Next pigrimage on July 6th it would seem...

Presumably the barrow is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and any damage to it would be an offence under the relevant legislation BUT it depends where 'the line' has been drawn to mark the edge of the scheduling.

One guess would be that the line is where the slope of the barrow 'meets' the land surface in which case it would seem (from the pictures) that the cross doesn't encroach in to *this* scheduled area. Only the County Archaeologist (on behalf of English Heritage) can answer that.

Another question is - did the cross have planning permission? If it needed PP then due to the proximity to a (presumably) SAM then the archaeologist would have been a statutory consultee and as the cross is up perhaps the archaeologist had no objections.

It's worth asking the questions but this erection *may* have been legit. A legal minefield!

Cheers

G

It would seem from the responses and information snippets that the time for direct action has, perhaps, long since passed. From what Jane says the cross has been there a good few years.

This doesn't stop some awkward questions being posed to the county archaeologist over the proximity of the cross to the barrow and the permitting of the location of the star *on* the barrow. If planning permission was needed, sought and granted (as well as ancient monument consent) then the organisation that applied (presumably linked to the local parish church or some such) should be asked to explain its reasoning for the cross and star particularly in relation to a sensitive heritage asset.

I am not a pagan but it does annoy me too when one faith attempts to assert some kind of cleansing/authority over another faith's site (remember the problems at Mayburgh?!) - maybe a suggestion could be made to paganise a church site in Dorset (one with a known prehistoric origin) and see what the response is from the parish. Could be a laugh!

Cheers

G