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Priddy Circles (Henge)

Priddy Circles case delayed


Sentencing of the man responsible for the destruction of one of the Priddy Circles, an ancient monument high on the Mendip hills has been delayed.

Roger Penny, of Litton, pleaded guilty to permitting the execution of works affecting a scheduled monument at Priddy between April and October 2011 contrary to the Ancient Monuments Archaeological Areas Act 1979 and the case was sent to crown court for sentence. He is now listed to appear before the court on July 6.

http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Circles-case-delayed/story-16175053-detail/story.html

Somerset man charged with damaging Priddy Circles


A man from Somerset is to appear in court charged with damaging a prehistoric monument near Wells.

Damage was done to a section of the Priddy Circles, which is made up of four large Neolithic circular henges, at some point in May or June last year.

English Heritage said it is a criminal offence to intentionally or recklessly destroy or damage a scheduled monument without lawful excuse.

The man is due at South Somerset and Mendip Magistrates' Court on 19 April.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-17614600

Wearyall Hill (Sacred Hill)

Glastonbury holy thorn destroyed


"People of Glastonbury are in a state of shock after a Holy Thorn site was attacked last night.

The crown of the iconic Holy Thorn tree on Wearyall Hill has been lopped off and dumped – leaving just a 6ft stump protected by an iron cage.

However, it appears attempts were made to remove the cage, implying the vandals wanted the entire tree.

If the tree survives without its crown, it should grow a new supply of thorn.

Police officers are on site this morning (Thursday) and conducting door-to-door enquiries to find any witnesses."

http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/news/Holy-Thorn-desecrated/article-2989272-detail/article.html

Glastonbury Tor (Sacred Hill)

Glastonbury Tor to get new hedges and trees


Two thousand trees are going to be planted on the bottom slopes of Glastonbury Tor, in a hark back to the area's traditional roots.

On Saturday, 20 November, volunteers and staff at the National Trust will begin the three-week project in one of the southern fields.

Organisers hope the mass-planting will "be an eye-catching reminder of yesteryear".

The new hedges will follow the "remnant lines of ancient field systems", helping the Tor to resemble its former look two centuries ago.

Then, there was a tradition of many small fields in the ownership of local people in Glastonbury.

The share cropping system allowed rural dwellers to supplement their income from the land.

It is also helped that the trees will have a positive impact on local wildlife, while helping the natural environment.

The trees will not only create food and shelter for birds and insects, but each year the hedges will grow by capturing carbon from the atmosphere.

There are plans to create four small paddocks with the new hedgerows, which will help the National Trust to set up a sustainable grazing regime using sheep.

"This is an exciting project," said Rob Holden from the National Trust.

"[It] will not only help to capture the traditions of this legendary site but will provide valuable habitat for wildlife and have a long term benefit for the wider natural environment.

"We're really looking forward to the first day and working with so many dedicated volunteers."

Local volunteer group, the Glastonbury Conservation Society is also supporting the project.

The society has been so active in restoring hedgerows around the area that supporters are now nearing their 50,000th tree.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/somerset/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9209000/9209863.stm

News

Stonehenge on 'most threatened' world wonders list


The traffic-choked roads still roaring past Stonehenge in Wiltshire have earned the world's most famous prehistoric monument a place on a list of the world's most threatened sites.

The government's decision to abandon, on cost grounds, a plan to bury roads around Stonehenge in a tunnel underground and the consequent collapse of the plans for a new visitor centre, have put the site on the Threatened Wonders list of Wanderlust magazine, along with the 4x4-scarred Wadi Rum in Jordan, and the tourist-eroded paths and steps of the great Inca site at Machu Picchu in Peru.

Lyn Hughes, editor in chief of Wanderlust, said the A303 and A344 junctions near Stonehenge meant the site was "brutally divorced from its context". She said: "Seeing it without its surrounding landscape is to experience only a fraction of this historical wonder. The fact that the government and various planning bodies cannot agree on implementing a radical solution to this problem is a national disgrace."

The first great earth banks and ditches of the monument date back 5,000 years, and it was then repeatedly remodelled, with the addition of the circle of sarsen stones the size of doubledecker buses, and smaller bluestones brought from west Wales, and said to have healing powers.

Hughes was echoing the words 21 years ago of the parliamentary public accounts committee, which in 1989 damned the presentation of the site and the facilities for tourists as "a national disgrace".

Since then millions have been spent on alternative road plans and architectural designs for the visitor centre, on exhibitions, consultations and public inquiries, without a sod of earth being turned.

Argument about how to care for the site raged throughout the 20th century: the circle itself is in the guardianship of English Heritage, while the National Trust owns thousands of acres of surrounding countryside, studded with hundreds more henges, barrows and other prehistoric monuments.

At the moment the best hope is that a much simpler and cheaper visitor centre can still be created, two kilometres from the site, in time for London's hosting of the 2012 Olympics.

Wanderlust has also named three places that need more visitors and their spending power: Zimbabwe, north-east Thailand and Madagascar.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/12/stonehenge-threatened-wonder-of-world
http://www.isleofalbion.co.uk

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