Latest News

buckscc.gov.uk/countryside/whiteleaf/events.htm

Sunday 15th September
10:30 – 4:00pm
The event is completely FREE!

The event is focused around the open grassland area above Whiteleaf Cross where walks and talks are lead from and displays and activities are held.

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Whiteleaf and Brush Hill Local Nature Reserve Open Days
Sunday 15th September
10:30 – 4:00pm
The event is completely FREE!

The event is focused around the open grassland area above Whiteleaf Cross where walks and talks are lead from and displays and activities are held.

[A Butterfly]

[Archaeologist surveying the site]

[Earth mound]
photo courtesy of Nick Bowles

Please leave your car at home. Leaflets describing scenic walks from Princes Risborough, Whiteleaf and Monks Risborough are available from the Risborough Information office in Horns Lane. Disabled visitors will of course have access to the car park at Whiteleaf Hill.

Guided walks to the sites, from Princes Risborough, will take place at key times during the day (actual times will be published soon)

The open day is run in association with WDC, Risborough Countryside Group, Oxford Archaeology, Heritage Lottery Fund and the Shadow Chilterns Conservation Board, Special Projects Fund.

The event will include-

* Archaeological excavations in action!
* Demonstrations of Geophysics and how it can be used.
* Guided talks by archaeologists about Whiteleaf Hill.
* Live demonstration of wattle hurdle making.
* Archaeological education activity for children
* Guided walks on the conservation and wildlife interest of both sites, and the Black Hedge Project.
* Information on site management works underway.
* Displays on Risborough Countryside Groups activities.
* Information on the Red Kites and Chalk Streams Projects
* Local memories, the site managers would like to talk to local people about their memories of the site and local photos.

From the Eastern Daily Press:

CAT BARTMAN

September 7, 2002 10:15

A 3-D image of the 4000-year-old flint mine at Grimes Graves.
A unique insight into the life of Stone Age miners in Norfolk has been unearthed for the first time with the help of high-tech laser equipment.

For the last week archaeologists have been working with surveyors to produce a 3D model of a 4000-year-old flint mine at Grimes Graves, near Thetford.

The mine on the English Heritage site has never been opened to the public and was described as a “time capsule” by those uncovering its Neolithic secrets.

Accessed by a 12m shaft it is the first time that a flint mine will have been surveyed in such detail, from the axe cuts made in the walls by miners to the antler picks left behind on the floor.

Grimes Graves are one of only 10 flint mines in England and the only one to have an excavated shaft open to the public.

While Greenwell’s Pit is never likely to be opened it is hoped to put together a virtual reality model of what it was like to work underground.

English Heritage archaeological investigator Cathy Tuck said the work was important for the future management and maintenance of the site.

“This shaft was first excavated in 1868, until then it would have been untouched. It was re-excavated in the 1970s by the British Museum and later sealed for preservation.” she said.

“We think it was used for about 500 years, with a team of 15 miners at a time. They only worked in the summer and would have been crawling on the stomachs in some parts.”

The pioneering work has only be made possible by the development of portable laser scanning equipment, costing about £150,000, small enough to fit down tunnels that can be less than two metres in size.

It was also used in the aftermath of the Potter’s Bar in May.

So far 433 mining shafts have been identified at Grimes Graves, most of which have filled in, creating a landscape of bumps and dips.

They were used to dig for flints, a valuable commodity in the construction of Neolithic tools and weapons.

Hertfordshire-based surveyors Plowman Craven Associates (PCA) were commissioned to carry out the scan of the shaft and adjoining tunnels.

“It’s an absolute time capsule,” said Ms Tuck, adding that the shaft was also used ritually.

“There has been the ritual deposit of two or three antler picks and carved chalk balls,” said Ms Tuck. “Maybe they left a shrine at the bottom encouraging the fertility of Mother Earth if the shaft had not been as successful as they had hoped.

“The Earth to Neolithic people was a goddess. They were asking permission to extract the flint.”

The completed 3D model should be available to view in about six months time and will include a similar virtual reality of the surface and what it was like in the Stone Age.

Derry Long, from PCA, said two thirds of the pit had been surveyed.

“We’ve scanned up to 15m to 20m out from the main shaft. It’s mind blowing when you’re down and seeing 6000-year-old antler, you do stop and wonder how they did it.”

The project has cost about £12,000 so far and the team will be back again in a few weeks to finish off the surveying.

Historic horse turns a whiter shade of pale.

Wiltshire landmark, discoloured by erosion and vegetation, restored using 160 tonnes of chalk and 2,000ft of timber.

Owen Bowcott
Monday September 9, 2002
The Guardian

Designed by a mad surgeon and derided for its elongated neck, the white horse of Cherhill was yesterday gleaming again on the Wiltshire Downs after undergoing anatomical alterations and a four-week facelift.

Motorists passing on the A4 between Marlborough and Calne can admire the completed restoration work carried out by villagers on the ancient landmark which is sculpted into the contours of the hillside beneath the iron age earthworks of Oldbury Castle.

Erosion, vegetation and damage by grazing sheep had discoloured the carving and the passage of time threatened final obliteration. A grant of £18,000 from the National Trust, which owns land near the site above Cherhill, helped purchase 160 tonnes of chalk and 2,000ft of timber to preserve the monument described by one archaeologist recently as a “giraffe-necked... charger”.

“There was a lot of distortion,” admitted Bob Husband, of the White Horse Restoration Group, when the revitalised horse was officially un veiled yesterday. “The head and neck were particularly difficult, especially when working on a 40 degree slope. But it has been a success and we are absolutely delighted with the result.

“It looks more horsey now, and you can see it from miles around again.”

Old paintings of the white horse were transferred to computer and compared with recent photographs. Once a new outline was agreed, local Scouts pegged out the shape. Money for the project was donated by a local firm, Hills Waste, through the govern ment’s landfill tax credit scheme.

The Cherhill white horse, originally 165ft by 220ft, owes its existence to the 18th century fashion for landscape follies. A surgeon, Christopher Alsop, of Calne, dragooned local people into taking part in the project in 1780.

He reputedly stood below Labour-in-Vain hill and broadcast his instructions through a loud-hailer to direct their turf-cutting.

Known locally as the “mad doctor”, he was a friend of the society painter George Stubbs whose canvases of race horses and other animals may have influenced his final design. The white horse’s oddest feature was a glass eye formed from upturned bottles pressed into the chalk. It’s dazzle was apparently visible from a great distance on a sunny day; the original bottles have been stolen by souvenir hunters.

It has been restored several times. To mark the coronation of George VI in 1937 it was floodlit and the letters GE (for George and his queen, Elizabeth) spelt out in red light bulbs above the horse.

The letters were illuminated for five seconds, then the horse floodlit for 10 seconds in a continuously repeating pattern. The display, powered by a generator at the bottom of the hill, took place every night during coronation week except for two nights when there was thick fog.

Last summer another Wiltshire monument, the Westbury white horse, was restored by English Heritage. Traditionally believed to have been cut in the ninth century to mark Alfred the Great’s victory over the Danes, it was recut in 1778, and probably provided inspiration for Dr Alsop’s Cherhill charger.

On 23rd July 2002, the City of London Corp. approved planning permission for the current building on 111 Cannon Street to be demolished. It will be replaced with an 8 story building containing office and retail space.
The stone will be relocated to the “retail frontage” of the new building. Whether the stone will be on display during the building work is at present unknown. There is no notice of any of this by the stone itself, though the remains of a piece of paper were stuck up nearby...
See City of London planning applications 02-1042Y & 02-1042Z for more details (available to view on their webpage).
cityoflondon.gov.uk/our_services/development_planning/planning_apps/register/data/10/1042.htm

One of Oxfordshire’s most famous landmarks – the Uffington White Horse has been defaced by Hunt activists.

A 19th century white horse hill figure in Yorkshire was also defaced.

Today’s Oxford Mail reports that a spokesperson from the Real Countryside Alliance says: ‘Some people in the country are getting very frustrated at the inaction. All we want is for ministers to take notice.
“Marches don’t seem to be doing any good, although it’s keeping the media focused on it.

The 374ft-long Bronze age image has had three white hounds and a rider added in biodegradable paint.

For more, see: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2220725.stm

For my own part, I hope that the hounds of hell hunt down the miserable scumbags who think this is an acceptable way of getting their abhorant opinions in the press.

A prehistoric prince with gold ear-rings has been found near Stonehenge a few yards away from the richest early Bronze Age burial in Britain.

Earlier this year, archaeologists found an aristocratic warrior, also with gold ear-rings, on Salisbury Plain and speculated that he may have been an ancient king of Stonehenge.

The body was laid to rest 4,300 years ago during the construction of the monument, along with stone arrow heads and slate wristguards that protected the arm from the recoil of the bow. Archaeologists named him the Amesbury Archer.

see the full story at.......

telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/08/21/nskul121.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/08/21/ixnewstop.html

I had a look at the poor old stone a couple of weeks ago. There was a notice near it stating that it is to be moved. I can’t remember all of the details now, but I think that the gist of it was that the bank is turning into a retail premises and that the stone will be on display in the window in some fashion, or possibly that the retail premises involved is on the other side of the road from the bank. Either way, let’s hope that the stone gets a little more of the respect that it deserves. It can hardly get any less! I’ll have another look next time I’m in the area, and keep you posted.

The Guardian

Maev Kennedy, arts and heritage correspondent
Saturday July 27, 2002

A grant for a new visitor centre at Stonehenge, agreed in principle yesterday by the heritage lottery fund, may mark the end of decades of wrangling between heritage and highway authorities over what to do about one of the most famous ancient monuments in the world.
The fund will not disclose exact details until next week, but English Heritage has not got the £26m it was seeking. It has got a “stage one approval”, which is enough to proceed with the planning, and implies willingness by the fund to give further grants.

The 5,000-year-old stone circle, with the hundreds of field monuments dotted around it on Salisbury Plain, is a world heritage site, an honour shared with the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids.

However, the monument remains imprisoned within wire fences, and clenched in the fork of two busy roads.

It is 13 years since the parliamentary public accounts committee condemned the present arrangements as “a national disgrace”. And it is five years since English Heritage launched yet another artist’s impression of happy visitors strolling through lambs and buttercups toward the stones – it was hoping to see the vision realised in time for the millennium. Since then millions in taxpayers’ money has been spent on road plans, visitor centre plans, consultation exercises, and more artists’ impressions.

Solving the traffic problem, by closing one road and burying the other in a tunnel, is seen as the key to the whole site. However, some archaeologists and many local campaigners are opposed to the “cut and cover” method insisted on for cost reasons by the highways agency. This is a construction system which involves gouging a trench for two miles across the fragile landscape.

Local sources insist this is also up for debate again, and the road may eventually be dug through a bored tunnel, which would be less destructive of surface archaeology.

Despite endless consultations, English Heritage has also failed to win over residents closest to the Countess roundabout, where present facilities are a filling station, motel and coffee shop.

After years of wrangling, this was chosen as the best site for a state of the art visitor centre. But residents remain convinced the visitor centre is the wrong scheme in the wrong place – and nothing English Heritage announces next week is likely to change their minds.

From the Western Morning News (thisisdevon.co.uk)

“More than 40 rare Bronze Age ingots from Devon have been given to the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter.

The ingots, part of a shipment salvaged in 1991, was handed over by the Receiver of Wreck, Sophia Exelby, at a ceremony yesterday.

More than 40 ingots recovered from an underwater hiding place were donated to the museum.

The ingots were discovered by the South West Maritime Archaeological Group in the Erme Estuary in 1991.

The ingots vary from 10 to 20cm in diameter.

Experts said they might have been in the Erme estuary as a result of a vessel capsizing while trading along the coast between Cornwall and Devon.

John Allan, museum curator, said: “We regard this group of ingots as a very significant discovery and are delighted that they are now at Exeter Museum, where a selection of them are displayed.”

Ms Exelby said: “We are very pleased that these ingots will be displayed in a museum so close to the find site.

“They were a very exciting find for the diving group and their placement in the museum is an excellent outcome for everyone.”

guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,722701,00.html
Maev Kennedy, arts and heritage correspondent
Monday May 27, 2002
The Guardian

A time capsule from the stone age, described by English Heritage chief archaeologist David Miles as unique in Britain and of international importance, is threatened by a combination of changing sea levels, dredging and trawling, and the wakes of boats and ferries crossing the Solent straits between the Hampshire coast and the Isle of Wight – as well as the effects of the weekend’s gales.
Parts of the site lost six inches of protective silt and peat this winter alone.

On the sea bed, which was dry land until 6,000BC, prehistoric stone tools still lie where they were made or dropped, among the roots of giant oak trees. The first finds, including flint arrows and knives, recently brought up by archaeologist divers, are so perfectly preserved they look like modern replicas.

The first excavators were blue lobsters, which archaeologists gradually realised were kicking out ancient man made stone tools, as they dug themselves into the muddy seabed.

Tree roots and branches have come up with the marks of stone tools. Finds of organic material, including timber, leather, and animal and possibly human remains, are confidently expected, preserved in the deep layers of silt and peat.

Further surveying and excavation work planned by the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology has become a giant piece of rescue archaeology, as material is laid bare by every tide: once exposed to air, any organic material starts decaying instantly.

Archaeologists had believed all trace of human habitation had been swept away in the inundation which created the Isle of Wight. Recent discoveries prove that the land flooded more gradually, as the sea broke in through the sand bars protecting the salt marshes. However, the flooding was fast enough to force the rapid abandonment of habitation sites, flint working sites, and killing sites where prey species were trapped, slaughtered and butchered for thousands of years: the date of the finds ranges from stone hand axes 30,000 years old, to the flint tools made by the last inhabitants before the water broke through.

On the Isle of Wight, county archaeologists Frank Basford and Rebecca Loading are patrolling hundreds of endangered sites in the inter-tidal zones, recording and recovering artefacts which include ancient causeways and fish traps, and a tangle of Roman rope in the mud of a modern harbour.

More modern objects from countless shipwrecks are also at risk. Recent finds include a syringe from the medicine chest of a 17th century ship’s surgeon, for injecting mercury into the urethra of any luckless sailor who had contracted syphilis.

English Heritage will be monitoring and grant aiding the work, as an Act of Parliament, which becomes law on July 1, extends its powers to cover maritime archaeology.

This was in the ‘Metro’ this morning

thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/top_story.html?in_review_id=585366&in_review_text_id=552901

Skeleton may be Stonehenge ‘king‘

by Geraint Smith Science Correspondent
The richest early Bronze Age burial site ever found has been discovered within a short walk of Stonehenge, archaeologists revealed today.

It is possibly the grave of the man who ordered the rebuilding of the previously wooden monument in stone. It contains the earliest metal knives yet known in Britain, as well as finely-crafted arrowheads, gold ornaments, butchery tools and ritual stone versions of an archer’s tools.

The grave was discovered near the village of Boscombe Down during work on a new school.

The shapes of the objects suggest strongly that it was dug in about 2,300BC – exactly contemporary with the rebuilding of Stonehenge, which lies less then 30 minutes’ walk away.

In all, 100 objects were found with the skeleton of a mature, well-built man. “We don’t know whether there were kings at this time in Britain,” said Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, of Wessex Archaeologythe unit which found the grave. “It is possible, though, that this man was alive when the stones were added to Stonehenge.

“This would have been a small community in which appearance was everything, and this man would have been like a peacock,” he says. The knives predate by several hundred years the oldest metal tools known in this country, said Dr Fitzpatrick, who added: “The arrowheads were scattered in the grave, not as though they had been laid onto his body by the mourners.”

British Archaeology news
Issue 64, April 2002.

An early Bronze Age timber circle containing an inner ring of totem poles set around a deep, sacred pool is thought to have once stood at the head of the Kilmartin Valley in Argyll, site of one of Scotland’s richest concentrations of prehistoric ritual monuments.

Post-excavation analysis of the pits and postholes found when the site was excavated in the 1990s (BA November 1997) has concluded that the timber circle was far more unusual than was initially thought. The circle stood on a terrace overlooking the valley; and at its heart was a large hollow nearly 7 metres wide and 2 metres deep. Now full of peat, the hollow must have contained standing water over a long period of time.

Around this pool was an inner ring of post-holes, thought to have once held totems. At the base of one was a cremation burial under a stone. From the outer ring of 30 oak posts, some 47 metres in diameter, a timber-lined processional avenue appears to have snaked down to the valley floor.

Clare Ellis, in charge of post-excavation at the Edinburgh firm AOC Archaeology, said the pool was likely to have been a ‘votive pool’ – a phenomenon thought to be unparalleled at any other known stone or timber circle in Britain. No metalwork was found in the pool, but offerings of ‘organic materials’ such as sacrificial animals could have been made, from which no evidence has survived. Traces of wood in the pool may have belonged to a fence.

In and around the timber circle were six contemporary cyst burials. In one, a woman in her 20s or 30s was buried with a decorated food vessel. The decoration on the pot had been created by pressing a fingernail repeatedly into the wet clay.

Traces of much earlier monuments were also found underlying the circle. One end of an early Neolithic cursus – a ritual procession monument – was uncovered at the edge of the terrace, a place with a magnificent view across the Kilmartin Valley. The massive structure, some 45 metres wide, was defined not by banks and ditches but by hundreds of close-set oak posts. By the time the circle was built some 1,500 years later, these posts had no doubt disappeared; but the memory of the sacred importance of the site had probably survived. Also found were a number of late Mesolithic cooking pits containing charcoal dated to about 4,500 BC, perhaps marking the site of an overnight camp.

Surviving monuments in the Kilmartin Valley include a ‘linear cemetery’ of Bronze Age cairns, several standing stones, a stone circle and numerous elaborate rock art panels.

britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba64/news.shtml#item3

From the ‘thisiswiltshire’ site archive, 4/05

COUNCILLORS in Marlborough have called for a meeting with the College to discuss a plan for proposed landscaping work, which could affect the setting of the ancient mound in the school grounds.

The huge mound is believed to be as old as Silbury Hill five miles away and, similarly, its origin is unknown.

Marlborough College has submitted a planning application to enhance an area known as The Wilderness at the foot of the mound by creating new footpaths and removing unwanted trees, which the school claims, spoil the view of the mound.

Town councillors want a meeting to discuss the plan and see if the school will agree to let the public have access to the mound when pupils are away.

Coun Bryan Castle told Monday’s meeting of the town council planning committee: “The mound is a scheduled ancient monument and what happens in The Wilderness affects the layout and viewing of the mound.”

Coun Castle said it was the mound which gave rise to the motto on the Marlborough town coat of arms and the legend that Merlin is buried there.

Wednesday, 2 January, 2002, 13:06 GMT
Trust defends Tor work

The National Trust has defended a decision to use concrete for a new footpath to the top of Glastonbury Tor, Somerset.
More than £300,000 has been found to pay for the restorations at the Tor.

Huge visitor numbers have led to erosion on the existing route up the hill – the Isle of Avalon of ancient legend.

But conservationists say the path should be re-laid with wood chippings, not concrete.

news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_1738000/1738766.stm

An ancient hill figure carved into the South Downs has sprouted a 20-foot penis overnight in what experts say could be a bizarre May Day celebration.

The discovery has been made by the Long Man Morris Men who are visiting The Long Man of Wilmington to celebrate May Day.

The 231-foot high figure, located near Eastbourne, East Sussex, is causing giggles among tourists who were photographing him in all his new glory.

Sussex Archaeological Society, which owns the site, said the appendage could have been part of the ancient Beltaine Celtic Festival. Others observers, including a white witch, said it might have been part of a bizarre May Day fertility ritual.

The adult attachment has been painted on the grass and has not damaged the figure cut into the chalk hillside by Druid settlers and which attracts thousands of visitors each year.

Morris Man Norman Hopson said: “We first noticed it after our first dance this morning, but I promise it had nothing to do with us. I last visited it four weeks ago but nothing had been added.”

Henry Warner, a director at the Archaeological Society, said: “This could have been a mindless act of vandalism or it could have been something to do with the Celtic Beltaine Festival. In the Celtic system the festival marks the start of the warm part of the year and was traditionally held at the beginning of May.

“Alternatively it could have been a fertility ritual. The figure may originally have had an appendage, like at Cerne Abbas, but the Victorians who did not approve of such things may have taken it off. But, whoever did this, we can never condone vandalism at the Long Man.”

White witch Kevin Carlyon, head of the British Coven of White Witches, said: “I am up in arms over this because I have always said that the Long Man was a woman.

“I take chaps with problems to the Long Man at Wilmington and women to Cerne Abbas, but this makes a mockery of that. I am going to put a spell on whoever did this, but I would not be surprised if there were quite a few naughty romps at the Long Man tonight.”

Story filed: 12:23 Wednesday 1st May 2002
Originally published at the following URL:
ananova.com/yournews/story/sm_579301.html

Stonehenge hopes for deep road tunnel
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent


THE Government will consider making a road tunnel near Stonehenge much deeper than originally planned to avoid damaging neolithic and Bronze Age remains.
The Highways Agency, which manages England’s trunk roads, has admitted that its previous proposal to excavate and then cover a 1.2-mile ditch only 200 yards from the stones could damage burial mounds and medieval field boundaries in the area. Ministers pledged three years ago to bury the A303, the heavily congested holiday route to Devon, where it passes the World Heritage Site. In 1989 the Commons Public Accounts Committee described Stonehenge’s traffic-snarled setting as a national disgrace.

Stonehenge lies between the A303 and the A344, close to the junction of the two roads. Under the plan for the site, the A344 would be closed, the visitor centre relocated out of sight of the stones and the A303 turned into a dual carriageway.

The “cut and cover” tunnelling method was chosen because it was estimated to be £20 million cheaper than boring a much deeper tunnel. Under the original plan, engineering works so near to the standing stones would have blighted the area for three years. However, the Highways Agency has now agreed to reconsider the costs and benefits of boring the tunnel and has asked the contractors Costain and Balfour Beatty to produce a report by July.

“It would be cheaper to do a ‘cut and cover’ but there is an issue over the extra environmental gain from a bored tunnel,” Ed Bradley, the Highway Agency’s project manager, said. He added that evidence was emerging that bored tunnels were cheaper than originally thought, and that the extra cost was likely to be closer to £10 million than £20 million.

However, the Highways Agency is resisting pressure from heritage and environmental groups to make the tunnel twice as long as planned because this could double the overall cost of £125 million for the seven-mile project.

Kate Fielden, an archaeologist advising the Council for the Protection of Rural England, said that a “cut and cover” tunnel could destroy a group of burial mounds at the western entrance to the tunnel. She said: “‘Cut and cover’ would change the landscape right beside Stonehenge. A bored tunnel would be better but the one currently proposed is far too short.”

Ms Fielden said that Stonehenge was a national treasure, but the Government wanted to do a cheap deal for a new dual carriageway even if it meant damaging two thirds of the historical area around the stones.

A public inquiry into the scheme is likely to be held next year and construction could start in 2005, with the tunnel and new Winterbourne Stoke bypass opening in 2008.

thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-258161,00.html

Rare Bronze Age metal working site found on Eigg
A Bronze Age metal working site, one of only about 30 known in Britain, has been excavated at Galmisdale on the island of Eigg. The site – in the shelter of a large earthfast boulder – was found by chance when an islander, Brigg Lancaster, was trying to bury his cat.

Digging deep, Mr Lancaster struck archaeological layers. Having some experience of metal working, he recognised the fragmentary remains as crucibles and clay casting moulds. A team of archaeologists from the Scottish Royal Commission happened to be surveying the island at the time and visited the site, which was later excavated by Trevor Cowie of the National Museum of Scotland.

Moulds for at least two socketed axes and a knife were found – dated typologically to about 1000-800 BC – as well as a blue glass bead, a small bronze offcut and quantities of charcoal. According to Mr Cowie, the site could represent the visit of an itinerant smith to a Bronze Age village, marked by hut circle remains nearby.

Also found at the foot of the boulder was a cache of over 40 flint flakes and tools thought to be of Neolithic or Early Bronze Age date, testifying to the importance of the boulder as an enduring feature of the landscape over several millennia. Excavations will probably continue this summer.

Meanwhile, among the discoveries made by the Royal Commission survey of the island was an Iron Age roundhouse giving access, perhaps once by steps, into an underground cave, possibly an oracle site. The cave, extremely difficult to reach in a cliff of scree, contained two ‘double-decker bus-sized’ slabs of rock facing one another – like the ‘thighs of a mother goddess’, according to the Commission’s surveyor David Cowley – with some bits of walling between to create a squared-off area Iron Age underground ritual sites, such as Mine Howe in Orkney, recall the importance of the ‘gods of the underworld’ in Iron Age society.

from British Archaeology Feb 02
britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba63/news.shtml#item2

Turf war over Byers’ white horse

politics.guardian.co.uk/localgovernment/story/0,9061,675788,00.html

A white horse, 100 metres high, is to be carved into the chalk downs at Folkestone to greet Channel tunnel users because Stephen Byers, the transport secretary, believes it will “boost local pride”.

Objections by environment groups, including the government’s advisers English Nature, were brushed aside because Mr Byers considers the horse would have an emotional and symbolic value for the town.

A 2,000-year-old sword and an ancient mirror are to be returned to the islands where a farmer found them.

He was working with a tractor in a potato field on the Isles of Scilly, off Cornwall, when he uncovered a burial site.

see the story
news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_1858000/1858788.stm

Sadly, another protester on Stanton Moor died last week in a fire. More on the story can be found here:

news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_1861000/1861573.stm

This article appeared in the weekend Scotsman a couple of weeks ago (I’ve had to abridge it to fit within 4096 characters)- looks like a replica of the stone may stand once again. Liked the quote from the minister at Stenness- ‘he was the god of war and bloodshed’!- aye- we’ll all burn in hell for it ;)
‘Orkney resident Morag Robertson has been at the forefront of a local campaign to
restore the prehistoric Stone of Odin for ancient handfasting ceremonies.
“People come from all over the world to see and touch the Neolithic stones,”
says Robertson. “Give them a marriage ceremony to go with it and you’ve got
a 21st-century goldmine.”
The ancient site was where Neolithic people celebrated growth and newly wed couples prepared for a fruitful union by joining hands through the hole and swearing an oath.
The tradition was brought to an end a century ago by a farmer who smashed the stone in a fit of pique when couples refused to stop walking over his land
But in Orkney, where 5,000 years of history still influences everyday life,
tradition is not wiped out that easily. Couples still go to the Standing Stones.
Recently there has been a growing interest from abroad in
travelling to Scotland for handfasting ceremonies. Orkney Islands Council
have recognised the tourism potential. They recently agreed to put money
aside to replace the Odin Stone.
Councillor John Brown, the chairman of the committee in charge of the
county’s heritage is also a geologist. “This is a World Heritage site so we can’t
put in a replica because we have no definite proof of what we’re trying to
duplicate. There’s only an old sketch. The nearest we can get is a slab from
the original sandstone bedrock that the other standing stones came from, but
we’ll have to put a notice there saying ‘substitute’.”
“Lets get on with it,” says Robertson, who is envisaging a new craze for the
21st-century.
Stenness minister Tom Clark is appalled at the idea of oaths being taken in
the name of Odin. “He was a god of war and bloodshed. The Kirk certainly
wouldn’t be involved in wedding packages connected with any of this.”
Local historian Peter Leith disagrees. “The folk who put up the stone were
prehistoric,” he says. “The name Odin only came with the Vikings later, so the
ceremonies go back far further, and anyway, the Kirk must have been part of
it a couple of centuries ago, because oral tradition says to break the troth you
had to go into the Stenness kirk together and come out through separate
doors.” ‘

The following story was reported at..
unison.ie/corkman/stories.php3?ca=40&si=673169&issue_id=6727

A KILNAMARTYRA farmer got a little more than he bargained for when he discovered two underground tunnels last week whilst making a gallop to train his greyhounds.

The tunnels situated directly beside a ditch are over a meter in height and particularly well preserved.

“I was told the tunnels were over 1,500 years old. I plan to make the tunnels safe and leave them there for future generations.

“I have marked the tunnels into a map and the Archeologists are sending me out a plaque to erect near the tunnels,” said John.

Ursula Egan, of the Cork Archeological Survey group, which is based in University College Cork, visited the site.

Ms Egan described the tunnels as ‘souterrains‚, the French word for an underground chamber.

“They are in a remarkable condition and probably date back to the time of Saint Patrick making them about 1,500 years old.

Daily Telegraph Obituaries
(Filed: 22/12/2001)

AUBREY BAILEY, who has died aged 89, was perhaps best known for the work he directed at Stonehenge between 1958 and 1964

The work involved re-erecting, in their original position, stones that had fallen or become dislodged within recorded history – the earliest record dating from 1690.

The main “Trilithon” stones, weighing some 45 tons, had to be encased in a further 15 tons of steel so they could be lifted into position. To do this, one of Britain’s largest cranes – designed to lift aircraft – was borrowed from the Ministry of Defence. Bailey’s work at Stonehenge brought him to public attention and he was amused to receive a letter from an admirer in America addressed simply to “Mr Stonehenge, London”. The nickname stuck for many years.

Thomas Aubrey Bailey was born on January 20 1912 at Hanley, Staffordshire.

In 1953 he was promoted head of the Ancient Monuments branch, with a staff of 1,400. Boundlessly enthusiastic, he led by example, and combined his love of motoring (he owned a series of Armstrong Siddeleys) with his work by travelling to the 300 ancient monuments in his care as often as he could.

Full account

I made a field visit to this site yesterday in the hope that this stone had not been destroyed in the process of the modern houses been built here- and found it- 26 years after the OS reported it gone! Contacted the RCAHMS as their database states that no trace of this stone can now be found;

Yesterday I took the opportunity to try and find Niddrie House Standing
Stone (NMRS Number: NT27SE 199). I noted from the CANMORE database that the
last entry for this stone states;
‘No trace in an area of modern housing development’- OS report August 1975.
However, as fate would have it, I missed the bus stop and when turning into
the terminus, noticed the stone next to the pavement. It appears that the
map co-ords on the database are wrong- NT298715- I think it should be NT2987
7125 (using 1:25000 scale, not GPS unfortunately). I also had another set of
co-ords for this stone from Adam McLeans book ‘The Standing Stones of the
Lothians’- however these were also slightly west.
The stone now stands at the corner of Greendykes Road and Niddrie House
Avenue, just a couple of metres from the main road and behind a utilities
buildings (electricity?) and just outside a small burial ground. The
dimensions on CANMORE are approx correct and I noticed the cupmarkings on
the right at the base of the stone- certainly at least one of them looks
natural, but there were around 5 others which looked classically megalithic.
I hope the above information is of some use.

The RCAHMS replied;
Thank you very much for taking the time to contact us about the Niddrie standing stone. We are delighted to hear that it is still visible and we will update the information in the database early in the New Year.

(from northcoastal.freeserve.co.uk/holme_beach.htm)

27th November 2001
Holme Village Hall Meeting

A meeting was held in Holme Village Hall tonight for what has been called the last of the consultations regarding the fate of ‘Seahenge’.

David Miles Chief Archaeologist of English Heritage explained to the villagers of Holme-next-the-sea what had happened to change the decision to bury Seahenge deep into the clay of Holme beach. A decision made at the last consultative meeting in the village hall in October 2000, when it was suggested that there was neither money nor expertise to preserve the timbers on dry land.

When various archaeologists and academics from the international scientific community urged
preservation of the timbers as burying them could not guarantee their survival, English Heritage
released funding to Flag Fen for further investigation of the timbers.

The Seahenge timbers, which have been dated to the spring of 2050BC and 2049BC using pioneering dating techniques, are now being studied using new technological advances in laser scanning which is allowing scientists to study, on computer, three dimensional detailed images.
This study is revealing in fine detail exactly how the timbers were cut and shaped and showing what tools were used. This, and other information, is unlocking the mystery of the builders of Seahenge.

Referring to the axe marks as ‘fingerprints’ a report from Flag Fen suggests that 38 different bronze tools were used and that a number of ‘builders’ appeared to be involved. That report concluded a whole community would have been involved in the building of ‘Seahenge’.

English Heritage has now agreed to release £50,000 for a 5 year programme of conservation and preservation to be carried out at Flag Fen Bronze Age Centre in Peterborough under the direction of Francis Pryor the Director of Archaeology and his wife Maisie Taylor. At the end of this process English Heritage will provide the funding for storage. English Heritage scientist Mike Corfield explained how the timbers could be preserved using a water soluble wax which process would make the wood solid. David Miles said no decision had been reached regarding display of ‘Seahenge’.

The option of placing the conserved timbers into storage would give access to scientists for research purposes and allow future generations to experience for themselves ‘one of the most important discoveries of recent years for British archaeology’. Another option to storage is the founding of a local trust to take over the responsibility of Seahenge and to raise the funds and find a suitable environment for permanent display allowing this present generation to experience this ‘important discovery’.

It was suggested at the meeting that there was now a breathing space of 5 years in which to come up with the answers to the eventual fate of ‘Seahenge’.

Holme Parish Council Chairman, Geoff Needham said “They have now realised the national importance of Seahenge and that they have no option but to provide the money for preservation.

The enthusiasm for long term display must come locally, but the Government will have to provide the money”.

There was no mention at all of the new discoveries on Holme’s beach. See ‘At Holme with Seahenge’ where three new photographs taken by John Lorimer show the central logs of a 22’ circle clearly showing what are assumed to be bronze tool marks.