Naive question

Stonehenge 180

Image by breakingthings

nigelswift Jul 25, 2005 18:36:16

Apart from the fact it would be good to move the old one, and apart from the fact,as VBB says "there are too many egos in EH hoping for imortality on the big picture" can someone explain to me... WHY we need a huge £50 million visitors centre?

The thing is, I found the audio tour great (and people could be offered different versions if they wanted) and Foamhenge was great (and could be replicated somewhere in a more permanent material), and there's no shortage of literature people can be supplied with - so how would spending £50 million actually increase a visitors knowledge, beyond that?

Puzzled.

FourWinds Jul 25, 2005 18:47:54

Replying to nigelswift

It would probably look pretty darned impressive and that's what counts, right?. Saying that, the visitor centre at the Boyne Valley is superb because it doesn't look spectacular - it looks like part of the hill!

mickc Jul 25, 2005 20:00:15

Replying to nigelswift

£50,000 for a new shed, the rest: consultants, conferences, lawyers, shiny new rangerovers to run around in. Or am I just an old cynic?. Had a look at the English Heritage website just now , got as far as the first paragraph where they say it's aligned on midsummer sunrise and gave up.

Littlestone Jul 25, 2005 23:07:31

Replying to nigelswift

>...so how would spending £50 million actually increase a visitors knowledge, beyond that?<

Well, I'm not entirely sure what £50 million will buy these days but the beautiful glass-covered roof over the old Reading Room at the British Museum, the spectacularly converted power station now known as Tate Modern and the resurrected Globe Theatre next to it do actually spring to mind as possible examples of what can be done with that sort of money.

Forgive the platitude but Stonehenge is a very, very special place (sadly buggered up by past incompetence) but still special and still in need of something grand and awe-inspiring (if I may use those words). And while I'm on the subject - there's some interesting stuff at http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1535032,00.html (thanks to danielspaniel for the link). I wasn't aware that recent studies at Stonehenge, "...suggest it may have been 'Christianised' in the first millennium AD." Does anyone have any more info about that? Also, that there are still, "...long barrows - the most ancient of the communal graves built round Stonehenge - (that) have never been properly excavated."

Easy to assume that Stonehenge has now been well 'looked into' when in fact we may still be just scratching at its historical surface and (hopefully) laying the foundations for its 'inspiring' future.

baza Jul 25, 2005 23:24:28

Replying to nigelswift

>so how would spending £50 million actually increase a visitors knowledge, beyond that?

Probably wouldn't.

The vision is to free up Stonehenge from its modern clutter; to set it free within its landscape. To reunite it with its Avenue and restore some sightlines with nearby barrows over the land seeded with plants growing in the Bronze Age.

The last figure I've seen, £67.5million, does seem a lot to do that. Of course, if the new centre's built, it'll be a Private Finance Initiative.

Baz

VenerableBottyBurp Jul 25, 2005 23:36:32

Replying to nigelswift

67 million wouldn't buy a bunker big enough for their inflated egos !

What we want is democracy !

VBB

Cheshireman Aug 1, 2005 13:28:35

Replying to nigelswift

They don't need a visitors centre. The henge can be viewed from the road, meaning that the public can view them without having to pay EH their expensive entrance fee.

They even have stewards on the road telling drivers to move on, that they're not allowed to stop at that point. On a public highway.

Wiggy Aug 1, 2005 15:29:11

Replying to nigelswift

I think it would be good to build some kind of visitors centre in Amesbury - it would help revitalise the town.
Amesbury derives very little benefit from the national treasure on its doorstep. Tourists bypass the town completely, and if they do stay locally it tends to be in the corporate motel on the roundabout rather than the inns and taverns of Amesbury.
The population are pretty badly off compared to those in Salisbury, and it would be nice if the local politicians had the vision to do something good for our heritage and for local people at the same time.
Meanwhile, try to keep the ritual landscape around Stonehenge as free from modern intrusions as possible, although I think more needs to be done in terms of access for the disabled.