Re: Well, when I say fine.... | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

Silbury Hill 180

Image by thesweetcheat

Silbury's structural integrity

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Littlestone Dec 20, 2007 14:20:01

Replying to jimit

And what are the bags made from? Please tell me they're not plastic and even if they are not they are still alien to the interior of the hill which contradicts the remit.

Indeed. Hard to tell from the photos what they're made of, but surely chalk blocks wouldn't have been that difficult to make.

What I find really infuriating is that English Heritage assume people are not concerned and don't want to know about these things. In Update 26 EH say, "This mechanical filling process is a very time consuming and labour intensive process, using many thousands of bags filled with chalk..." Yes, yes we know all that, but how much more difficult is it for EH to say "...using many thousands of conservation-grade bags made of ----- filled with chalk."

So come on English Heritage, stop treating us like schoolchildren - update your latest Update with the relevant information rather than padding it out with your usual PR waffle.

Littlestone Dec 20, 2007 21:54:19

Replying to Littlestone

"This mechanical filling process is a very time consuming and labour intensive process, using many thousands of bags filled with chalk..."

You know, after several readings of this update the more incensed I become at its total ineptness and lack of clarity (not to mention its appalling standard of English). For god's sake English Heritage, if this kind of Mickey Mouse reporting is a reflection of your conservation work at Silbury then heaven help the future of that structure under your guardianship.

moss Dec 29, 2007 13:59:27

Replying to Littlestone

What I really mean is that a horrible suspicion has turned into a reality check or to quote Jimit...

"Please tell me they're not plastic and even if they are not they are still alien to the interior of the hill "

English Heritage state that, "...using many thousands of bags filled with chalk to construct and fill voids to the sides and above the tunnels..." (Silbury Hill Update 26, last paragraph on page 1).

I have posted a photograph (supplied by a reliable source) of one of these bags and they seem to be made of woven polypropylene - in other words Silbury Hill, perhaps our greatest prehistoric structure, is being filled with thousands of plastic bags!

Now as one who has asked with many others that no intrusive 'time capsules' would be left in Silbury, do I actually accept the fact that such bags are to be left in the mound. The answer is of course no, here we have archaeologists and EH praising the virtues of Silbury, “one of the largest manmade prehistoric mounds in Europe” finding sarsen stones “souls of the ancestors” within the mound and yet at the same time they are consenting to fill the voids with PLASTIC bags of chalk.!!!

EH words are just not adding up for me, final closure of Silbury is seriously undermined if all we are closing on is some more detritus of our society!

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/65093/images/silbury_hill.html?stream=latest