Cheers 4W.
Looks like things are worse than I thought. the first planning application is to be submitted next week.
Basically, although the monuments themselves are protected, the area around them, which contain enormous amounts of archaeology are not. the area is a good place for gravel extraction and that is exactly what is happening, they are removing the entire 6-8 foot of gravel from the surface of the ground immediately surrounding the monuments. we have already lost about 25% of the immediate area surrounding surrounding Thornborough for a distance of around one mile. This planning application is the first on at least two which will seek the removal of a further 25% (although they have not stated exactly what they are looking to do yet).
Much of the area of gravel extraction around Thornborough has been turned into lakes. I have this nightmare vision of a henge system, the focus of thousands of years of pilgramage from all over the UK, being turned into a totally inaccessable series of islands.
I have joined the Friends of Thornborough, who seem to have been trying to "work from within" the result so far has been very little public awareness or cessation of the extraction, they don't even have an online pressence and have had about two column inches of only local press coverage since they were set up.
The gravel extraction is continuing as we speak. To show you just how poor we are up north, the main reason for the council's continued approval of the extraction has been the 9 jobs that the extraction creates! This is the value of our heritage!
This situation will change as of this week. I am currently putting together a dedicated webpage for the Friends of Thornborough so we can start a serious campaign. rapid action is required.
I believe we need a rapid publicity stunt, and once I've identified the names of the people who need to be informed of our displeasure, which will include Tarmac.
The question is - are you happy that your children will not be able to appreciate these monuments in the original environments that they were created in? Whill you be proud that the land surrounding them and its related archaeology was removed so we can put gravel on our paths (at £10.00 a ton)? If these monuments were on Salsbury common, would Tarmac even think of treating them in this way?
