As this series has shown, we like the idea of Stonehenge as a gathering place, but the form of such gatherings remains a matter for debate, particularly with regard to winter solstice gatherings as their nature has been changing. Until recently just a few hundred people would attend and they’d all be highly respectful, but numbers are rising – over five thousand attended this year – and significantly, for the first time, a number of people were seen blatantly climbing on the stones (see the video below). It suggests the obvious – that like in the summer, more people means less control of misbehaviour. Winter solstice used to be a refreshing contrast to the summer event, now it is starting to resemble it.
No-one is against fun but year after year in the summer people disrespect the stones, EH forget to mention it to the press and others deny it happens or say that if only they were in control it wouldn’t. But patently it does always happen, no amount of Round Table talking has ever stopped it and no-one will so long as too many people, some boozy and some far from spiritual, crowd into too small a space. In our view the rest of the population is entitled to expect that an embarrassing image of Britain’s treatment of the monument isn’t transmitted to the rest of the world every year – and now, it seems, twice a year. So here are 3 core questions that suggest how the winter celebration at least, despite growing in size, could be kept respectful and spared from being infected by the embarrassing summer behaviour:
• Since the overwhelming evidence is that Stonehenge was built for viewing the winter solstice sunset from The Avenue not the sunrise from inside the stones, shouldn’t English Heritage make that fact crystal clear and switch the access timing to sunset and the venue to the outside? At present aren’t they silently presiding over the gradual growth of a potentially damaging and expensive-to-regulate tradition, one for which the monument wasn’t even intended?
• Bearing in mind there is no realistic chance that ancient people would have known the precise scientific moment when the solstice occurs, should English Heritage take steps to ensure that letting people inside the stones for a second time at a time other than sunset to mark the precise solstice moment (as happened this year) doesn’t become an on-going (and faintly ridiculous) tradition or one claimed as a “right”? Who benefits from that – people who want to use the monument in the way they want rather than the way it’s builders intended?
• Shouldn’t the Lantern Procession, if focused on The Avenue and the winter solstice sunset, be recognised and promoted as the most valid use of the monument of all – and shouldn’t the whole Winter celebration be built around that, outside the stones and at sunset rather than inside the stones at sunrise? Shouldn’t those who revere the monument as their temple be firmly requested to use it in the way intended?
Here is the winter solstice sunrise viewed from inside the stones…..
……. or is it the winter solstice sunset, viewed from the end of The Avenue? Few people will know the answer because the two spectacles are virtually identical and separated by only a few hours. Why then do people gather in the wrong place at the wrong time to view the wrong spectacle? Shouldn’t EH simply switch the event next Winter, secure in the knowledge no-one who respects Stonehenge could put up any realistic objections?
PS, 11th Feb 2013
Here’s a video in which Susan Greaney, Senior Properties Historian at English Heritage (we like her) makes it crystal clear the place was built for viewing from The Avenue.
(Shame about the people climbing on the stones. Anyone that has done that or not stopped them doing it and still calls for Free and Open access is walking proof they shouldn’t get it!)
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The Heritage Journal 
15 comments
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31/12/2012 at 12:10
Keith Macdonald
Re “Bearing in mind there is no realistic chance that ancient people would have known the precise scientific moment when the solstice occurs”
Eh? Presumably this is a different set of ancient people than the ones who designed and built Stonehenge with alignments. Or are we going back to “it’s just a coincidence”?
31/12/2012 at 12:18
heritageaction
No, we’re saying they wouldn’t have known “the precise scientific moment” – (e.g. 11.11am this year.)
They seem to have designed and built Stonehenge with a winter solstice sunset alignment, which is quite different.
17/01/2013 at 10:58
Maryam
The second access at 11.11 on 21-12-2012 was for the end of the world moment world meditation, not for any other reason. Also there is now controversy around whether the other access time apart from summer solstice “open managed access” are not by right, they are at English heritage discretion. Maybe you could participate in Change and Celebrations at Stonehenge on Facebook?
17/01/2013 at 11:19
Archer
You’re singing from my hymn book here, I think…. The winter solstice getting a bit out control and too extended now. While the sunrise can be very pretty in winter, it is certainly not the focus.
17/01/2013 at 11:28
heritageaction
Hi Maryam,
The sole point of the article was to make the point that any claims to “rights” are severely undermined if those claiming them aren’t willing to use Stonehenge in the way that the latest research indicates it was meant to be used. They should be clamouring for an authentic winter solstice if they want to be taken seriously.
17/01/2013 at 11:31
heritageaction
Quite. That seems to have been demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt and it means the whole debate needs to be re-run.
17/01/2013 at 17:36
Mardi Lee
No-one has ever known the exact moment of any of either the solstices or equinoxes, which is why English Heritage staff have told druids that they understand that it is over a 3 day period. Exactly the same as no-one knows how or why our ancestors built Stonehenge, there are many theories even to it’s uses over it’s 5000+ year history. English Heritage have the use of Stonehenge 361 days of the year(in fact due to the pitiful amount of access time we are given it is more than this), to many people this is a desecration of a sacred place. So is it wrong for people that have a different culture of which Stonehenge and other sacred places are part of, to ask for a more enjoyable gathering. We have spent the last 13 years doing as English Heritage have asked, hoping that eventually it would become more relaxed and enjoyable, just comparing the 2000 Managed open access with what we have today and you can see has if anything become more strict and less in keeping with our beliefs. For instance if someone burnt incense in 2000 this was acceptable, if you try to do it now you are forced to put it out. Further if you took your clothes off people did not react outraged, it was normal for us to see each others bodies. The security and EH had a more relaxed approach, it seems to us that now a days those in charge of managing our access(without our consent) would prefer to spend thousands if not millions on stopping us have any extension of access. I could go on and on and on and on……….
17/01/2013 at 18:08
heritageaction
The article was not about the many rights and wrongs of Open Access. It was purely about the fact that the latest research indicates the winter solstice celebrations could hardly be less authentic.
In our opinion they should be made so as soon as possible.
We would be very, very surprised if those who feel a need to take part in winter solstice celebrations at Stonehenge don’t support such a change with great enthusiasm.
24/01/2013 at 13:35
Mardi Lee
I welcome the debate, and personally if you all wanna gather in the Stonehenge Environment then go ahead and do it. National trust land is open access 24/7 as long as you stick to their regulations, no camping, fires etc. But if you want to talk about authenticness, then you must also realise that the Solstice was traditionally over a 3 day period. If you manage to get this first and most important part, then I will come join you
mardi
24/01/2013 at 14:14
J S (@juamei)
“Solstice was traditionally over a 3 day period”
Do you have references for that or is it just supposition?
25/01/2013 at 08:02
devize and conker
“Do you have references for that or is it just supposition?”
I think it’s important to back up any such claims with evidence.
English Heritage is often presented with demands from people saying they are asserting traditional rights. Unless they can back such claims up they can’t expect to be listened to. All they are really saying is “we would like….” which is quite different.
25/01/2013 at 10:15
Maryam
There is merit in the fact that 3 days are still used to celebrate festivals in other more recent religions: all the Eid, Easter & Christmas, Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Passover. The full moon has 3 nights, even the Kumba Mela, although that lasts even longer.
It seems that only here are we restricted to 13 hours at the summer and if we are lucky less than 2 hours at the winter. Why would people travel in the darkest time of year for just a day?
25/01/2013 at 12:13
Pat
That’s a long way from giving references to support the assertion that Solstice at Stonehenge was “traditionally over a 3 day period”. Something more is needed considering all the effort and expense that is involved – and people don’t even pay!
26/01/2013 at 11:43
Mardi
As you know yourselves there has always been various ways of defining the time and date of the exact of the Solstices etc, this combined with the fact that EH staff themselves where heard to declare that ” they know the Solstice is over a 3 day period” to the Dorset grove of druids”. It is hard to produce hard facts to verify anything about Stonehenge, from when it was built to it’s uses over the centuries. But the past uses of Stonehenge whilst informative are the past, but if you look over the past 100 years, there are many accounts that have been recorded where people have come to Stonehenge for a few days over the Solstice periods. For reason of both social, and ritual purposes. Stonehenge is our past present and future, it has always been used for social and ritual gatherings by the people of their time. Who can say which is the correct useage of Stonehenge, that thier way is the authentic one.
26/01/2013 at 12:53
heritageaction
Well you’ll appreciate that a third hand account of what unnamed EH staff said verbally isn’t a convincing account of what EH think so if you want a definitive account of their opinion you should simply write to them. (We sincerely doubt it will be anything like what you quote).
In any case, as we said, our article is about the winter solstice not the summer one and the recent research exercise produced some of the hardest evidence for many years that Stonehenge was designed for the observation of the Winter solstice sunset from the Avenue. You can’t get more authentic than to do what the builders intended and therefore we strongly support celebrating the winter solstice in that way.