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drewbhoy D
drewbhoy Aug 30, 2012 12:40:23
Replying to tjj

tjj wrote:
bladup wrote:
GLADMAN wrote:
Yeah, poor Silbury. But a fence is never going to put off the moron who 'just has' to climb it, is it?

But for my money Silbury's plight fades into insignifcance compared with that of many of our less well known sites. I've just returned from a visit to Picws Du (Y Mynydd Du) and experienced the sheer ignorance such high places are accorded by the masses..... for sure the Mam C and I were the only two out of perhaps a hundred to accord due respect (however you define that?) to a large Bronze age round barrow crowning the summit. No-one else gave a damn. Nothing. The centre of the monument appears to possess the remains of a cist. But not for much longer. Not at this rate. Silbury has it easy. But out of sight appears out of mind.

It is like some sort of punishment to end up on this beautiful planet with such idiots, it also gets me people can go to such beautiful places [they must like it] and just drop litter like it's the most normal thing in the world, with spoons like that what chance do the cairns have, it all makes me quite sad.
I agree with the sentiments of both these posts and the subject of people climbing on Silbury has been discussed many times. I've been hanging out around Avebury for well over a decade now and in just that short time I've seen marked changes. The Avebury WHS has become a sort of archaeological theme park - I'm sure others will agree that part of the charm in visiting West Kennett Long Barrow was making your way up the narrow track at a field edge - this has now been opened up, widened and no longer feels hidden away. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people visit Avebury complex every week in the summer. They all walk on the henge banks and those that get as far as WKLB usually walk on it. If Silbury had open access, erosion would very quickly become a BIG problem due to the volume of visitors.

And yet there are unsung places around Wiltshire that people just don't go to. The other day I had a great walk around on the downs near Aldbourne which is full of Bronze Age archaeology - a row of round barrows, individual barrows in the middle of crop fields, disc barrows, ancient filed systems. Not necessarily to be climbed but viewed and enjoyed from a distance while walking through the landscape.

Agreed with everything there and I would guess it's the same for everywhere. But places shouldn't go unsung and should be visited/photos taken, of course taking care not to damage them in any way. Eventually a lot of these places will vanish, on that subject how out of date is Canmore (same for their equivalents elsewhere), a lot of the sites simply don't exist any more. So sing away, and if you come up with a decent tune, send it to me!

T thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 30, 2012 18:51:11
Replying to drewbhoy

drewbhoy wrote:
Agreed with everything there and I would guess it's the same for everywhere. But places shouldn't go unsung and should be visited/photos taken, of course taking care not to damage them in any way. Eventually a lot of these places will vanish, on that subject how out of date is Canmore (same for their equivalents elsewhere), a lot of the sites simply don't exist any more. So sing away, and if you come up with a decent tune, send it to me!
Spot on Drew. As had been said on this forum plenty of times, TMA (and other sites like the Portal) has actually created a massive heritage record that the official bodies don't have the resource to produce. A lot of our posts aren't up to the kind of standards a professional archaeological assessment would require, but the point is that we are getting out there and recording the current state of preservation.

I love seeing posts for obscure out of the way sites. Drew, you've done wonders in terms of adding to TMA for your corner of Scotland, and many of the sites are precariously balanced in terms of their survival. I've really enjoyed Bladup's Cornwall pics this week, as loads of them are of seldom-visited places, off footpaths and not in the guidebooks (even the best, local guidebooks). These sites need attention and preservation. Gladman has made a number of impassioned pleas in other threads for the same degree of concern to be shown to the very real, daily threat the obscure sites face, yet time and again the topic of conversation is perceived threats to Silbury, Avebury and Stonehenge. I know they're vulnerable, but they're hardly unrepresented and any damage is very "public". Not so the trashed upland cairns, the ploughed barrows, the toppled stones in remote fields, the fly-tipped hilforts. Protecting, monitoring and educating about those "little" sites is as essential (to my mind, more essential) as concerns over the latest person to climb Silbury or build a house a few hundred yards from Avebury's banks.