Well OK it’s a false headline, she was actually fined €600 for stubbing out a cigarette on the pristine beach of Alghero in Sardinia but it reminded us that we hadn’t finished ranting about how we British allow Stonehenge to be disrespected. Compare and contrast her cigarette stub with this…..
How did we sleepwalk into a position where we tolerate treating our national icon in that way in full view of the rest of the world? On one day of the year only (no-one would dream of dropping a molecule of litter there on any of the other 364). There has to be a way to stop it and it’s clearly up to those who say they respect Stonehenge most to come up with a clear, practical proposal to achieve it. (Clue: numbers!)
Update 1 September 2014
EH has just announced the date for the next few Round Table meetings. Believe it or not there will be nine of them before next year’s summer solstice…..
Thu 2 October 2014
Thu 6 November 2014
Thu 4 December 2014
Thu 8 January 2015
Thu 5 February 2015
Thu 5 March 2015
Thu 2 April 2015
Thu 7 May 2015
Thu 4 June 2015
“Believe it or not” is an appropriate phrase because if they are like the ones held for the past decade they’ll only be concerned with minor matters or with endless, fruitless variations of “give us more access” followed by polite refusals (because agreeing to do so would conflict with EH’s statutory duty to protect). Not one of them, probably, will be concerned with the one thing that’s needed: restricting numbers so that adequate control can be maintained.
The Heritage Journal 
7 comments
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29/08/2014 at 08:17
Feona Bowey
Considering EH staff have to have that cleared up by the opening of business at 9am, they deserve a ‘well done.’
Nothing has changed since the Edwardians really.
29/08/2014 at 08:19
Edwin
Or stop getting so worked up about such an icon and prepare for litter picking after an event.
29/08/2014 at 08:30
JMcTaggart
“Accepting that there will be some “damage”” and not getting “worked up” about litter …. it’s lucky you’re not in charge of the place.
29/08/2014 at 11:31
Simon Banton
“no-one would dream of dropping a molecule of litter there on any of the other 364” – I wish!
29/08/2014 at 12:08
lanceleuven
“Or stop getting so worked up about such an icon and prepare for litter picking after an event.”
I know, right? It’s only the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world as well as one of the world’s most impressive prehistoric megalithic monuments *. So what’s the fuss eh?
*Info quoted from the UNESCO World Heritage site.
29/08/2014 at 13:06
heritageaction
“no-one would dream of dropping a molecule of litter there on any of the other 364″ – I wish!
Sorry, not in the circle on a small scale visit with people watching I meant!
31/08/2014 at 21:43
Edwin
Funny, if you don’t worship a place as an icon but as part of interesting history you are deemed unfit to be in charge of it. But, it would appear that the present controllers are not doing much of a job anyway, according to doomsayers in this discussion.