Late to the party as usual!
So - where are we? Are we now allowed to go climbing up Silbury and clamber all over Stonehenge? Excellent! Now I can sate my desire to sit and/or stand on things!
Not really. I don't understand the mentality of the desire to climb things. Is it because you're not supposed to? Is it like sticking 2 fingers up at the guardians of the site that request that you don't do it? A sort of "Hey, man - these things belong to *all* of us, therefore I'm going to help myself!"?
If it *were* only one person doing it, once, then the damage would probably be non-existant. But if you multiply that by the amount of visitors to these places each year, then of course "wear and tear" will occur! I use that phrase lightly, but if you look at the visitor numbers for Stonehenge and Silbury, and imagine every single one of those people wanting to climb, I don't think you need to be *that* clever to work out that it'll cause damage!
St Catherine's Hill, in Winchester - a gorgeous hillfort with a mizmaze at the top (and, sadly, the M3 motorway gouged through the adjoining hill, but that's another thread, I guess!) - has so many visitors that, after decades/centuries, a path was formed by god knows how many people using the same route. The corrosion became so bad that a wooden stairway was constructed up the side! It has the benefit of conserving the rest of the hill, but it's not really that attractive.
Silbury, with a million (is that a fair estimate? Totally plucked from nowhere so may be well off!) visitors a year, would soon become criss-crossed with paths and worn areas if everyone decided they wanted to climb up! And Stonehenge - although the stones are, as is the nature of stone, quite hard, surely you've seen the effect of decades/centuries of wear and tear on stone? Go visit a castle or summat and have a look at any original stairway or other much-used surface area.
So *well done* and a pat on the head to those that *have* climbed the hill/stones. Have a biscuit.
G x
Reply | with quote | Posted by goffik 19th July 2010ce 06:42 |
Grrr... (Littlestone, Jul 18, 2010, 18:34)- Re: Grrr... (megadread, Jul 18, 2010, 18:46)
- Re: Grrr... (Littlestone, Jul 18, 2010, 19:21)
- Re: Grrr... (megadread, Jul 18, 2010, 19:26)
- Re: Grrr... (Sanctuary, Jul 18, 2010, 19:41)
- Re: Grrr... (Mosh, Jul 18, 2010, 19:45)
- Re: Grrr... (megadread, Jul 18, 2010, 20:27)
- Re: Grrr... (A R Cane, Jul 20, 2010, 13:05)
- Re: Grrr... (Sanctuary, Jul 20, 2010, 13:08)
- hmmm. (Rhiannon, Jul 20, 2010, 14:04)
- Re: hmmm. (Sanctuary, Jul 20, 2010, 15:04)
- Re: hmmm. (nigelswift, Jul 20, 2010, 15:30)
- Re: hmmm. (Mustard, Jul 20, 2010, 15:38)
- Re: hmmm. (Rhiannon, Jul 20, 2010, 15:41)
- Re: hmmm. (nigelswift, Jul 20, 2010, 15:47)
- Re: hmmm. (Mustard, Jul 20, 2010, 15:52)
- Re: hmmm. (Sanctuary, Jul 20, 2010, 15:52)
- Re: hmmm. (nigelswift, Jul 20, 2010, 16:47)
- Re: hmmm. (revnox, Aug 05, 2010, 07:26)
- Re: Grrr... (Mustard, Jul 18, 2010, 19:27)
- Re: Grrr... (Sanctuary, Jul 18, 2010, 19:34)
- Re: Grrr... (Lefturn, Jul 18, 2010, 19:10)
- Re: Grrr... (goffik, Jul 19, 2010, 06:42)
- Re: Grrr... (goffik, Jul 19, 2010, 06:52)
- Re: Grrr... (faerygirl, Jul 19, 2010, 13:57)
- Sacking at Silbury (Littlestone, Jul 20, 2010, 20:08)
- Re: Grrr... (head-first, Jul 30, 2010, 12:59)
- Two Ringforts Destroyed (Littlestone, Aug 10, 2010, 05:42)
- The Red Lion, Avebury (Littlestone, Sep 20, 2010, 20:29)
- Re: The Red Lion, Avebury (megadread, Sep 20, 2010, 20:57)
- Re: The Red Lion, Avebury (goffik, Sep 21, 2010, 12:28)
- Re: The Red Lion, Avebury (megadread, Sep 24, 2010, 10:45)
- Re: The Red Lion, Avebury (goffik, Sep 24, 2010, 10:52)
- Re: The Red Lion, Avebury (Sanctuary, Sep 24, 2010, 11:03)
- Re: The Red Lion, Avebury (Littlestone, Sep 24, 2010, 11:06)
- Re: The Red Lion, Avebury (megadread, Sep 24, 2010, 11:24)
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