: Please take care and treat our ancient monuments with the respect they deserve. Most all of them pre-date the motor vehicle age and should be allowed to delight and educate future generations to come.
Today Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) learnt that its judicial review of the Government’s decision to approve a highly damaging, £2.5bn road scheme through Stonehenge World Heritage Site, for a second time, had been unsuccessful. Mr Justice Holgate in handing down his judgement today dismissed the application. SSWHS have said that they intend to appeal the decision.
The judgement comes after a 3 day hearing in the High Court in December. UNESCO, five planning inspectors and over 236,000 people were all opposed to National Highways’ highly damaging plans. Save Stonehenge WHS’s legal action had been the only thing stopping the giant earthmovers from entering this 5,000-year-old landscape.
John Adams, chair of the Stonehenge Alliance and one of the 3 directors of SSWHS, said:
“In the face of Government indifference to the harm this road will cause the World Heritage Site, we had no choice but to bring this legal action. While this judgement is a huge blow and exposes the site to National Highway’s state sponsored vandalism, we will continue the fight. In the dying days of this Conservative Government, which has inflicted so much damage on the country, we cannot let it destroy our heritage as well.”
Tom Holland, historian and president of the Stonehenge Alliance, said:
“This is a devastating loss, not just for everyone who has campaigned against the Government’s pig-headed plans for the Stonehenge landscape, but for Britain, for the world, and for subsequent generations.”
SSWHS successfully raised over £80,000 to bring this action. SSWHS will now have to raise a further £15,000 in order to apply for permission to appeal at the Court of Appeal. If a hearing is granted, a further £40,000 could be required.
The CrowdJustice page has a new interim target of £100,000. This is to raise the additional funds needed to make an application for permission to appeal (at the Court of Appeal). If a hearing is granted, the CrowdJustice target is likely to need to rise to around £140,000.
Whilst we await the result of the judge’s deliberations following the latest appeal against the tunnel on the A303 at Stonehenge, we can turn our attentions to what can be considered a yowling moggy by omission.
We should all be familiar with this delightful/horrendous (depending upon your viewpoint) image of the tunnel entrance as ‘planned’:
But that’s not half the story! Back in June last year, we provided a comparison with the A30 roadworks at Chiverton Cross in Cornwall, a project that is still ongoing with regular closures of the road and lengthy diversions.
As if the potential temporary roadworks aren’t enough, a recent letter to the Salisbury Journal by a construction engineer, headed “fine detail missing from designs” points out some quite serious omissions in the Highways England image:
The tunnel will need electricity sub-stations, one at either end, water holding tanks for the fire suppression systems, holding tanks for the tunnel drainage water, an admin building for the tunnel staff and control room etc.
It will also need an apron at either end for the breakdown recovery vehicles and emergency vehicles, and safe areas for evacuees in the event of a major incident.
None of these structures/areas appear on the artist impression and they will be needed, some can perhaps be underground but not without significantly increasing the footprint of the site.
All tunnels need smoke and extract fans and lighting so they are sources of pollution…
It will be interesting to see if/when an updated impression is released, showing the true picture. Unless of course, all of this infrastructure is to be omitted from the project – but that’s unthinkable, isn’t it??
You may have seen that Historic England recently published their annual ‘Heritage at Risk‘ register. As its name implies, this is meant to list the heritage assets of England that are deemed to be at some level of risk in the foreseeable future – presumably so that such assets may be included in plans to avert or mitigate such risks going forward.
There is an interesting searchable map provided, which shows the spread of such assets that are listed. Looking at the area around Stonehenge, given the current plans for a tunnel, you would expect to see many monuments listed in the area, and indeed, this is the case:
However, a closer inspection of many of these sites, shows no mention of the intended roadbuilding or associated groundworks. In fact, the most common listed ‘risk’ in the area is ‘arable ploughing’! Some of the possible options for an explanation of this omission are:
- ‘Arable ploughing‘ is a new buzzword for ‘road construction’.
- There has been a total lack of foresight when compiling the register
- IT’S ANOTHER YOWLING MOGGY!!
So, which is it??…
the Save Stonehenge WHS campaign is scheduled to have its day in court in just 12 days, with a second hearing to challenge the government’s decision to ‘plough through’ the world heritage site. The plans will doubtless result in Stonehenge losing its World Heritage status with ICOMOS. The court hearing will begin on Tuesday, 12th December at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. It’s scheduled to run for three days and will be a rolled-up hearing, where the permission to be heard and the full case are held at the same time. The last day will be Thursday, 14th.
If you can, please support the challenge by making a donation, here.
Earlier this year, in March, we highlighted a stunning photo by Stonehenge Dronescapes of the Northern Lights over the stones. At the time, we suggested that if the tunnel plans go ahead:
It will probably be the last one that travellers on the A303 will ever see.
We were wrong! The picture below was taken by Stonehenge Dronescapes at the weekend.
However, it is still an obvious truth that if the plans for the tunnel go ahead, views such as the one above will be lost to travellers on the A303 forever!
Please support the Stonehenge Alliance‘s legal fight to stop the plans for the tunnel by donating here. There are only 17 days left to reach their latest funding target…
An opinion piece from someone whose family heritage in the area extends back hundreds of generations:
Carn Brea, between Camborne and Redruth in Cornwall, is an enormous hilltop site of historic significance.
With evidence of human habitation extending back over 5,000 years, this tor enclosure comprising extensive ramparts and a ditch and traces of 14 Neolithic longhouses, many pottery and flint artefacts including no less than 700 arrowheads have been discovered on this ancient hill.
Gold Gallo-Belgic coins in circulation over 2,000 years ago have been found on Carn Brea.
Home to an early Mediaeval Chapel thought to be dedicated to Saint Michael and later fashioned into a small castle and hunting lodge as well as a 90-foot-high Celtic Cross erected as a monument to Francis Bassett, 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Bassett, the hill is a local landmark and generations have spent leisure time exploring it and its mysterious wells and granite rock formations.
Views of the local area from its upper parts, around 630 feet above sea level, are spectacular with a vista extending down to the Celtic Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
Carn Brea has been an inspiration to many writers and poets through the centuries. It is a place of myth and legend.
Cornwall is facing unparalleled destruction of its natural and human history which is overtaking the excesses of the tin and copper mining industrial boom of the 19th century.
Astonishing levels of house building, road widening and construction have seen the loss of archaeological sites of great antiquity and left farmers in tears at the loss of land through compulsory purchase that their families worked for generations, coastal development and so-called luxury modern mansions and holiday resorts accompanied by a vast increase in population has resulted in much being swept aside in the name of progress.
Environmental groups are increasingly expressing concern over the loss of fauna and natural habitats. Our seas suffer from alarming levels of human pollution rendering many unsafe to bathe in.
How sad it is to see a place of such huge historical and natural importance as Carn Brea, a place which has served as a refuge from the destruction, become nothing more than a dumping ground for fast food packaging, fly-tipping and even supermarket trolleys which have been pushed along lengthy trackways and abandoned on this extraordinary hill.
My ancestors must surely be spinning in their graves!
A press release from Hands Off Old Oswestry Hillfort (HOOOH):
A 10-year battle to protect the landscape of one of Britain’s most important Iron Age hillforts from widely opposed development comes to a head this week.
Cameron Homes’ application to build a luxury housing estate in the landscape setting of Old Oswestry Hillfort will be decided by Shropshire Council’s north planning committee at a meeting this Friday (July 28th) at Shirehall in Shrewsbury.
Although Shropshire planners are recommending approval, campaigners say that there are strong grounds to refuse the hugely unpopular application.
Local campaign group, HOOOH, said: “All eyes will be on the north planning committee this Friday. Their decision will seal the fate of one of Shropshire’s and Britain’s greatest archaeological landmarks. We trust they will balance all the evidence in their decision, including the irreversible damage that will be inflicted on a unique heritage site and the substantial local and national opposition to development.”
Local objectors include Oswestry Town Council, North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan, Oswestry & Border Archaeology & History Group, Cambrian Heritage Railways Ltd, and Oswestry and District Civic Society. Objections have also come from The Prehistoric Society, Council for British Archaeology, RESCUE (The British Archaeological Trust), Historic Buildings and Places. Additionally, members of the public have submitted 128 letters against and 12,000 objectors have signed a petition during the longstanding campaign to protect the setting of the site acclaimed as the ‘Stonehenge of the Iron Age’.
HOOOH continues: “Refusal is warranted if the proposals do not meet the special conditions enshrined in SAMDev policy S14 as agreed in the Statement of Common Ground with Historic England. These are meant to ensure the harm to heritage is minimised and the public benefits weighing against this harm are delivered. They also underpinned the Inspector’s decision to allocate the site for development.
“But a number of conditions are simply not being met. These are the northern limit for development, the provision of walking and cycling access along and across the Cambrian Railway, and improvements to the junction of Whittington Road and Gobowen Road.
“Given the overwhelming opposition to the plans, Shropshire Council must respect and adhere to policy and underpinning agreements for controversial development, or we seriously undermine public trust in the local planning process.”
Nuanced
While the planners’ report to the committee places great weight on the fact that Historic England has not objected, the position of the heritage consultee is much more nuanced, say campaigners.
“Historic England signed a Statement of Common Ground with conditions for development that are easily tested and form part of the legal framework of SAMDev which Shropshire Council must adhere to.
“Historic England has also stressed that views will see ‘extensive’ and ‘substantial change’ and that planners must be sure that proposals meet the requirements of the NPPF. We believe there is a strong case that they do not.”
Campaigners have also raised concerns that the Council’s landscape consultant and conservation manager, key consultees on heritage, have remained on the fence over the proposals. This is despite both acknowledging that development would lead to ‘substantial change’ within the landscape and ‘the majority of landscape and visual effects are adverse.’
The Council for British Archaeology warns that although not ‘substantial’ in planning terms – which would be destruction of the asset itself – these impacts still constitute harm as defined by the NPPF. The Prehistoric Society calls it ‘a very significant level of harm’ relative to the monument’s significance, which would normally lead to refusal of the planning application.
Written representation
In its written representation ahead of the meeting, HOOOH states that, contrary to NPPF paragraph 199, the planners’ assessment does not give appropriate weight to Old Oswestry’s significance as a designated heritage asset, especially when ‘the more important the asset, the greater the weight should be’.
HOOOH goes on to say that, contrary to NPPF paragraph 200, planners have not provided ‘clear and convincing justification’ for what would be significant harm to the setting of a designated heritage asset of national significance. Campaigners insist that planners have not adequately demonstrated that the loss or harm is necessary when the 83 houses can be built elsewhere, given that more than sufficient housing land has been identified for Oswestry’s future growth, including east of the A5 bypass.
They add that planning consent could set a precedent for further damaging development across the hillfort’s eastern setting.
The HOOOH campaign will be attending the meeting with support from the heritage sector in the form of an expert witness.
Proceedings start at 2pm and can be viewed remotely via the live streaming link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqCY87aT_cI
Link to planning documents: https://pa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/centralDistribution.do?caseType=Application&keyVal=ROP3QZTDLRX00
A regular contributor to the Heritage Journal, Myghal Map Serpren, has recently been spending some time in the Lake District. During his perambulations in the area, he stopped off at the well-known monument of Long Meg and her Daughters.
The monument consists of a circle of some 59 stones (the Daughters). This stone circle is the third widest in England, after Avebury and Stanton Drew. The circle is accompanied by an outlier stone (Long Meg) which is marked with examples of megalithic art including a cup and ring mark, a spiral, and rings of concentric circles.
By Simon Ledingham, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1310796
Whilst there, evidence of digging or excavation was seen next to one of the stones, and advice was sought from us here at the Heritage Journal as to what the best course of action would be with regard to reporting the quite obvious, visible damage:
In such cases, there are three initial choices that we recommend:
- If damage or desecration is currently being carried out, and the perpetrators are present or nearby, if it is safe to do so – call the police.
- If damage or desecration has been carried out, and no obvious perpetrators are nearby, contact the Heritage Environment Records Officer – HERO – for the relevant area (usually at County level)
- If damage is minor, or the above cannot be contacted, then try to identify a contact for a local Archaeology Society in the area, who will know who best to contact for further action.
In this situation, we suggested the HER officer as the best person to contact. We checked the Heritage Gateway website to find contact details for the appropriate officer – in this case, the one for Cumbria.
An email enquiry with photos of the suspected damage was despatched, and within 24 hours a reply was received:
Thank you for your email and alerting us to potential damage at Long Meg. Long Meg is a scheduled monument and thus the due restriction of Historic England. I have therefore taken the liberty of forwarding your concerns to the regional inspectors of monuments. I am not sure what has caused this disturbance, but there are management agreements in place with the farmer, and over the last few years we have worked hard to improve the overall condition of the site. You may have noticed that a new car park has been constructed, with the hope of keeping vehicles off the monument. We were aware that there were significant issues with rabbits on site last year, burrowing under the stones. Officers from Historic England were aiming to address this with the farmer. The latest damage may be due to the cattle in the field, but I hope that someone will be able to look into it quickly and prevent it from worsening.
An interesting response, particularly with the reference to rabbit or cattle damage. Looking closer at the picture of the damage, it looks very much (to the untrained eye!) as if a shovel or spade has been used to dig the sides of the hole. Of course, there may be a logical or innocent explanation for the hole, but here at the Heritage Journal, given our concern regarding metal detecting we can’t help but wonder if someone received a strong signal and couldn’t help but help themselves to whatever was buried there?
What do HERO’s do?
Historic Environment Records (sometimes referred to as Sites and Monuments Records or HER) may be held by County Councils, District Councils or Unitary Authorities. In each case, the record will cover the whole of the local authority area. Selected major historic towns and cities are covered by Urban Archaeological Databases (UADs). In many cases, UADs are held as part of, and are accessible via, the local Historic Environment Record.
Each local Historic Environment Record is maintained by a local HERO, who will usually have a Planning or Archaeological background. The HERO is responsible for maintaining the Heritage Environment Record for their area, and for providing advice on planning issues, and safeguarding of heritage assets in their area.
In many cases, they will maintain good relationships with landowners, archaeologists and local and national societies, and are often a mine of useful information. They will pass on any information regarding damage or desecration to the appropriate authority for further action.
Although often stretched with regard to resources needed to do their jobs, a good HERO will respond in a timely manner to all enquiries – as did the one above! Be aware though, that many HERs may charge for responding to queries, particularly with regard to planning and development issues which require extensive research.
So, if you have a query about damage or desecration of a monument, don’t forget to embrace your local HERO!
STOP PRESS
Following publication of the story above, we received correspondence which confirms the HER Officer comments above, attributing the damage to cattle:
As soon as I saw the photo, I immediately ‘knew’ the source.
It is absolutely consistent with cattle ‘dust bathing’. I’m very familiar with the feature from many other places in Cumbria (usually on the west coast) where the loam soils are sandy, usually coastal grassland, areas where the parent material is fluvio-glacial outwash or recent blown sand.
Whilst it’s good to have it confirmed that the damage is ‘natural’ in origin, we can only hope that the site custodian will be advised that such damage detracts from the ambience of the site, and that remedial action will be taken in due course.
You’ve probably all heard some of the terms to describe idiotic behaviour at various times of the year;
- Mad as a March Hare
- April Fool
- Scatty as a Mayfly (ok I may have made that one up!)
But now that June has arrived, here in Cornwall it seems that the Midsummer Madness idiots really have come out en masse to cause as much havoc to our ancient heritage as they can.
Just five days into the month, and we have already heard of three major incidents of damage to sites in West Penwith.
Firstly, in an act of sheer bloody-minded vandalism, the Men Scryfa stone, which stands a few hundred yards from the famous Men an Tol, had what appears to be petrol poured over it, and set alight. Further, an attempt was made to dig the stone out! Luckily the perpetrators only got down a few inches before either giving up or being disturbed in their endeavours.
Secondly, on nearby higher ground – in fact, the highest point in West Penwith at Watch Croft – what appears to be a BBQ pit was dug. But it gets worse… As reported via Facebook:
I climbed up to the summit of Watch Croft last night to watch the sun set and the moon rise. It is a site of archaeological significance and is managed by the National Trust. I was very dismayed to see that someone had decided to have a BBQ there in the round rock shelter, and then dumped the coals into the foliage below, where spotted orchids are blooming. The coals appeared to have been live when dumped, and this is also a massive fire risk, particularly when conditions are so dry.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/137301386294086
To dig a pit in a SSSI is illegal. To then scatter hot coals onto an extremely dry moor environment after the recent good weather is just sheer madness and completely unforgivable!
Thirdly, in a move which I can only imagine is motivated by economic greed, it’s been reported that some of the Swingate Stones have been uprooted. Sadly, these stones had no legal protection, so legally no crime has been committed, though a good case could be made for a moral crime! It’s not sure when the stones were removed, but sad that the issue came to light at this particular time.
Now, it may be a coincidence that the issues of damage occurred during what was a school half-term holiday, but it shows the need for constant vigilance and education. Sadly, it’s not possible to keep watch on all sites on a 24/7 basis, which is clearly what is needed when the heat scrambles people’s brains into such mind-numbing idiocy. But you can help:
When visiting our ancient sites, please report any damage as soon as possible. In Cornwall, we have the Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network (CASPN), but in the absence of similar local groups in your area, please contact the local Archaeology Society, or those responsible for maintaining the Heritage Environment Record (usually the local council), and of course, the Police, as damage to ancient monuments is a Heritage Crime.
The following update was recently released by our friends, the Stonehenge Alliance.
“The Mission again raised the question regarding the potential impacts on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) attributes of the property, arising particularly from impacts on the integrity and authenticity of the Neolithic and Bronze Age funerary landscape and hence the exploration of alternatives to the A303 passing through the very heart of the WHS and so close to key monuments.”
New Transport Secretary consulting on UNESCO’s Advisory Mission’s report
Dear Supporters,
National Highways has commented on UNESCO’s Advisory Mission’s report following their visit of April 2022 published last month.
Last week, during a period of national mourning, the new Transport Secretary invited Interested Parties to respond to NH’s comments by 28 September. Despite this tight deadline we hope you will be able to do so.
The Mission advised that a less damaging scheme, such as a southern bypass, should be sought and indicated that, at the very least, any tunnel should be extended to the western WHS boundary. National Highways insists that its current scheme would bring benefits to the WHS and that a longer tunnel would not be worth the expense.
The Stonehenge Alliance will send a response to the Secretary of State and share its response in due course.
If you wish to respond we have shared some reactions and links via the link below.
About the Stonehenge Alliance
The Stonehenge Alliance is a group of non-governmental organisations and individuals that seeks enhancements to the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and opposes development that would cause it significant harm..
More about us
The petition against the road has almost reached 220,000 signatures. You can sign and share it here.
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