Initial designs for the scheme have been unveiled for the first time as a major public consultation starts. Highways England said the design would "restore the tranquil environment and setting of the monument". Opponents have said the tunnel could destroy archaeological treasures and scar the landscape irreparably.
The location has been chosen to avoid monuments and ancient burial mounds as well as minimise intrusion on views of the winter solstice from Stonehenge. The National Trust, English Heritage and Historic England welcomed "improvements" to the plans that increase the length of the tunnel with a grass-covered canopy at the western end.
But they urged for the bridge to be widened to form a visual and physical link between monuments in the landscape. They also raised concerns about a proposal to link two byways, introducing a new route for vehicles close to Stonehenge after the tunnel is built. The design, position and interrelationship of the monuments and sites are evidence of a wealthy and highly organised prehistoric society able to impose its concepts on the environment. An outstanding example is the alignment of the Stonehenge Avenue probably a processional route and Stonehenge stone circle on the axis of the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, indicating their ceremonial and astronomical character.
At Avebury the length and size of some of the features such as the West Kennet Avenue, which connects the Henge to the Sanctuary over 2 km away, are further evidence of this. A profound insight into the changing mortuary culture of the periods is provided by the use of Stonehenge as a cremation cemetery, by the West Kennet Long Barrow, the largest known Neolithic stone-chambered collective tomb in southern England, and by the hundreds of other burial sites illustrating evolving funerary rites.
The boundaries of the property capture the attributes that together convey Outstanding Universal Value at Stonehenge and Avebury. They contain the major Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments that exemplify the creative genius and technological skills for which the property is inscribed. The Avebury and Stonehenge landscapes are extensive, both being around 25 square kilometres, and capture the relationship between the monuments as well as their landscape setting. The setting of some key monuments extends beyond the boundary.
Provision of buffer zones or planning guidance based on a comprehensive setting study should be considered to protect the setting of both individual monuments and the overall setting of the property. The survival of the Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments at both Stonehenge and Avebury is exceptional and remarkable given their age — they were built and used between around and BC. Stone and earth monuments retain their original design and materials. The timber structures have disappeared but postholes indicate their location.
Monuments have been regularly maintained and repaired as necessary. The presence of busy main roads going through the World Heritage property impacts adversely on its integrity. The roads sever the relationship between Stonehenge and its surrounding monuments, notably the A which separates the Stone Circle from the Avenue.
The A4 separates the Sanctuary from its barrow group at Overton Hill. Roads and vehicles also cause damage to the fabric of some monuments while traffic noise and visual intrusion have a negative impact on their settings. The incremental impact of highway-related clutter needs to be carefully managed. Development pressures are present and require careful management. Impacts from existing intrusive development should be mitigated where possible.
Interventions have been limited mainly to excavations and the re-erection of some fallen or buried stones to their known positions in the early and mid-twentieth century in order to improve understanding.
Ploughing, burrowing animals and early excavation have resulted in some losses but what remains is remarkable in its completeness and concentration.
The materials and substance of the archaeology supported by the archaeological archives continue to provide an authentic testimony to prehistoric technological and creative achievement. This survival and the huge potential of buried archaeology make the property an extremely important resource for archaeological research, which continues to uncover new evidence and expand our understanding of prehistory. Present day research has enormously improved our understanding of the property.
The known principal monuments largely remain in situ and many are still dominant features in the rural landscape. Their form and design are well-preserved and visitors are easily able to appreciate their location, setting and interrelationships which in combination represent landscapes without parallel.
At Stonehenge several monuments have retained their alignment on the Solstice sunrise and sunset, including the Stone Circle, the Avenue, Woodhenge, and the Durrington Walls Southern Circle and its Avenue. Although the original ceremonial use of the monuments is not known, they retain spiritual significance for some people, and many still gather at both stone circles to celebrate the Solstice and other observations.
Stonehenge is known and valued by many more as the most famous prehistoric monument in the world. There is a need to strengthen understanding of the overall relationship between remains, both buried and standing, at Stonehenge and at Avebury. Policies to protect, promote, conserve and enhance World Heritage properties, their settings and buffer zones are also found in statutory planning documents.
The protection of the property and its setting from inappropriate development could be further strengthened through the adoption of a specific Supplementary Planning Document. In fact, scholars are now convinced that Stonehenge can finally — after centuries of debate — be fixed at about 5, years old, after organic material excavated at the base of the stones was radiocarbon-dated in the s.
It is not easy dating such monuments — a fact demonstrated by the recent revelation that an unusual bronze-age stone circle in Aberdeenshire was actually built 20 years ago by a farmer. Currently, the dominant theory about the purpose of Stonehenge is that of Mike Parker Pearson, who excavated in the area for several years from He hypothesises that it was a first and foremost a place built to honour the dead — and that the community that built it lived nearby, at Durrington Walls.
I n the early s, Stonehenge was a mess. Tourists got to it via a grubby pedestrian passageway under the A, the road nearest to the monument; the visitor centre and parking facilities were tatty; the annual solstice celebrations saw embarrassing clashes between travellers and law enforcement. When the Department for Transport first announced plans to improve the A, it seemed — at least to the energetic new boss of English Heritage, Thatcher favourite Jocelyn Stevens — as if all of this could be tackled at once.
It took two decades for the A to be closed and grassed over and a new visitor centre opened. The problem of the A, however, has proved even more stubborn. In , the DoT unveiled plans for yet another tunnel, this time only 1. For the campaigners who had fought these projects for 15 years, it seemed like a victory. A retired archaeologist and one of the leading lights of the tunnel resistance, Fielden first got wind of the revived tunnel scheme in , when it was being eagerly promoted by MPs keen for a boost to the local economy.
Her group, the Stonehenge Alliance, which had become something of a sleeper cell, snapped back into action, writing to ministers even before the new scheme was announced by David Cameron in December This time, the National Trust had been brought back on side by the promise that the mooted tunnel would be half a mile longer than in the previous scheme.
David Bullock is the project manager for the Stonehenge section of the A upgrade. After a public consultation in , the 1. Objectors such as Mike Parker Pearson are infuriated by the decision not to simply reroute the road well to the south of the site — which Highways England argues could disturb untouched archaeology.
Some locals are aggrieved by the disruption caused by all this preliminary work — and feel ignored by the consultation process. Her land contains important ancient barrows and an RSPB reserve for the rare, eccentric-looking bird, the stone curlew.
She told me there had been disturbances to livestock, work done at inappropriate times in the farming year, and material from investigations left on her land — she even holds up a zip-lock bag of flints left behind by one of the archaeological teams. Highways England said that work was discussed in advance, damage to crops compensated for, and steps taken to prevent a reoccurrence of the mislaid flints episode.
The Stonehenge Alliance has submitted documents arguing that the scheme contravenes a blizzard of laws, directives and conventions, including the Planning Act, the World Heritage Convention, the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and the Birds Directive. A darkly weird piece for brass instruments, by composer Matt Rogers, was performed inside the stone circle, as tourists looked on in faint bewilderment.
As a line of Gore-Texed visitors patiently queued for a cuppa, it was hard to imagine anything more English. The tunnel scheme had been submitted to the planning inspectorate the previous week, and was being discussed in tones — depending on point of view — varying from horror to resignation to relief.
In fact, the idea is fairly recent — and Stonehenge itself played an important role in its invention. For centuries, the monument has been a tourist destination; by the midth century the classic trip was to combine it with Salisbury Cathedral, 10 miles to the south. This is also the tourist programme that the Russians accused of poisoning Sergei and Yulia Skripal were planning, so they said , before they were foiled by slush underfoot.
Victorian Stonehenge was a place of day-trippers, bicycle outings, Sunday school jollies, cricket matches and concerts. The craze for the new discipline of geology saw visitors chipping chunks out of the stones for their collections a stall rented out chisels. It was this popularity and accessibility, partly brought about by the railway boom, that began to imperil Stonehenge — and simultaneously forge the idea that it ought to be preserved for future generations.
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