Re: Silbury Hill, the truth | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

Silbury Hill 180

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To the Heart of the Matter

Pete G Nov 10, 2007 18:55:02

Replying to moss

Moss,
if you look at the channel 4 news report carefully you will see the 'collapse' is a small amount of material falling around the sides.
The new tunnel that skanska have installed has corrugated sheeting top and sides so any amount of chalk falling will sound a lot worst than it really is.
Does anyone actualy email EH and ask questions?
I have had all my queries delt with to my satisfaction.
I was told that the Ask the Experts section on the website has very few requests for info.
If there had been any more serious internal collapses they would be visible on the surface of the mound.
There aren't any, I have double checked with photos from previous years.

wd Nov 11, 2007 12:06:51

Replying to Pete G

Phew thats a relief. Those massive internal collapses that trashed atkinson's supports must be a thing of the past.

Nothing to see here, please move along.

ocifant Nov 11, 2007 12:12:09

Replying to Pete G

Pete,

Pete G wrote:

The new tunnel that skanska have installed has corrugated sheeting top and sides so any amount of chalk falling will sound a lot worst than it really is.

Given that the steel Atkinson supports have clearly buckled under the strain of holding up all that 'stable' chalk, what odds do Skansa put on a few sheets of corrugated sheeting doing the job now that water has an easier ingress to the hill via the stonking great hole up top?

See, it's that kind of info that's not coming out from EH. On one hand we hear about continued chalk settlement, and see it for ourselves - remember Amada Chadburn went white on the TV prog when she heard it falling!. On the other you've come on here saying that a few corrugated steel sheets make it all safe, and EH themselves seem to be rather unconcerned despite the evidence of their own eyes.

Can you not see that there is a plain conflict between those two viewpoints that people want resolved? Alll we want is the information to be able to decide for ourselves what the state of play is. I think the time for any blame as to the current state of the hill is long gone. It's now all about what can be done to stabilise and preserve it, in the safest way possible. Corrugated sheeting doesn't cover it, sorry!

nigelswift Nov 12, 2007 09:06:16

Replying to Pete G

For the record:

1.
I was told that the Ask the Experts section on the website has very few requests for info.
If anyone said that on behalf of EH they were telling a bare-faced untruth on behalf of a public body funded by the taxpayer.
I personally sent a large number of extremely pertinent questions to Ask the Experts (they are still on this forum) and just to make sure I also sent them to the Project Board. I received no reply whatsoever.

2.
If there had been any more serious internal collapses they would be visible on the surface of the mound.
That is apologism run riot or else stunning naivite. The way in which internal voids migrate upwards and appear at the surface some time later has been analysed in great detail. To cite "no current surface evidence" as a sign of "no new internal collapses" is just a joke.