Climbing on Standing Stones

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tjj T
tjj Jan 12, 2012 10:39:46
Replying to TheStandingStone

TheStandingStone wrote:
I see this sometimes in Ireland too (on the rare occasion I actually meet people when out and about). Portal tombs generally fall victim to this as they are easy to climb on. Browne's Hill dolmen in Carlow always has tourists climbing all over it and generally about 3 coke cans and few crisp packets in the chamber. Worth than that is when people "worship" at the sites and leave candle wax and things all over the stones...however, that's generally rare in Ireland I find.

Ironically, although I urge people to never climb or interfere with the stones I found a picture of a teenage me stood on the skeletal remains of a passage tomb...I hang my head in shame haha...

I think some us have climbed or sat on long barrows and tombs without actually thinking we were doing any harm. I have a photo of me sitting by the entrance of Stony Littleton which was taken quite recently. More disconcerting perhaps was when I was with some people who were visiting the Avebury area and two of them climbed on top of the Devil's Den dolmen (albeit a reconstruction) - I freely admit I didn't say anything to them but was taken aback when they did it. For me it is an issue of respect as its unlikely that standing on a sarsen stone would damage it.

T thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 12, 2012 21:12:58
Replying to tjj

tjj wrote:
I think some us have climbed or sat on long barrows and tombs without actually thinking we were doing any harm. I have a photo of me sitting by the entrance of Stony Littleton which was taken quite recently. More disconcerting perhaps was when I was with some people who were visiting the Avebury area and two of them climbed on top of the Devil's Den dolmen (albeit a reconstruction) - I freely admit I didn't say anything to them but was taken aback when they did it. For me it is an issue of respect as its unlikely that standing on a sarsen stone would damage it.
If I'm honest, I can't get too worked up over people standing/sitting/doing handstands on a earthen barrow. I know somewhere like West Kennet is a bit of a worse-case, as (a) it is so frequently visited and (b) it's chambered rather than earthen and the chambers are more at risk of damage than the other parts of the structure, but otherwise I'm not sure that the damage we will do by climbing on most barrows is going to compare to several hundred years of ploughing, livestock trampling, treasure hunting and simple weathering. Turf can be replaced, grass can be reseeded. Sorry, it may seem irresponsible, but that's how I feel about it. The same argument would stop us entering a stone circle for fear of eroding buried features. I don't want to see damage, but similarly these sites will not survive by being preserved in aspic with "do not touch" signs everywhere (think Stonehenge, think Carnac), they'll survive by being living, breathing places to visit and interact with.

I entirely agree about climbing on the stones themselves, but that isn't doing to stop me climbing onto (and into!) upland cairns either. :-/

J jonnyj
jonnyj Feb 17, 2012 02:44:02
Replying to tjj

tjj wrote:
More disconcerting perhaps was when I was with some people who were visiting the Avebury area and two of them climbed on top of the Devil's Den dolmen (albeit a reconstruction) - I freely admit I didn't say anything to them but was taken aback when they did it. For me it is an issue of respect as its unlikely that standing on a sarsen stone would damage it.
I think i know who you're referring to tjj, didn't they discover what is probably only the second example of rock art in Wiltshire in doing so?,
two very probable cup marks previously unrecorded. :)

V VBB
VBB Feb 17, 2012 08:35:37
Replying to tjj

tjj wrote:
TheStandingStone wrote:
I see this sometimes in Ireland too (on the rare occasion I actually meet people when out and about). Portal tombs generally fall victim to this as they are easy to climb on. Browne's Hill dolmen in Carlow always has tourists climbing all over it and generally about 3 coke cans and few crisp packets in the chamber. Worth than that is when people "worship" at the sites and leave candle wax and things all over the stones...however, that's generally rare in Ireland I find.

Ironically, although I urge people to never climb or interfere with the stones I found a picture of a teenage me stood on the skeletal remains of a passage tomb...I hang my head in shame haha...

I think some us have climbed or sat on long barrows and tombs without actually thinking we were doing any harm. I have a photo of me sitting by the entrance of Stony Littleton which was taken quite recently. More disconcerting perhaps was when I was with some people who were visiting the Avebury area and two of them climbed on top of the Devil's Den dolmen (albeit a reconstruction) - I freely admit I didn't say anything to them but was taken aback when they did it. For me it is an issue of respect as its unlikely that standing on a sarsen stone would damage it.
It certainly is about respect.

There are mixed messages about reacting to monuments. A protester is jailed for painting a green mohican on a statue of Churchill, a famous guitarist's son is jailed after swinging from the Cenotaph, yet BBC Countryfile pull a stunt like putting a big hardboard poppy on the Fovant badges for a day's filming!

Our time is beset with metal theft from memorials and public art, yet is the background to this not just theft ridden hard times but such as TV and charity stunts, protests, vandalism, and for that matter Disneyfying in relation to monuments?

The same goes for clambering over stone arrangements (even those 'restored' in concrete in the 20th century like the Devil's Den) and climbing Silbury in the knowledge that it encourages others to do so and that footfall is damaging the archaeology. We don't know what is acceptable and what is not so we just do as we like.