by Alan S

Our Review of the Heritage Journal Year concludes with a look at some of our stories from the final part of the year.

14-15

September

We continued our campaign of highlighting scheduling discrepancies in Wales, starting with Traeth Bach, then Mynydd Illtyd,  before returning to Bancbryn once again.

Some better news from Wales involved the rejection of an application for a wind farm at Bedlinog.  A similar application in the Forest of Dean was approved, but highlighted the community bribes which are included in such applications, but often never seen through to their conclusion.

Following a favourable Scottish report into the economic impact of the historic environment, we asked again for heritage to be given the protection it so deserves to allow us all to prosper.

Meanwhile in Oxfordshire, several members and friends of Heritage Action got together for their annual ‘Megameet‘, which was held for the first time at The Rollright Stones.

And the erosion of the archaeological record continued with a metal detecting rally at the site of the famous Weyhill Fair.

October

Following the rally at Weyhill Fair, we made a last ditch attempt to get the area scheduled, before any further damage could be done.

But the big story this month was the re-emergence (pun intended) of plans for a short tunnel at Stonehenge.

There was a glimmer of hope for Oswestry Hillfort,  and Northumberland – but is it all an election ploy?

Our Prehistoric A-Z looked at the Coldrum Stones in Kent, and we pleaded with the National Trust (yet again) not to allow use of ancient monuments and heritage sites to be damaged or used in advertising stunts.

Cadw really haven’t been doing themselves any favours, when it’s so easy to find inconsistencies  in their scheduling decisions.

November

More details emerged about the plans for a short tunnel at Stonehenge, with very little concern being expressed by the major players about the archaeological damage that would result. Apart from ICOMOS-UK and UNESCO that is!

With so much heritage and archaeology at risk, we felt it would be timely to provide a reminder of how to report Heritage Crime – something which we intend to repeat on a regular basis from now on.

And speaking of crime, the question or ‘brandalism or art‘ just won’t go away it seems.

This month, we turned our attention to look at prehistoric Stone Rows.  Dr Sandy Gerrard has provided an (ongoing) series of articles looking to find some commonality of structure  and purpose behind these enigmatic prehistoric monuments.

The Carwynnen Quoit project finally completed, with the publication of a booklet detailing all aspects of this community project, which was about so much more than just raising the stones. I’ve got my copy, have you got yours yet?

When is conservation not protection? When ‘conservation’ is defined by English Heritage! Luckily, their definition was rejected when part of Offa’s Dyke was saved from a potential housing development, thanks to a local campaign group.

December

The Stonehenge tunnel saga continued to dominate  (as we suspect it will for much of 2015, as more detailed plans are released).

Our Stone Rows series continued, with some interesting parallels being drawn (see what I did there?)

Whilst we’re accused of harping on about some issues, Greenpeace proved our often-made point about copycat brandalism.

And as the public hearing into the development plans for Old Oswestry Hillfort opened, we published an open letter by senior academics, in defense of the hillfort. We await the outcome.

And finally, metal detecting. It’s been a bad year for depletion of the archaeological resource, with several major hoards coming to light, almost always in poor circumstances, with ill-disciplined excavation and greed at the forefront. We end the year with a plea to all archaeologists to finally speak up.

Of necessity, this review has been a brief overview of some of the stories we’ve presented, so we’ll wrap it up there, wishing all our readers a healthy and prosperous New Year.

No doubt 2015 will have a few surprises up it’s sleeve, and we’ll be here, making the establishment as uncomfortable as we can by discussing the embarrassing issues in Bonkers Britain as usual. So don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or here on WordPress/RSS to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Personal Note: This year has been a difficult one personally, having lost my step-son unexpectedly in January and the family having been beset by various serious (and ongoing) medical issues throughout the year, which has somewhat curtailed my opportunities to get out and among the stones this year. I’m hopeful that I’ll personally be able to return to a (closer to) normal service of providing visit reports and Bank Holiday drives in 2015.