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Catastrophic Paint Damage at the Rollrights (Updated)
Abridged from a post by Karin Attwood to the Stones Mailing List today:
Some absolute mindless tw*t(s) seem to think its a good prank to have splattered bright yellow gloss paint over the entire ring in some cases both sides of the stones. Damage was found this morning by a member of a geo-phys team arrving for work.
The oldest measured lichen colony in the UK has a line of paint running down it plus splatters.
EH have been informed and are talking to NT about methods used at Avebury for previous paint vandalism.
In a later post she also wrote:
Hi All
Just returned home from the circle. Frist the bad news - every single one of the stones is splattered both sides, paint splodges vary from 2"-4" and in long lines. If you can imagine someone with a 6" paintbrush and a large tin of gloss soaking the brush and then flicking it over the stones you can picture the damage!
So far reaction has been shift - the local police spent 2hrs looking round for the can (did not find it though) and taking samples to take around nearby paint shops. The police socco lady was on scene with an hour of me arriving and has also taken samples. Both BBC and Central news have covered the item and local press. A joint EH & Rollright Trust Press Release will be issued tomorrow.
EH area monument inspector has been out and will be returning tomorrow with experts who cleaned up the Avebury paint damage as will the team who have been studying the lichen colonies. EH rep was as incensed as the rest of us and promised that if anyone is caught this will be taken to the full extent of the law. The cost of clean-up and repair will not be available til tomorrow but IMO given that the damage at Avebury did not leave much change out of 100k I reckon at least twice that amount. Paint is also deep inside the holes in the stones.
Damage was most likely done between 8am and 9.45 this morning going be the fact that the paint was still wet and this had to be done in daylight to get most of the paint on target instead of everywhere.
The Police did mention that letting the cost of clean-up being made public would help in getting someone to finger the culprits - who must have been splattered themselves. A reward would also help - to that end I'm currently thinking of who to ask to put up some cash or thinking of asking for pledges to set up a reward fund that would only be called in if someone is prosecuted.
I'm off for a long lie-down, I'm frozen solid after doing my bit for the Karmic wheel in the middle of a freezing cold windy circle dressed inappropriately!
Thanks to everyone for the messages of shared anger and support - hopefully the BBC local news will get over the point that this is not just vandalism but very upsetting to those who regard these places as spiritual too.
Karin - still gutted..
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Some folk will undoubtedly be wondering why Kenmore Church is listed here. The MA tome comes to the rescue (p370):
Kenmore Church occupies the prime position at the centre of Loch Tay's east end, standing on a moundlike ridge. The church is probably Christianised a former sister monument of the Killin circle at the other end of Loch Tay
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Solstice: No Parking
From the NT website:The main visitor car park to Avebury will be closed from Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd June 2003 due to the large number of Solstice Visitors. No alternative car park is available. Public transport will be running as normal, for information on bus services please call 08457 090899. How very thoughtful of them. I wonder where the 'large number of Solstice Visitors' are actually going to park, then!
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Visited 02/03/03.
Found this stone on Bamford Moor whilst looking for the elusive Bamford Moor South Circle (2nd attempt trying to find that one, and still no luck).
It looked pretty clear to me that this stone had been standing at some point, because of the amazing, deeply weathered grooves on both sides. After a (much later) scoot about online and through some local history books, it turns out that this stone is known as the Old Woman's Stone. It was made prostrate by a farmer in the early 1900s who was sick of ramblers using it as a sight. Apparently 2.4m when it was upright (it looked more like 1.5m to me though), it would have enjoyed a peerless upstanding presence on Bamford Moor, and consequently it would also have been a damn sight easier to find than Bamford Moor South!
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Six more bodies found near 'King of Stonehenge' site
from Ananova.com
Archaeologists have discovered six more bodies near the grave of the so-called King of Stonehenge.
The remains of four adults and two children were found at a site in Amesbury, Wiltshire.
It is about half-a-mile from that of the Amesbury Archer, the Bronze Age man who was buried with the earliest gold found in Britain.
It is thought he might have had a major role in creating Stonehenge. Tests showed he was born in the Alps region in central Europe.
The latest bones discovered are some 4,500 years old - the same age as the Archer, said Salisbury-based Wessex Archaeology - which excavated the site during the digging of a trench this month.
Radiocarbon tests will be done to find out more precise dates for the burials but the people are believed to have lived during the building of Stonehenge. Wessex Archaeology say it is possible the bones are those of people from different generations.
The bones of the earlier burials were mixed up, but those of the later burials, a man and a child, were undisturbed. They said the grave, which is about three miles from Stonehenge, had narrowly missed being damaged by trench digging for electric cables and a water pipe.
The grave contained four pots in the Beaker style that is typical of the period, some flint tools, one flint arrowhead and a bone toggle for fastening clothing.
Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, of Wessex Archaeology, said: "This new find is really unusual. It is exceptionally rare to find the remains of so many people in one grave like this in southern England.
"The grave is fascinating because we are seeing the moment when Britain was moving from the Stone Age into the Bronze Age, around 2,300BC."
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We've been up on Gardom's Edge before trying to find this thing, but we were in luck this time. I'd say that both the map cited in Stubob's link (below) and the directions given in the Morgans' Rock Around The Peak book are actually a little misleading, but with this being such a fragile facsimile, that's no bad thing at all. While I'm not generally for the preservation of fibre-glass, this is the nearest we've got to the original, which, as Stubob said, has been reburied to combat erosion. Hmmm indeed.
Of course, a visit to a piece of fibre-glass can be ultimately unfulfilling, but this is a very convincing copy (until you tap it and realise it's hollow, or lean on it and feel it sag) of a wonderful piece of art and its position on the edge of the woodland with views towards Nelson's Monument and the Three Ships (3 large outcrops on Birchen Edge) is superb.
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Wiltshire Heritage Museum Funding
This was posted today to the Stones Mailing List by Littlestone. I'm sure he/she won't mind me duplicating it here:
Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes, Wiltshire, England has been told that official funding will be withdrawn unless it receives 400 visitors by the end of this month. If you are in the Avebury/Devizes area please visit the Museum - it has a wonderful collection from Neolithic times (including a most amazing jadeite axe head) to the present. Your visit may help secure its future through the much needed funding it requires.
Wiltshire Heritage Museum
41 Long Street
Devizes
SN10 1NS
Tel: 01380 727369
Fax: 01380 722150
E-mail: museum@wiltshireheritage.org.uk
Website
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Odin Mine itself is 'very deep and dangerous and should not be entered even by expert cave explorers'[*], however, nearer the gate & the NT sign and probably more significant anyway is 'Odin Cave'.
I mistook this for being Odin Mine anyway but didn't spend too much time rummaging around inside for fear of falling down a great big hole.
* from http://www.showcaves.com/english/gb/mines/Odin.html
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(Amazon link). This book really opened up the Peaks for me. Just the index, which covers over 100 sites, is enough. The photography is wonderful, and the text enlightening and atmospheric if you can shut yourself off to the tone and ignore the dodgy 'poetic' bits...
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(Amazon link). Easily digestible and straight-forward guide to "the most notable" prehistoric sites in the Peak District.
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From "Rock Around the Peak" by Victoria & Paul Morgan:
... "on the edge of Ramsley Moor, east of Barbrook I" ... " has sometimes been referred to as a stone circle, but is more likely to be a ringcairn. All that remains is a rubble bank circa 23m by 21m externally in diameter."
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From "Rock Around the Peak" by Victoria & Paul Morgan:
"Part of an extensive cairnfield, Barbrook V is located to the west of Barbrook I, on the other side of the Bar Brook stream." ... "It has been badly damaged by a packhorse track which cut through the centre in the Medieval period. Only half the bank to the south-east remains."
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Not even on the Landranger map, but an easy walk 200 metres N/NNW from Barbrook I.
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Visited 31/12/01CE.
Today Big Moor had a covering of 4-5 inches of snow, making it hard to distinguish anything off the track. We thought we'd found it twice before we actually did ... there's so many piles of stone, cairns and cairn-a-likes out here.
When we finally located it, it was obvious, and reminiscent of the Nine Ladies on Stanton Moor and the Nine Maidens in Cornwall. All these Derbyshire circles are so small. As with Stoke Flat, most of the stones are less than a metre tall, with only the SW stone being over 1 metre (and having an eco-friendly offering of berries in it's weather-worn grooves), but the views and the vibes out here are commanding.
Just outside the circle, to the NE, is a well-preserved cairn. According to the Morgans' "Rock Around the Peak" book, an excavation on this in the 60s revealed four stones decorated with cup & ring marks (now in the store at Sheffield Museum) as well as the usual bits of pottery and cremated bone.
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Info & pictures by Paul & Vicky Morgan - authors of the handy and friendly 'Rock Around the Peak' book which handles around 36 sites in Derbyshire, many of which aren't widely known. They seem to have contributed quite a lot of information to this website, so if you're a local, have a scoot around. You'll be surprised.
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Visited 31/12/01CE.
Stoke Flat stone circle stands only a few feet away from the popular path that runs along the Froggatt Edge. Despite the constant flow of walkers passing by, the circle is neglected and there's nothing to draw anyone's attention to its presence ... most people would naturally spend their time out here looking the other way, what with the spectacular views over the peaks from up here.
Most of the stones are less than half a metre tall, only one stone at the SW entrance comes in at over a metre. The circle is pretty ruined, and due to snow when visiting it wasn't really clear where all the stones were or how many there might have been.
Not particularly interesting in itself, but Stoke Flat stands in a prehistoric landscape full of massive stones worthy of reverence themselves, and awe-inspiring views. On a clear day like today, you really can see forever.
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