Click to enlarge
Found in amongst my Stonehenge Ephemera.
Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Tuesday, 30 May 2017
Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2017
Everyone should do it once, but if you have been before I wouldn't bother this year, I won't. I don't like the increased hassle and the plastic people.
Any questions email jennifer.davies@english-heritage.org.uk
From http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/plan-your-visit/summer-solstice/
Stonehenge is an ancient prehistoric site which may have been a place of worship and celebration at the time of Summer Solstice for thousands of years and is seen by many as a sacred site.
Please note that the site will close at 15:00 on Tuesday 20 June with last normal day admissions at 13:00, so that we can prepare for Summer Solstice Managed Open Access. Stonehenge is closed on Wednesday 21 June and will re-open at 09:00 on Thursday 22 June.
English Heritage is pleased to provide free Managed Open Access to Stonehenge for Summer solstice 2017 and ask that if you are planning to join us for this peaceful and special occasion that you read the Conditions of Entry and the information provided on the following pages before deciding whether to come. These are written to ensure enjoyment and safety for everyone attending summer solstice at Stonehenge.
Please note to reduce risk to those attending and to the monument itself, alcohol is not allowed in the monument field during summer solstice.
DATES AND TIMES
TUESDAY 20 JUNE 2017
SOLSTICE CAR PARK OPENS 19:00
ACCESS TO MONUMENT FIELD 19:00
SUNSET 21:26
WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017
SUNRISE 04.52
LAST ADMISSION TO SOLSTICE CAR PARK 06:00 (or when full)
STONEHENGE MONUMENT FIELD CLOSES 08:00
SOLSTICE CAR PARK TO BE VACATED 12:00 (Noon)
Admission to the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge is free of charge.
Parking is limited and charges apply (see Travelling to Solstice for details). We strongly recommend travelling by public transport or arranging to car share with friends or through Liftshare .
For further details and information to help you plan your journey, including details of local accommodation and other helpful advice for Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, follow links below.
Follow @eh_stonehenge on Twitter for live information during the summer solstice.
Travelling to Solstice
Facilities, safety and welfare
What (and what not) to bring
Friday, 12 May 2017
Stonehenge History of Ownership
The estate of Amesbury, including the land on which Stonehenge stood, and
roughly equating to the modern day parish of Amesbury, was a royal estate
from the early medieval period (since the time of King Alfred (d.899)). It
stayed with the Crown until the 1140s, after which it was then granted to
various royal followers, including the Earls of Salisbury and later the
Earls of Warwick. At the time of the dissolution (between 1536 and 1541),
the 200,000 acre estate, including the nunnery of Amesbury Abbey, was
gifted by Henry VIII to the Duke of Somerset, Sir Edward Seymour.
The Amesbury estate was owned by several generations of the Seymour
family, until 1676 when it was passed by marriage to Thomas Bruce, Earl of
Ailesbury. His son Charles Bruce sold it in 1720 to his cousin Henry
Boyle, Lord Carleton (d.1725) who gave it to his nephew Charles Douglas,
Duke of Queensbury (d.1778). The manor passed in 1778 with the dukedom to
his kinsman Archibald Douglas, Lord Douglas, and in 1825 he sold it to Sir
Edmund Atrobus (d.1826). It descended with the baronetcy to Sir Edmund’s
nephew Sir Edmund Antrobus (d.1870), to his son Sir Edmund (d.1899) and in
turn to his son Sir Edmund (d.1915).
In 1901 the last of these, Sir Edmund Antrobus, 3rd Baronet, enclosed
approximately 20 acres around Stonehenge and began to charge for
admission: his right to do this was confirmed by the High Court in 1905.
In the opening months of World War I, Edmund was killed serving in the
Grenadier Guards and his uncle, Sir Cosmo, decided to sell the estate. The
sale was put into the hands of Messers Knight, Frank and Rutley and lot 15
was ‘Stonehenge with about 30 acres, 2 rods, 37 perches of adjoining
downland’. Cecil Chubb's interest in the local area led to him attending
the sale, which took place at the Palace Theatre, Salisbury on the 21st
September 1915. Apparently he went with instructions from his wife to
purchase some chairs. He had no intention of bidding, but in his own
words: "while I was in the room I thought a Salisbury man ought to buy it
and that is how it was done". Stonehenge cost him £6,600 (about £392,000
today). After the bidding Cecil admitted that he put his hand up on
impulse.
Cecil Chubb remained its owner for three years and then, on the 26th
October 1918, he formally handed it over to Sir Alfred Mond, the First
Commissioner of Works, who received it as a gift on behalf of the nation.
The deed of gift included several conditions or covenants:
1. First that the public shall have free access to the premises hereby conveyed and Every part thereof on the payment of such reasonable sum per head not exceeding one shilling for each visit and subject to such conditions as the Commissioners of Works in the exercise and execution of their statutory powers and duties may from time to time impose.
2. Secondly that the premises shall so far as possible maintained in their present condition.
3. Thirdly that no building or erection other than a pay box similar to the Pay Box now standing on the premises shall be erected on any part of the premises within four hundred yards of The Milestone marked “Amesbury 2” on the northern frontage of the premises and Fourthly that the Commissioners of Works will at all times save harmless and keep indemnified the Donors and each of them their and each of their estates an effects from and against all proceedings costs claims and expenses on account of any breach or non observance of the covenants by the Donors to the like or similar effect contained in the Conveyance of the premises to the Donors Dated the thirty first day of December One thousand nine hundred and fifteen In witness whereof the Donors have hereunto set their hands and seals and the Commissioners of Works have caused their Common Seal to be affixed the day and year first above written.
The 1918 Deed of Gift did not specify free access for local residents, but
at that time public rights of way passed very close to the Stones. These
proved inconvenient to the management of the site, and in 1921 the
Commissioners of Works sought to address this. An agreement was reached
that the rights of way would be diverted further from the stone circle,
outside of the fenced area, on the basis that residents of the then
Amesbury Rural District and Parish of Netheravon would be granted the
right of free access to the monument.
A resolution was passed by Amesbury Parish Council on the 12th April 1921
stating that:
“… the Council relinquishes all claims on the right of way now enclosed,
on condition that all householders and their families, (or all
inhabitants) of the parishes, comprising the Rural District of Amesbury,
and the householders and their families (or inhabitants) of the Parish of
Netheravon, be granted free admission to Stonehenge at all times. Subject
to the usual rules and regulations made by the Board for the proper
management of Stonehenge as an Ancient Monument.”
The agreement for free local access has continued to the present day. The
Parish of Netheravon still exists, but Amesbury Rural District disappeared
in the 1974 local government reorganisation. The agreement is accordingly
taken to apply to all inhabitants of those parishes which were within the
former rural district council area.
These areas (which currently account for just over 30,000 residents) are
as follows:
• The Town Council of Amesbury;
• The Parish Councils of Bulford, Figheldean, Durrington, Durnford,
Woodford, Winterbourne Stoke, Shrewton, Orcheston, Tilshead, Winterbourne,
Idmiston, Allington, Newton Toney, Netheravon;
• The Parish Meetings of Milston, Wilsford-cum-Lake, and Cholderton.
Local resident’s passes can be picked up at Durrington Town Hall and
Amesbury Library, on production of two forms of ID.
From https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/stonehenge_history_of_ownershipp
roughly equating to the modern day parish of Amesbury, was a royal estate
from the early medieval period (since the time of King Alfred (d.899)). It
stayed with the Crown until the 1140s, after which it was then granted to
various royal followers, including the Earls of Salisbury and later the
Earls of Warwick. At the time of the dissolution (between 1536 and 1541),
the 200,000 acre estate, including the nunnery of Amesbury Abbey, was
gifted by Henry VIII to the Duke of Somerset, Sir Edward Seymour.
The Amesbury estate was owned by several generations of the Seymour
family, until 1676 when it was passed by marriage to Thomas Bruce, Earl of
Ailesbury. His son Charles Bruce sold it in 1720 to his cousin Henry
Boyle, Lord Carleton (d.1725) who gave it to his nephew Charles Douglas,
Duke of Queensbury (d.1778). The manor passed in 1778 with the dukedom to
his kinsman Archibald Douglas, Lord Douglas, and in 1825 he sold it to Sir
Edmund Atrobus (d.1826). It descended with the baronetcy to Sir Edmund’s
nephew Sir Edmund Antrobus (d.1870), to his son Sir Edmund (d.1899) and in
turn to his son Sir Edmund (d.1915).
In 1901 the last of these, Sir Edmund Antrobus, 3rd Baronet, enclosed
approximately 20 acres around Stonehenge and began to charge for
admission: his right to do this was confirmed by the High Court in 1905.
In the opening months of World War I, Edmund was killed serving in the
Grenadier Guards and his uncle, Sir Cosmo, decided to sell the estate. The
sale was put into the hands of Messers Knight, Frank and Rutley and lot 15
was ‘Stonehenge with about 30 acres, 2 rods, 37 perches of adjoining
downland’. Cecil Chubb's interest in the local area led to him attending
the sale, which took place at the Palace Theatre, Salisbury on the 21st
September 1915. Apparently he went with instructions from his wife to
purchase some chairs. He had no intention of bidding, but in his own
words: "while I was in the room I thought a Salisbury man ought to buy it
and that is how it was done". Stonehenge cost him £6,600 (about £392,000
today). After the bidding Cecil admitted that he put his hand up on
impulse.
Cecil Chubb remained its owner for three years and then, on the 26th
October 1918, he formally handed it over to Sir Alfred Mond, the First
Commissioner of Works, who received it as a gift on behalf of the nation.
The deed of gift included several conditions or covenants:
1. First that the public shall have free access to the premises hereby conveyed and Every part thereof on the payment of such reasonable sum per head not exceeding one shilling for each visit and subject to such conditions as the Commissioners of Works in the exercise and execution of their statutory powers and duties may from time to time impose.
2. Secondly that the premises shall so far as possible maintained in their present condition.
3. Thirdly that no building or erection other than a pay box similar to the Pay Box now standing on the premises shall be erected on any part of the premises within four hundred yards of The Milestone marked “Amesbury 2” on the northern frontage of the premises and Fourthly that the Commissioners of Works will at all times save harmless and keep indemnified the Donors and each of them their and each of their estates an effects from and against all proceedings costs claims and expenses on account of any breach or non observance of the covenants by the Donors to the like or similar effect contained in the Conveyance of the premises to the Donors Dated the thirty first day of December One thousand nine hundred and fifteen In witness whereof the Donors have hereunto set their hands and seals and the Commissioners of Works have caused their Common Seal to be affixed the day and year first above written.
The 1918 Deed of Gift did not specify free access for local residents, but
at that time public rights of way passed very close to the Stones. These
proved inconvenient to the management of the site, and in 1921 the
Commissioners of Works sought to address this. An agreement was reached
that the rights of way would be diverted further from the stone circle,
outside of the fenced area, on the basis that residents of the then
Amesbury Rural District and Parish of Netheravon would be granted the
right of free access to the monument.
A resolution was passed by Amesbury Parish Council on the 12th April 1921
stating that:
“… the Council relinquishes all claims on the right of way now enclosed,
on condition that all householders and their families, (or all
inhabitants) of the parishes, comprising the Rural District of Amesbury,
and the householders and their families (or inhabitants) of the Parish of
Netheravon, be granted free admission to Stonehenge at all times. Subject
to the usual rules and regulations made by the Board for the proper
management of Stonehenge as an Ancient Monument.”
The agreement for free local access has continued to the present day. The
Parish of Netheravon still exists, but Amesbury Rural District disappeared
in the 1974 local government reorganisation. The agreement is accordingly
taken to apply to all inhabitants of those parishes which were within the
former rural district council area.
These areas (which currently account for just over 30,000 residents) are
as follows:
• The Town Council of Amesbury;
• The Parish Councils of Bulford, Figheldean, Durrington, Durnford,
Woodford, Winterbourne Stoke, Shrewton, Orcheston, Tilshead, Winterbourne,
Idmiston, Allington, Newton Toney, Netheravon;
• The Parish Meetings of Milston, Wilsford-cum-Lake, and Cholderton.
Local resident’s passes can be picked up at Durrington Town Hall and
Amesbury Library, on production of two forms of ID.
From https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/stonehenge_history_of_ownershipp
Tuesday, 25 April 2017
Wiltshire Council Advice to English Heritage About the A344
The traffic regulation order made in relation to the A344 does not place any restriction on the movement of pedestrians, cyclists or equestrians.
The gating arrangements were installed at either end of the A344 with the specific purpose of restricting access to motorised vehicles, whilst allowing passage by horses and horse drawn vehicles.
English Heritage have no authority to stop any person from using the A344; they act as agents for the Council in relation to the issuing of permits for those vehicles exempted by the order. Any unlawful use of the road by e.g. motorised vehicles, is a matter for the police to enforce, not English Heritage.
Whilst English Heritage acts as agents for the highway authority in issuing permits for vehicular users of that part of the A344 subject to the TRO, that is the extent of any authority they have in relation to the A344.
The only permitted obstruction to passage along the road are the formally permitted gates, which legal users must be allowed to open.
The placing of cones, barriers and other obstructions in the highway is a legal offence, as provided for in Part IX (Lawful and Unlawful Interference With Highways and Streets) of the Highways Act 1980. The Council, as local highway authority, has a duty under s130 to protect public rights on the highway.
Wiltshire Council understands that English Heritage might find the placing of signs, cones etc in the carriageway as being helpful to their visitors; however, the road is an asset for enjoyment by the wider public, and their lawful rights must be respected by English Heritage, regardless of the impact on and implications for English Heritage’s interests in the area.
Wiltshire Council seeks confirmation from English Heritage that they understand the extent of their powers in relation to the A344, and not to place further such obstructions, nor to seek to intimidate in any way any users of the highway exercising their lawful rights.
The gating arrangements were installed at either end of the A344 with the specific purpose of restricting access to motorised vehicles, whilst allowing passage by horses and horse drawn vehicles.
English Heritage have no authority to stop any person from using the A344; they act as agents for the Council in relation to the issuing of permits for those vehicles exempted by the order. Any unlawful use of the road by e.g. motorised vehicles, is a matter for the police to enforce, not English Heritage.
Whilst English Heritage acts as agents for the highway authority in issuing permits for vehicular users of that part of the A344 subject to the TRO, that is the extent of any authority they have in relation to the A344.
The only permitted obstruction to passage along the road are the formally permitted gates, which legal users must be allowed to open.
The placing of cones, barriers and other obstructions in the highway is a legal offence, as provided for in Part IX (Lawful and Unlawful Interference With Highways and Streets) of the Highways Act 1980. The Council, as local highway authority, has a duty under s130 to protect public rights on the highway.
Wiltshire Council understands that English Heritage might find the placing of signs, cones etc in the carriageway as being helpful to their visitors; however, the road is an asset for enjoyment by the wider public, and their lawful rights must be respected by English Heritage, regardless of the impact on and implications for English Heritage’s interests in the area.
Wiltshire Council seeks confirmation from English Heritage that they understand the extent of their powers in relation to the A344, and not to place further such obstructions, nor to seek to intimidate in any way any users of the highway exercising their lawful rights.
Table of Stonehenge Bluestone Provenances - Updated April 2017
UPDATED with information from Rob Ixer April 2017
|
Rock types
|
Source
|
Stonehenge stone
|
|
Spotted dolerite Group 1
|
Carn Goedog
|
Stones 33, 37, 49, 65, 67
|
|
Unspotted dolerite Group 2
|
Cerrigmarchogion or Craig Talfynydd
|
Stones 45, 62
|
|
Spotted dolerite Group 3
|
Carn Breseb, Carn Gwfry, outcrop near Carn Alw or
outcrop w of Carn Ddafad-las
|
Stones 34, 42, 43, 61
|
|
Spotted dolerite ungrouped
|
Most likely Mynydd Preseli
|
Stones 31, 32, 35a, 35b, 36, 39, 41, 44, 47, 61a, 63,
64, 66, 68, 69, 70, 70a, 70b, 71, 72, 150
|
|
Rhyolite Groups A-C
|
Craig Rhosyfelin
|
Stones 32d & 32e
|
|
Rhyolite Group D
|
?Fishguard Volcanic Group
|
No stone identified; from debris only
|
|
Rhyolite Group E
|
?Fishguard Volcanic Group
|
Stone 48
|
|
Rhyolite Group F
|
?Fishguard Volcanic Group
|
Stone 46
|
|
Rhyolite Group G
|
?Fishguard Volcanic Group
|
Stone 40
|
|
Volcanics Group A
|
?North Pembrokeshire
|
Stones 32c, 33e, 33f, 40c, 41d
|
|
Volcanics Group B
|
?Fishguard Volcanic Group
|
Stone 38
|
|
Sandstone (Devonian)
|
Senni Beds, South Wales
|
Stone 80 (Altar Stone)
|
|
Lower Palaeozoic Sandstone
|
|
Stone 40g, 42c
|
Information from Simon Banton's Stones of Stonehenge site http://www.stonesofstonehenge.org.uk/ and Rob Ixer's uploaded papers on Acedemia.org https://independent.academia.edu/RobertIxer
Mike Parker Pearson, Richard Bevins, Rob Ixer, Joshua Pollard, Colin Richards, Kate Welham, Ben Chan, Kevan Edinborough, Derek Hamilton, Richard Macphail, Duncan Schlee, Jean-Luc Schwenninger, Ellen Simmons and Martin Smith (2015). Craig Rhos-y-felin: a Welsh bluestone megalith quarry for Stonehenge. Antiquity, 89, pp 1331-1352 doi:10.15184/aqy.2015.177
"Carn Menyn (or Carn Meini), was once suggested as the source of the Stonehenge bluestones (Thomas 1923), although the sample set currently available provides no geological evidence for this!"
Wednesday, 12 April 2017
The Heritage Value of the Stonehenge Tunnel
An FOI request provides the Heritage valuation of the proposed Stonehenge tunnel - in otherwords an estimate of how much richer the country will be if the A303 is removed from the surface near Stonehenge.
The full documents are available to download from https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a303_stonehenge_contingent_valua
Brief quotes are:
"Other impacts (such as economic and environmental) are considered in the overall business case and use the methods described in the Department for Transport’s transport appraisal guidance (WebTAG). This study is carefully designed to exclude those other impacts to avoid double counting. This study focuses exclusively on the cultural heritage impacts of removing the A303 from its current location within the WHS in terms of noise reduction, increased tranquillity, visual amenity and reduced landscape severance."
We provide summary results of the contingent valuation of the hypothetical reduction in noise, increased tranquillity, increased visual amenity and reduced landscape severance associated with the removal of the A303 from part of the Stonehenge WHS. The main result is a total net benefit of £1.3bn resulting from the road scheme. The total net benefit aggregates those willing to pay for the road scheme, net of those requiring compensation for it. The aggregated net benefit sits within a 95% confidence interval of £1.1bn and £1.4bn. The values elicited comprise two drivers of welfare; (i) the use value derived from changes to the heritage experience; and (ii) the non-use value which people place on the existence of the altered WHS including bequest value to future generations. It is not possible to separate these values into use and non-use values."
The full documents are available to download from https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a303_stonehenge_contingent_valua
Brief quotes are:
"Other impacts (such as economic and environmental) are considered in the overall business case and use the methods described in the Department for Transport’s transport appraisal guidance (WebTAG). This study is carefully designed to exclude those other impacts to avoid double counting. This study focuses exclusively on the cultural heritage impacts of removing the A303 from its current location within the WHS in terms of noise reduction, increased tranquillity, visual amenity and reduced landscape severance."
We provide summary results of the contingent valuation of the hypothetical reduction in noise, increased tranquillity, increased visual amenity and reduced landscape severance associated with the removal of the A303 from part of the Stonehenge WHS. The main result is a total net benefit of £1.3bn resulting from the road scheme. The total net benefit aggregates those willing to pay for the road scheme, net of those requiring compensation for it. The aggregated net benefit sits within a 95% confidence interval of £1.1bn and £1.4bn. The values elicited comprise two drivers of welfare; (i) the use value derived from changes to the heritage experience; and (ii) the non-use value which people place on the existence of the altered WHS including bequest value to future generations. It is not possible to separate these values into use and non-use values."
The Virtual Sounds of Stonehenge
Researchers from the University of Huddersfield conducted mathematical acoustic analysis of Stonehenge's archaeological plan. When digitally reconstructed, the stones' original placing revealed surprisingly sonorous properties.
"If you build something that is circular, it has circular acoustics. So the acoustic and the sound of the space comes from the shape of its design. So when it was designed in the particular shape it has, in particular the circles, it created visual effects. But it also created acoustic effects," lead researcher Dr Rupert Till told Reuters.
Till composed an interactive soundscape for the model, with the sound of birds and the wind moving through the stones, as well as a soundtrack of Neolithic 'music'. He added that the stones had acoustic features as good as some concert halls, and are particularly suited to loud rhythmic music.
A 'virtual tour' of Stonehenge called the Soundgate (for Apple) or here for Android, is being released as an app that transports people back to various eras in Stonehenge's history, including when the standing stones were at their zenith, and long before the traffic noise from the nearby A303 road.
Using a smartphone or tablet, and with a pair of headphones, users can move around the digitally reconstructed stone circle while listening to the changing acoustics.
"Over time the monument has developed, and our app shows different phases of that development so you can see what it looked like 5,000 or 4,000 years ago, through a thousand years of development," added Till.
"If you build something that is circular, it has circular acoustics. So the acoustic and the sound of the space comes from the shape of its design. So when it was designed in the particular shape it has, in particular the circles, it created visual effects. But it also created acoustic effects," lead researcher Dr Rupert Till told Reuters.
Till composed an interactive soundscape for the model, with the sound of birds and the wind moving through the stones, as well as a soundtrack of Neolithic 'music'. He added that the stones had acoustic features as good as some concert halls, and are particularly suited to loud rhythmic music.
A 'virtual tour' of Stonehenge called the Soundgate (for Apple) or here for Android, is being released as an app that transports people back to various eras in Stonehenge's history, including when the standing stones were at their zenith, and long before the traffic noise from the nearby A303 road.
Using a smartphone or tablet, and with a pair of headphones, users can move around the digitally reconstructed stone circle while listening to the changing acoustics.
"Over time the monument has developed, and our app shows different phases of that development so you can see what it looked like 5,000 or 4,000 years ago, through a thousand years of development," added Till.
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