Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2013 - Bus Timetable

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SUMMER SOLSTICE 2013 CONDITIONS OF ENTRY AND INFORMATION

SUMMER SOLSTICE 2013

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY AND INFORMATION

These Conditions of Entry are written to ensure enjoyment and public safety for everyone.
Contravention of any of these conditions may result In entry being refused or removal from Stonehenge. English Heritage reserves the right to refuse entry.
In order to ensure your personal safety, random searches may be undertaken, but we hope that self-policing and personal responsibility will prevail.

STONEHENGE OPENS 19:00 hrs Thursday 20 June
STONEHENGE CLOSES 08:00 hrs Friday 21 June

Respect

Stonehenge is seen by many as a sacred site — please respect it for each other. Drunken, disorderly or anti social behaviour will not be tolerated,

The Stones

In the interest of personal safety and protecting this special site, please do not climb or stand on the stones.

Alcohol

Only small amounts of alcohol for personal use will be permitted

Bags

Only small bags/ruckçacks (similar size to hand luggage on airlines) will be permitted into Stonehenge.

Under 16’s

Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an Adult

Amplified Music

Amplified Music is inappropriate and will not be permitted at the Monument, in the surrounding landscape or Solstice Car Park. Please do not bring any sound systems or portable amplifiers.

Fire

Please do not light fires, flaming torches, BBQ’s, candles, fireworks or Chinese lanterns — this applies at Stonehenge, in the Solstice car park and anywhere on surrounding National Trust land

Glass

As some people walk barefoot and livestock also graze ¡n the area, glass items may not be brought into Stonehenge.

Animals

Dogs, pets and other creatures are not permitted into Stonehenge, except registered assistance dogs.

No Camping

Sleeping Bags & duvets are not permitted. Camping is not permitted at Stonehenge, in the Solstiœ Car Park or anywhere in the surrounding National Trust Land.

Lighting

In the interests of public safety there will be ambient lighting throughout the night. Lights will be systematically turned off as dawn approaches.

New Stonehenge Archive Discovery

Richard Bailey, the son of T.E. Bailey, the Chief Architect of the Ministry of Works from the 1950s who supervised the restoration of fallen and leaning stones at Stonehenge in the 1950s, visited Stonehenge yesterday and brought with him a few items from an extensive archive he has from the Ministry of Works. It includes items from the raising of the trilithons in 1958 to the construction of the present visitor facilities. Most of the Ministry of Works archives on Stonehenge were burnt during an unauthorised tidying up so it was thought none of this material survived. This is a very exciting discovery and we wonder what else he has in store.

Ceremonial key, used to unlock the gate to the subway under the A344 upon its official opening on 9th July 1968

More at http://community.novacaster.com/showarticle.pl?id=11423&n=4001

一期一会 Ichigo Ichie Stonehenge

If I had one bit of advice for when you visit Stonehenge, it would be put your camera down and actually look at it, experience the moment, don't just take photographs. I came across a Zen concept that encapsulates this thought.

Ichigo Ichie ( 一期一会 ) literally means “one opportunity, one encounter”, means “Treasure every encounter, for it will never recur.”

The term is derived from Zen Buddhism and concepts of transience, and it is particularly associated with the Japanese tea ceremony.
In the context of tea ceremony, ichigo ichie reminds participants that each single tea meeting is unique that will never recur in one’s lifetime, therefore, each moment should be treated with the utmost sincerity and that that the moment should be experienced; because the feeling of looking at pictures you can have over and over again, but the feeling of being in this moment cannot ever be recaptured.

It is not just visiting Stonehenge, it can be applied to one’s daily life, “all we have is today, so let’s live it to the fullest.”



h/t http://ask.metafilter.com/242554/No-photos-please#3520723 & http://chanoya.com/blog/

Rewriting Stonehenge's History by Mike Parker Pearson - UCL

Soon This Will Be History

With the A344 closing for ever within a fortnight the sight of coaches and tourists just outside the monument will be no more.

The Twisted Trilithon

Looking across the back of Stonehenge  from behind Stone 10 towards the edge of Stone 21 you can line up the edges of the large Trilithon stones 54 and 57.

These corners are symmetrical with the axis of the monument towards the Summer Solstice Sunrise and Winter Solstice Sunset - see http://www.sarsen.org/2013/06/triangulating-axis-of-stonehenge.html 

As can bee seen from the photo and the plan below the standing Stone 56, part of the Great Trilithon is twisted to this line. The Great Trilithon was on the midpoint, straddling the acknowledged axis but doing so at an angle.

Looking North West from behind Stone 10

Click any photo to embiggen.

For my theory on why the Great Trilithon was twisted see - http://www.sarsen.org/2012/07/stonehenge-resurrection-alignment.html and my leaflet