It seems that King Arthur Pendragon has “slammed” the Heritage Journal in the press (see here). Yet we’ve been very supportive of him over the years and have described him as “brave” here and “affable and amusing” here and “in his own way one of the sanest men in Britain” here.
But he has got it wrong in this case. He says “As for the Heritage Journal, calling for an end to managed open access, they’ve been doing that since they were formed in the first place.” Not so. What we’re against is damage and all we’ve ever wanted is an end to that by redesigning the event so it’s far less crowded and some proper protective control can be applied. Ten years of damage is witness to the fact we have a point and our pagan members all agree. If Arthur can stop the damage, fine, but if all he can do is tell the press “obviously we abhor the vandalism” then we’re entitled to propose measures that will end it.
There are a couple of additional points in support of our view. The latest research suggests the stones were designed to allow people to view the summer solstice sunset from outside the circle, not crowded inside it, so we’re surprised Arthur and others aren’t calling for the authentic re-enactment. It costs a couple of hundred thousand pounds to run the event in the current format and the attendees don’t pay a bean. So if most people stayed outside the circle they’d have a better view and a more authentic one and the rest of the population wouldn’t have to shell out ridiculous amounts of money to run the event. AND the damage would stop in a jiffy!
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See also The View of a Senior Officer
13 comments
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03/03/2015 at 10:51
Edwin Deady
Boring to repeat but the answer is to allow daytime access all year round with extended times at the Solstices perhaps. Patrols of large people saying “Oi! get down from there” as they do at other heritage sites. Normalises Stonehenge instead of it being a forbidden icon.
As for the Pendragon, self-promoting person I would ignore.
03/03/2015 at 15:03
roygoutte
And you’ve been promoted to archaeologists. Congratulations…your efforts rewarded 🙂
03/03/2015 at 15:32
Alan S.
As you well know Roy, that’s not a claim we’ve ever made for ourselves. Quite the opposite, in fact. “Ordinary people caring for Extraordinary places”.
03/03/2015 at 15:40
heritageaction
We have received the following comment via email, from someone who wishes to remain anonymous:
03/03/2015 at 15:50
roygoutte
That may be so Alan, but the point is he sees you as being more than that and others will take note. Fight the good fight in a balanced way and many others will also see it that way. You’ve said your piece and it’s struck home so job done really. Well done.
03/03/2015 at 16:50
Billy
Well no wonder he wanted to stay anonymous with so many lies to sprout from his fertile Imagination
03/03/2015 at 17:43
heritageaction
Such vivid testimony from a senior officer in one of the statutory emergency services can’t be easily dismissed as “lies”. On the contrary.
03/03/2015 at 19:49
hoodedman1
Actually, Billy, this is EXACTLY what takes place whether you want to believe it or not. Most people who live in the nearby villages/towns have had friends or family who have worked at the stones in one capacity or another over the years, and the same statements appear over and over again. Filth, excrement, urine, fag butts, rubbish.
04/03/2015 at 08:54
nicky
I believed your ‘Senior Officers’ comments up until the point “Faeces Everywhere”. Really? Does anyone really believe that within the stones are lots of human beings having a crap openly in front of everyone? Pull the other one.
04/03/2015 at 09:21
Tim 66
We can’t evaluate what “everywhere” means but just “somewhere” would be an absolute outrage, and something no other country would tolerate at their national icon.
Details apart, the account suggests widespread intolerable behaviour of various sorts which needs entirely eradicating, not argued about. Arthur can say they are always on the look out for such things but clearly he can’t prevent them as things stand.
06/03/2015 at 11:59
Billy
are so you seen and smelt this as well did you heritageaction ?
07/03/2015 at 11:14
Barry
I was at Stonehenge this winter solstice and there were some folks who were very unpleasant and had a bad attitude toward anyone who worked for English Heritage (and women and anyone who looked ‘normal’,….whatever that is). I found them to be a right pain as they were noisy, unpleasant and just had no interest in the occasion, just being idiots (polite term). However, that said, the vast majority of people were respectful, grateful of the efforts that had been made by all the staff and had a truly moving time sharing the sacred space that is Stonehenge, myself included. If only idiots and anti-social, uncaring people who profess to be interested in attending a very special site at a very special time could find a hole to crawl into while the rest of us can be freer to enjoy the moment.
15/03/2015 at 07:57
suzannegeufron40
Reblogged this on Suze.se.