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by Nigel Swift
We recently complained about an 11th detecting rally at Boxted. Now an 11th is coming to or near Weyhill Fair. If ever somewhere should be protected it’s there, where social and commercial interaction took place for at least 8.5 centuries. It can’t be scheduled (no buildings there) so instead it’s being progressively denuded for fun and profit (ostensibly “for charity”, even though everything found is kept by the detectorists.).
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“Sites really don’t come better than this!” crowed the organiser. Yes. I used to pass here daily, it’s history personified: 750 years of almost continuous gatherings including the country’s largest sheep fairs (100,000 sold a day at the peak), mentioned in “The Vision of Piers Plowman”, held on land partly owned by Chaucer (did he hear some of his tales from characters here?). Thousands turned up for the hiring of workers and all manner of entertainments – perhaps jousting, sword fighting, dog-baiting, bear-baiting, cockfighting, and strolling minstrels, Mystery Plays and mummers. By the sixteenth century it had an on-site court to settle disputes and lawlessness and thereafter it expanded further to include a horse fair, a cheese fair, and a hop fair. There were even said to be cases of wife-selling, as immortalised by Thomas Hardy in the Mayor of Casterbridge.
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So by September two sites will have hosted 11 rallies each. At an average weekend attendance of 200 each one, that implies 70,000 hours of exploitative searching. A vivid illustration of the folly of UK policies, especially the recent decision to allow metal detecting rallies to restart. Any chance PAS could express dismay? No? Would poor Wayne be upset?
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We suggest the answer is a resounding YES!
“This, if true, indicates an outstanding aesthetic sense and a desire to undertake “landscape engineering” on an absolutely epic scale…”
Surely no-one can now seriously propose driving a 6 lane expressway directly through the critical part of the view?
Friday, July 24, 2020
Avenue Walk and the Durrington Walls Pits
In mid 2020, the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project published findings from their extensive geophysics work in the World Heritage Site in which they revealed the discovery of “A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge” (https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.55.4).
This is a roughly circular arrangement of 10m wide by 5m (at least) deep pits centred on Durrington Walls with an overall diameter in excess of 2km – a truly enormous landscape feature.
The discovery has already prompted a remarkable event – the deferring of the decision by the UK Government’s Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps MP, on whether to build the Stonehenge Tunnel. As this BBC News Story highlights, such a major find within the Stonehenge World Heritage site, very close to the proposed location of the Tunnel’s Eastern Portal entrance, means that “further consultation” is required.
The decision has been put back until November 2020 to allow time for an analysis of the significance of this completely unexpected archaeological result.
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| LIDAR of Durrington Walls overlaid with the pit circle locations |
I found myself wondering whether there was any significance to the arrangement and positioning of these “pits”, but couldn’t see anything obvious from the plan.
Then I decided to stop looking at the plan, and instead look at the landscape from ground level.
I georeferenced the pit locations into Google Earth, stuck markers in them, and took a virtual stroll along the course of the Stonehenge Avenue from West Amesbury Henge (aka Bluestonehenge) at the River Avon towards Stonehenge.
What I saw astonished me.
The pit locations occupy positions that serve to frame the eastern horizon from Larkhill Causewayed Enclosure via Sidbury Hill to the northern ridge running from Beacon Hill.
Each of these horizon features was important in the Neolilthic.
Larkhill Causewayed Enclosure
Larkhill’s enclosure pre-dated the Durrington Walls pits by almost 1000 years yet it is included in their circuit. Later Beaker period inhumations at the entrance, together with a pit alignment pointing off towards Barrow Clump and Sidbury Hill suggest strongly that this site retained its significance for generations.
https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/larkhill-causewayed-enclosure.htm
https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/our-work/larkhill
https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue47/7/5-6.html
From the Intarch article above:
“Monuments may have formalised or commemorated movements and gatherings of different scale, though the emphasis on localised patterns of visual perception perhaps relates to movements around the landscape at a community scale.”
Sidbury Hill
Sidbury Hill lies exactly on the Stonehenge summer solstice alignment from the stone circle, and appears to have been important as a source of a particular kind of flint associated with dozens of neolithic pits and a flint working industry discovered during the Army Rebasing Housing Development at Bulford.
Those pits contained an odd assortment of apparently deliberately deposited artifacts, and next to them was a peculiar “double henge”. Opposite the housing development is the Bulford Stone – a natural sarsen boulder which was erected next to where it originally formed on top of the chalk, and next to it is a prehistoric grave which contains significant and unique grave goods.
Phil Harding (recognised as the leading expert on prehistoric flint working) regards the Bulford pits and double henge discovery as one of the most significant for decades. Sidbury Hill seems to have been of pre-eminent importance and focus to these neolithic people, and also to those who came later because three long Bronze Age linear ditches converge at Sidbury Hill – one from the west, one from the north and one from the east.
https://modmedia.blog.gov.uk/2016/04/15/bulford-dig-unearths-archaeological-treasure-trove/
https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/our-work/bulford
Beacon Hill Ridgeline
The ridge leading to Beacon Hill has been cited as a possible target for the alignment of the Stonehenge Greater Cursus. Although this earthwork monument runs roughly west-east, it is not accurately aligned on the equinox sunrise and set. Instead, it seems to be drawing attention to the eastern horizon, particularly the area immediately north of the summit of Beacon Hill.
In alignment with and east of the Cursus, between the Cursus and the River Avon, lies the Cuckoo Stone near to Durrington Walls itself. This stone is another natural sarsen boulder which was erected next to where it formed. It seems to have retained its importance down to Romano-British times as the discovery of the square Roman “wayside temple” right next to it indicates.
The Avenue Walk
Larkhill enclosure, Sidbury Hill and the Beacon Hill ridge are the primary features of the horizon that are framed by the Durrington Walls pit locations as you walk along the Avenue.
At every point along this route, the arrangement of pits neatly brackets this section of the horizon – the arrangement of pits in a circle neatly counteracts the parallax effect that an otherwise straight-line arrangement would suffer.
Once you reach King Barrow Ridge and Stonehenge comes into view, the eastern horizon frame fades away as you descend into Stonehenge Bottom and begin your final approach to Stonehenge itself.
Now that you have the background, have a look at the video I’ve created that shows the effect.
This video (which has no audio, by the way) makes use of Google Earth, into which I have georeferenced the locations of the Durrington Walls pits from the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project’s recently published paper about their discovery. The line of the Avenue itself is taken directly from the Stonehenge Riverside Project’s “Seeing Beneath Stonehenge” Google Earth dataset. Markers for Sidbury Hill and Larkhill Causewayed Enclosure were added by me.
It’s best viewed full screen on YouTube (https://youtu.be/P-XvMyBrTxY), but here’s an embedded version.
Is it possible that the entire landscape is repeatedly and deliberately being memorialised by generations of ancient people through the careful framing of and drawing of attention to elements of their world that have achieved “specialness” through aeons of time?
I think so.
This, if true, indicates an outstanding aesthetic sense and a desire to undertake “landscape engineering” on an absolutely epic scale. It shows an interconnectedness not only in space but also through immense spans of time, reinforcing a people’s relationship with the land and their past.
What I find most interesting is that the route of the Avenue has been a subject of controversy for a long time. It’s not the easiest stone-transport route from the Avon to Stonehenge, but seems instead to have been designed (at the depths of the valley at Stonehenge Bottom) to induce a sense of expectation prior to the final approach along the solstice axis to Stonehenge. Indeed, at that final turn (the “Elbow”), Stonehenge disappears from view entirely, only re-emerging as you climb the slope towards the setting winter sun.
The part of the Avenue route leading from the Avon to King Barrow Ridge now seems to me to have its own crucial significance – keeping in clear view all the parts of the eastern horizon that have a meaning to those undertaking the journey.
Perhaps, if the idea that the Avenue was part of a ritualised journey from life to death from Durrington Walls to Stonehenge, this sharp focus on a particular sweep of the eastern horizon serves as an act of rememberance of all those who have gone before.
And those pits don’t even have to be visible for that to happen – just an understanding that they are there and that they are positioned to induce this feeling would be enough.
What a majestic achievement, still appreciable across open farmland nearly 5000 years after it was laid out.
Pity it might all be spoiled by driving a 6 lane expressway directly through the critical part of the view.
Story originally posted on the Stonehenge Monument blog, credit Simon Banton.
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Renewed in chalk ten months ago, the Giant has remained in readiness to mark 100 years of the National Trust owning and caring for the site today. Sadly the pandemic has ensured there will be no celebration as planned by the National Trust.
This occasion should not be allowed to pass as silently as the charity’s acquisition of the Giant on 23rd July 1920, for this gift from Alexander and George Pitt-Rivers didn’t feature in the press until the following June. Even then it only featured amidst a long list of the charity’s acquisitions, in small print on page 10 of The Times.
There were no headlines or commentary in 1920, because the Giant had yet to gain its modern reputation. This reputation is now reflected in the popularity of distinguishing artwork as well as regular attention by the media, proving a measure of success and engagement that is entirely due to the public interest generated under the charity’s management. Today then is a very happy anniversary indeed.
Brian Edwards
Visiting Research Fellow
The Regional History Centre
UWE, Bristol.
There is a (tiny) minority of archaeologists who seem to have taken the Government at its word about why the decision has been delayed and are reacting by saying “an archaeological discovery far from any proposed roadworks has no bearing on the tunnel.” It’s true, but so what? The telling point is that the Government knows the new discovery will be unaffected yet they are implying they’ve postponed a final decision in order to consult further – on something which they and everyone else know won’t be affected!
Everyone should ask WHY? Perhaps the new monument should be named Excuse Henge, something being used to buy time to devise a way out of the financial, archaeological, and reputational mess in which the Government finds itself?
Their particular fear is what we can term Scary Henges, other features that may be unearthed and then bulldozed away. No-one can assure them it won’t happen in some way, there would be lots of destruction and when it happened the outrage would reverberate around the world. A reputation for acting like a banana republic is something they might wish to avoid just now.
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The pro short tunnel archaeological bodies have been placed in a tricky position by this second delay. Do they now say they regret that the gouging of a dual carriageway across the World Heritage landscape against UNESCO’s wishes has been delayed? Their reactions so far suggest they don’t quite know what to say!
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Highways England: “We are confident that the proposed scheme presents the best solution for tackling a longstanding bottleneck”. So no reaction to the actual delay, just sullen stonewalling. If they’re confident it’s the best scheme what do they think the delay is about?! (Yet again, their PR Department looks out of its depth).
Historic England – no response so far, Why? They’re a leading proponent.
English Heritage – no response so far, Why? They’re a leading proponent.
The National Trust: “we are working closely with our partners to help inform and challenge Highways England to deliver a scheme that protects the special qualities of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and finally addresses the major harm the existing A303 does to this extraordinary place.” So still supporting the destruction when even the Government appears to be balking at it!
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The extreme discomfiture of all four bodies is plain to see. But that’s on their public faces, what about all the archaeologists they employ, surely some (or most?) of those are appalled by the scheme? Yet none of them say anything. Strange, isn’t it?
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. Name the odd one out!
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[Clue: It’s the one where mass recreational knowledge theft is entirely legal.]
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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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by Nigel Swift
This week Angela Merkel made the obvious point that “You cannot fight the pandemic with lies and disinformation…the limits of Populism are being laid bare.” Doesn’t that also apply to British metal detecting: a pandemic of knowledge theft hidden by lies and disinformation?
Angela: not a fan of populism
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We had hoped the Government would delay the return of the biggest source of knowledge theft – mass detecting rallies – until the law could be amended. But no, they’re back, with every participant waving the NCMD or FID notorious banner of false responsibility at the farmer, to whom PAS has neglected to tell the truth.
Pity the country’s farmers, the crucial gatekeepers of all our buried history: detectorists lie to them and PAS doesn’t tell them that the “responsibility code” they wave is one long, convenient falsehood – which doesn’t require any detectorist to follow the official one!
One of the first will be at Boxted – the 11th held there since 2010! Both the organisers and attendees boast massively about how much is found there yet PAS recorded only 23 artefacts from the first 9 rallies! Britain’s policy of unlimited populism and unlimited damage won’t end any time soon.
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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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We think the headlines, “Stonehenge tunnel decision delayed by archaeological find” aren’t quite right, even though the Government’s announcement seems to say so, viz: “to enable further consultation on and consideration of this matter”. The fact is, as the Government knows full well, the newly discovered monument is not in the path of the new road so can’t be directly damaged by it or require further “consultation and consideration”. Normally they’d say just that and crack on, but they haven’t.
However, it seems probable that what the new discovery has done is to bring home to Ministers that this is an incredibly rich prehistoric landscape and carrying out major work anywhere on it is bound to bring to light further unknown archaeology which would have to be destroyed along with the reputation and political futures of whoever was in charge.
That, together with the fact the country’s finances are in a parlous state, the scheme’s value-for-money has declined, there are huge technical issues regarding the chalk and water and Blickmead would be further damaged, all suggest the Government may now be looking for a way out. Fingers crossed they’ve found one. Digging here was always irresponsible but now they (and their yes-bodies) can pretend new circumstances have arisen and Mr. Shapps won’t take over from John Gormley as that man who caused the damage!
Will Britain disgrace itself?
UPDATE: It’s pretty good news, although we’ll leave it to others to say. But a clue: see the previous article, the red bit!
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And here it is!
BREAKING NEWS: Decision delayed until 13 November. Archaeology considered of concern … at last!!
Minister for Transport Andrew Stephenson has announced further consultation and consideration of the recent finds. What archaeologist Vince Gaffney referred to as “archaeology on steroids”.
https://www.gov.uk/…/transport-update-construction-of-new-c…
Mr Shapps, please don’t be John Gormley, Irish Minister for the Environment who presided over the building of the M3 at Tara and refused to prevent the destruction of the newly discovered National Monument at Lismullin. He made an amazing false claim that “development and conservation can go hand in hand”. No Grant, they can’t. At Tara and Stonehenge, destruction is forever.
Listen instead to Tommy O’Hanlon from Co Kerry:
“TARA, here I am. I have come all the way from Kerry to be with you before the vultures, with bulldozers and JCBs, open your lower belly. They are impatient to inflict the wounds. You are abandoned, forsaken and rejected. All the powers that be have walked out on you. We pay them to protect you but they betrayed us. We trusted them too much.
The day Environment Minister Dick Roche sanctioned the motorway (that could be you, Grant!), I was watching the evening news in a pub. One man said, when he saw Mr Roche on TV, “Isn’t he a pity? I wouldn’t ask him to mind my chickens, and Bertie Ahern (that could be Boris, Grant) put him in charge of our heritage and environment. He has no bottle, afraid of the hawks.” Poor Mr Roche. Maybe he has no power. An Bord Pleanála, which is not comprised of elected representatives, makes all the big decisions. Or does it? Who has real power today?
Tara, what else can your support groups and friends do now? Are all avenues closed? Has your hour come? Will we call the lone piper to play a dirge?”
Did they say it would be like keyhole surgery Grant, with little damage to buried archaeology? Or did they show you this picture of Tara? If I were you I’d make another excuse and postpone your decision again, until such time as the UK’s financial plight becomes so obvious you can cite that as a reason to cancel the scheme altogether, thus avoiding the real reason, that it’s dreadful and should never have been contemplated – or supported – in the first place!
