Stonehenge: a comment by Lord Avebury

Lyulph Avebury, the descendant of Sir John Lubbock, has sent us this comment in response to yesterday’s article (Stonehenge – a disposable hero):

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Lyulph Avebury

In January 1883, A C Smith of the Wiltshire Archaeological Society wrote to John Lubbock advising him of a scheme by the London & South Western Railway to put a new track close to Stonehenge. He took up this cause in opposing the idea and spoke against it in Parliament. In Stonehenge’s defense, he argued that the nearby cursus (prehistoric banks and ditches) would be destroyed but also “the whole aspect of this solemn and mysterious scene …” would be “… irreparably destroyed”. This shows that he had a modern outlook for considering not just the monument itself but the landscape in which it sits. It is a shame that there are many that still do not think this way.