Brig,
Today the County Archaeologist responsibe for Thornbourough weighed in with this on another list. Astonished.
Andy

> Dear John and All

It is extremely irresponsible for another curator to promulgate these
kinds of "causes" without first checking with the local curator about
the accuracy of the case.

The Thornborough Henges are not under threat. They are a Scheduled
ancient Monument. The "sacred plateau", which is a construct of a few
local individual's imagination, is also not under threat. The idea of
lakes around the middle and southern henges is a "red herring" put
forward by one or two people who are opposed to wetland conservation and
shooting rights. There are currently no planning applications for, and
not even any discussions about, quarrying around the middle and southern
henges. The last quarrying permission was granted in 1994 and the
closest it comes to the northern henge is 330m. The quarry in which
landfill has occurred was worked in the 1960's, and the landfill
operation was granted some 20 years ago, and is a response to try and
get back to a more normal landscape (rather than a great open void).

The "Friends of Thornborough" web site is full of inaccuracies,
misrepresentations, and false assumptions. Many of the visualised "post
alignments" are figments of peoples' imaginations: the alignments either
don't exist or the pits show no evidence of posts. The "sacred plateau"
is composed of a series of monuments that were never used
contemporaneously, but over 1000-1500 years. The real issue is one of
"stand-off" distance, what is the setting of the henges and what
distance around them should be kept free from development. We have some
informal ideas, but no evidence to support any specific stand-off
distance in a court of law or public inquiry. At present there are
three or four research projects on-going which are looking at various
aspects of the archaeology and palaeo-environmentology of the area
trying to come up with a better understanding of the prehistory of the
area and a better idea of setting or sacred space for the monuments.
But in the meantime, there are no proposals for further quarrying or
landfill, and there is no threat to the monuments. Please do not
believe all you read on Internet web sites. This goes back a couple of
years to the FISH e-conference and my comments in response to Richard
Morris. We need to use our critical faculties more when it comes to
information technology.

If any of you wish to discuss the case in more detail or clarify any
points, then please contact me directly first on (01609) 532330 or
[email protected] . Please do not sign the petition: it
only shows you've swallowed the misrepresentations of the web site hook
line & sinker.

Cheers,
Neil Campling
County Archaeologist
1 September 2003