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Ure-Swale Plateau
Re: The Roman subjigation of a sacred space
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A stonemason speaks:

If you're into stone - and there can be no doubt that the Romans were - then you appreciate stonework, in whatever form it takes. The location of Roman remains near to Megaliths can lend support to the concept that they drew comfort from such places. Whether it was because their native conscripts worshipped there or just that they appreciated the groovy sculpture nearby is completely open.

You see similar situations where stone fieldwalls run through monument sites (such as at Kirkhaugh). The wallers could have used the ancient stones but instead left them where they were and put their modern structures over the top. A couple of standing stones at the bottom of a wall - as is seen in Scotland often - certainly saves a lot of work. It's comparatively rare in the Pennines.

I doubt any of us would like to acknowledge that the Romans helped preserve some of our native places but that's the opinion I am forming. It seems as though it was the later 'Puritan' roadbuilders et al. who did the main damage. Which is continuing to this day as my recent accounts have shown.

I've been stuck in a tent with A. Thom's Megalithic Sites - I'm learning new stuff that I'd not spotted before - like his surveys of stone rows and their lunar alignments. The notch in Long Meg is for the sun !

Etc.


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AtomicMutton
Posted by AtomicMutton
18th August 2003ce
14:07

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