from BBCi
Druids tried to spiritually clean them but now it is a vet’s turn to see if he can physically restore them to health.
The ancient Rollright Stones on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border have been off-colour ever since vandals daubed them in bright yellow paint.
Hi-tech ultrasound equipment used by vets to clean plaque from animals’ teeth is now to be used in an attempt to restore the stones. It is hoped the device will leave rare lichen on the stones untouched. Continues...
Heritage campaigners fighting to stop the destruction of the massive Thornborough henge complex this week delivered more than 600 written objections to the planning department of North Yorkshire County Council in Northallerton, northern England.
The letters – which were delivered in a wheelbarrow – are as a result of a local, national and international campaign being co-ordinated by George Chaplin, the Thornborough Campaign co-ordinator for Heritage Action.
More national publicity for the threatened henge complex. Mr Chaplin puts the case in Martin Wainwright’s article at:
‘Diggers threaten ancient monument‘
guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1276469,00.html
More at
The Western Mail
A 24-year archaeological dig which has transformed Wales’ view of the Iron Age is to be wound up.
...secret stashes of sophisticated artefacts such as querns for grinding corn, spindle whorls for weaving, brooches, spear heads and horse harnesses [were found, and] painstaking sifting at the student training ground each summer has also unearthed several high-class Roman-style goods. This year 50 students led by Harold Mytum, of York University, have already found an almost perfectly preserved fifth-century-BC bowl, as well as glass beads.
“To me this site is very important,” said Dr Mytum yesterday. “It’s the only example of this sort of fort that’s been excavated very extensively. It’s revealed that they are very much more complicated in their design and construction than people thought.
“In Britain it’s up there with two or three other major Iron Age sites people know about such as Danebury in Hampshire. Although it was on the fringes, excavations show that it was not out of touch with the rest of the country. It’s made important changes to our perceptions of Iron Age Britain. It was on coastal trading routes and not perceived as a marginal area.”
A HUGE number of objections are being delivered to County Hall today, protesting against a quarry firm’s bid to extend its operations near the ‘Stonehenge of the North’.
Thornborough Henge campaigners hope to have collected a massive 1,000 individual letters of objection against Tarmac Northern Ltd’s plan to extend their sand and gravel extractions at Nosterfield Quarry.
The Friends of Thornborough and Heritage Action have also collected thousands more signatures on petitions, including on the internet, protesting against the threat to the prehistoric site, near Bedale.
Today they will be using a wheelbarrow to take the objections to North Yorkshire County Council which is set to decide on the issue.
Speaking of the massive support, George Chaplin, Heritage Action’s Thornborough Campaign co-ordinator and member of the Friends of Thornborough, said: “We have really upped the ante; we want to make a splash and show the powers that be some clear confirmation of the level of support.
“We feel that by presenting the council with more objections than it has ever received for any application, we can send a clear message about the strength of public concern.”
The campaign involved members visiting houses throughout the area and asking residents if they were interested in giving their support and writing a letter of protest.
Houses in Masham, Thornton Watlass, Newton-le-Willows, Well, Thornborough and Crayke Hall were all targeted and by Wednesday the group had already received around 600 letters with the promise of more to come.
Around ten per cent of the protest letters are from abroad, reflecting the international interest in the site, and an online petition has so far gained 3,300 signatures.
Although the statutory period for consultation officially ends tomorrow, people can still object to the application up to September 30.
Mr Chaplin said: “Once the statutory period is over we intend to concentrate on the quality rather than quantity of the objections as well as continuing the process of gaining international recognition for the Thornborough Henges.
In a statement, Tarmac Northern estates manager Bob Nicholson said the company shared the public’s concern for local heritage and the need to protect the area of the henges.
“We have announced that we do not intend to go ahead with any planning application to excavate the area surrounding the protected henges, pending the outcome of a detailed English Heritage study which will reveal the extent of the area’s competing land uses,” he said.
“We have also explained that by progressing our application to excavate sand and gravel at nearby Ladybridge Farm in the meantime we will be uncovering artefacts which would otherwise be left undiscovered, or worse, damaged by modern agricultural practices.
“In fact, Tarmac has an exceptional record in the recovery and protection of important archeological finds.
“We also continue to operate an open door policy with all local interest groups and the relevant statutory authorities to ensure we work together to find a solution which protects our local heritage at the same time as drawing on much-needed resources for the region’s construction industry.”
Mr Alwyn Shaw, the county council’s principal minerals and waste planning officer, could not confirm whether the number of objections was a record for such an application, as claimed by the campaigners.
“Everybody is entitled to make their views be known and we will look at them, read them, and present a summary of them to the planning committee,” he said.
“This is a controversial application and there has been a lot of concerns, as there is with a lot of quarry and waste applications. They attract local interest.”
Mr Shaw said a preliminary report would go before committee in October, and he believed a recommendation would be made that councillors undertake a site visit, probably in December.
“We would then have the full report with the full details and all representations heard. We accept that it is a difficult decision and we have to acknowledge people’s concerns.”
northallertontoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=22&ArticleID=831525
From an article by John Lichfield in the Independent. More at:
news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=546468
The bison turning its head to lick its flank, carved with extraordinary precision from a reindeer antler, might have been made yesterday. Even the animal’s tongue, a couple of millimetres long, is visible.
The mint-fresh small carving, among the most celebrated and startlingly beautiful examples of palaeolithic art, was made 12,000 years ago. Since its discovery in the Dordogne, in south-west France, it has rarely been seen in public. It went on permanent, public display this month for the first time.
The “licking bison” has spent most of the past century locked away, appearing only for occasional exhibitions. The pre-history museum at Les Eyzies has made a policy decision to show original artefacts, rather than copies, wherever possible.
The bison se léchant is among 18,000 objects – many never shown before – in France’s Museum of Pre-history, which opened this month in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, in the Dordogne. The museum, 20 years in the planning, arguing and making, is a triumph. It is attracting more visitors than can be comfortably handled in the village which calls itself, with some justification, the “capital of pre-history”.
Local wits decorated the hill figure last week to leave no doubt about his sex. They also gave him a smiley face and decorated the staffs as flags, using white paint.
Sussex Past, the organisation responsible for the Long Man’s maintenance, is investigating the vandalism. Their spokesman Chris Munns said, ‘The extra lines were made with some kind of paint, so we should be able to strim them out.‘
The outline is actually marked with large white stone blocks, rather than being cut into the chalk itself.
(gleaned from ‘Eastbourne Today‘)
The Conishman 29th July 2004 CE
One of West Cornwall’s most famous stone circles might have to be re-named, following the re-positioning of fallen and leaning stones.
The Nine Maidens stone circle at Ding Dong (pictured) now has eleven stones standing upright, after archeologists re-erected standing stones that had long fallen and were lying on their side in thick undergrowth. Two stones have now been put back into place, making the circle, which originally had 22 stones, the most complete it has been for years.
Work to restore and repair the prehistoric stone circle has now been completed, following a joint project between the county council’s Environment and Heritage Service, Defra and the Nine Maidens Commoners.
The Nine Maidens Stone Circle, on the northern fringe of Madron between Ding Dong and craggy Carn Galver, underwent extensive works including scrub clearance, drainage improvements and footpath repair.
The two fallen stones were re-erected after a preliminary excavation to locate their original sockets.
When first recorded in the mid 18th century, there were 19 stones surviving of an original ring of 22.
Until the recent renovation there were only six standing upright, three were leaning heavily and two were completely fallen.
Other prehistoric monuments surviving close to the stone circle include the stump of a standing stone and several Bronze Age barrows, as well as the famous Men an Tol.
Together they indicate that this area was an important focus in prehistoric times. The erosion of the monument and surrounding area has been caused by visitors and trail bike users. Paths leading into the circle had become eroded and muddy while thick gorse had grown over parts of the circle.
Anne Preston Jones, of the County Council’s archeological unit, said the name of the circle would not have to be changed as it did not refer to the number of standing stones.
She explained: “Many circles in Cornwall are called ‘Nine Maidens’, as the figure nine was always considered magical and mystical. The name doesn’t really have anything to do with the number of stones in the circle.”
CAMPAIGNERS delivered a wheelbarrow full of objections against more quarrying near an ancient monument in North Yorkshire yesterday.
About 550 letters were handed to the county council from protestors fighting plans to extend the Nosterfield Quarry, close to Thornborough Henges, near Ripon, North Yorkshire.
Campaign group Heritage Action says the proposal by Tarmac Northern would destroy a significant archaeological site.
George Chaplin, Heritage Action campaign co-ordinator, said: “This is the most important monument between Stonehenge and the Orkneys and we expect it to be a long campaign.
“This is just an initial show of concern.
“Thornborough Henges has been woefully under-recognised as a site of importance and we aim to move forward with a national campaign to build awareness.
“Our work will be going on all summer. We have meetings set up all over the place to spotlight the issue.”
The site is said to contain the greatest concentration of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age henges – or circular monuments – in the country.
It is thought the henges may have been the most important sacred site in Britain 5,000 years ago and English Heritage has backed the protest campaign.
The county council expects to produce a preliminary report for consideration by councillors in September. This is likely to recommend a site visit and it could be December before any decision is taken.
thisisthenortheast.co.uk/the_north_east/northallerton/news/NEWS2.html
Edited from “Iron Age ‘nerve centre’ uncovered on hill” by Angie Brown, The Scotsman
thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=863592004
New findings at Traprain Law, near Haddington, include the first coal jewellery workshop unearthed in Scotland as well as hundreds of artefacts giving new insight into life in the 700BC-AD43 era. Experts who have been working on the site for several weeks are now able to paint a picture of a densely populated hilltop town which was home to leaders of local tribes, following the discovery of multiple ramparts, Roman pottery, gaming pieces, tools and beads.
Fraser Hunter, the curator of Iron Age and Roman at the National Museums of Scotland (NMS), said pottery found at the site proved that in AD80-400 Traprain Law’s inhabitants had regular contacts with Roman visitors, highlighting the importance of the area.
“The finds confirm the importance of Traprain in the Iron Age. This was a major craft centre, with jewellery being cast in bronze and carved out of oil shale. The whole site is more complex and densely fortified than we originally thought. Our finds show it was the power centre of East Lothian from the multiple ramparts we have found and the fragments of Roman objects which tell us this site was important as it had affiliations with the Romans.
“Our excavations confirm that the site thrived during the Roman period, with the inhabitants having access to a wide range of Roman goods which are otherwise very rare in Scotland. We are also very excited to find a workshop where cannel coal was carved into jewellery. We knew this vegetable-based coal was used to make bangles and beads but nobody had ever found a workshop where it was made.
“It brings the Iron Age to life to know where they stood making these objects and gives us a vivid insight, which we have not had until now.”
Experts at the latest excavation, the largest since 1923, have also produced the first detailed plan of the hill using new global positioning satellite equipment to chart the 50 hectare area.
by Lynn Jackson, from This is East Dorset
AN AMBITIOUS project to uncover ancient archaeological remains dating back to the Bronze Age is due to start in east Dorset next month.
A team led by archaeologists from Bournemouth University plans to investigate a number of round barrows from around 2000BC at Knowlton Circles, south of Cranborne, as well as other ancient monuments along the Allen Valley.
Historians believe this part of Dorset was heavily occupied 4,000 years ago, but very little is known about how these early people lived.
Project leader John Gale, who is organising this summer’s dig with both university students and local volunteers, said: “It could be very exciting. There are hundreds of round barrows in this area, although many are hard to spot on the surface.
“Ancient monuments on Cranborne Chase have been relatively well studied but there’s been very little excavation work carried out in the Knowlton area and along the Allen Valley.
“The last major dig in this part of Dorset was sometime in the 1890s, but since then it’s hardly been looked at.”
As well as Bronze Age remains, archaeologists have also unearthed evidence of a nearby Romano-British settlement dating back to the first century AD.
Now, the university-led team hopes to do more exploratory work on this widespread site, with a view to carrying out excavations over the next four years.
Students and volunteers are set to start the dig on August 9, and will be on site six days a week, with Saturdays off.
Visitors are welcome to come and see how the work is progressing.
Published 27 July 2004
I have received the following and thought it suitable for inclusion here:
I understand that the White Horse Stone in Kent UK is important to your religion and I am writing to tell you of a threat to it and the immediate environment.
Orange wants to install a 15 metre mast within feet of the Stone and adjacent to the Pilgrim’s Way. They say it is temporary but once installed I don’t think it will ever be removed.
The mast if given planning permission will be in the hedgerow next to the Cursing field where the Stone stands too.
It is an area of natural Beauty and the White Horse Stone is an Ancient Monument.
If you can please write to:
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council
Attn: Steve Humphrey
Director of Planning and Engineering Services
Gibson Building
Gibson Drive
Kings Hill
West Malling, Kent
ME19 4LZ
Please quote the Application No: TM/04/02250/FL
If a lot of letters are received it will go to a committee to be
considered instead of being nodded through by an officer from planning.
Comments and objections must be received by 2nd August. (That is this coming Monday).
The person dealing with this is Jill Thompson her phone number is 01732 876234. her email is [email protected]
Hengest Thorsson
Internet Information Officer
The Odinic Rite
From BBCi, 22 July 2004
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3915397.stm
Excavations are set to begin at what experts have described as one of the most important archaeological sites in Scotland.
They are trying to discover exactly how much damage was done by a major fire at the site last year.
The dig is taking place on Traprain Law, a hill near East Linton in East Lothian.
The area is noted as having been a major population centre in the late Bronze Age, 3,000 years ago.
In 2003, a fire started by a discarded cigarette end burned through grass and vegetation, damaging some historical remains and exposing others to potential erosion.
It left an unstable mixture of soil, mud and ash.
Investigators are now examining the worst affected areas hoping to carry out rescue and rehabilitation work.
Among the early finds in the current operation have been parts of a mediaeval building, as well as ancient tools, pottery and beads.
In the period AD 80 to 400 Traprain Law’s inhabitants had regular contacts with Roman visitors.
A huge hoard of Roman silver items was found on the hill in 1919.
July 19, 2004
form icNorthWales
EXPERTS have been brought in to help turn ancient bronze age copper workings in North Wales into a major tourist attraction.
Focus for the Copper Mountain project, which includes the old port of Amlwch in Anglesey, will be the historic Mynydd Parys mines and open cast sites. These played a major part in launching the industrial revolution in Britain and western Europe.
Now the mountain will be at the centre of a two-pronged bid to get visitors rolling in.
The Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust has taken on consultants Gifford and Partners to draw up a detailed conservation management plan. The brief is to outline a programme of repair and restoration.
Another company, Parkin Heritage and Tourism, will draw up a development study and business plan.
The two reports will form the basis for future bids for funding.
On July 27 a team from Gifford will be setting up a day-long surgery at Amlwch Town Hall to get local opinions.
Project archaeologist Babita Sharma said: “We hope to speak to people to understand how they feel about their unique heritage.”
At last this excellent resource is officially available! Here is the Press Release from the RCAHMW:
What is COFLEIN?
Coflein is the online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW) – the national collection of information about the historic environment of Wales.
The name is derived from the Welsh cof (memory) and lein (line).Coflein contains details of many thousands of archaeological sites, monuments, buildings and maritime sites in Wales, together with an index to the drawings, manuscripts and photographs held in the NMRW archive collections. Sites can be displayed on Ordnance Survey maps and ordered geographically, as well as by text queries. The data can be searched by location (place-name, area or Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 map sheet), by type (the classification or function of a site, monument or building) or by keyword.
16 July 2004, from 24hourmuseum.org.uk
Yorkshire campaigners opposing the proposed planning application by Tarmac Northern to quarry close to Thornborough Henges in North Yorkshire, say the application contravenes the local council’s policy on quarrying in the area.
Heritage Action claim that North Yorkshire County Council’s ‘Minerals Action Plan’, which regulates mineral extraction and quarrying in the region, recommends a reduction in the supply of sand and gravel from the county by 500, 000 tonnes per year.
This they maintain is not consistent with Tarmac’s proposed plans to quarry the nearby Ladybridge area. Continues here...
Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of a Roman fort and a Stone Age settlement near a pub in Chesterfield.
Experts were called in when developers discovered the artefacts on land underneath the Old Feather’s Pub on Lordsmill Street.
Some of the pottery dates back to the 1st Century AD.
Maria Barnes from Chesterfield Museum said the discovery indicates the town’s Roman settlement was larger than previously thought.
“Most of the evidence of Roman settlement is the centre of Chesterfield and this gives us proof that the civilian settlement around the fort extends further south than we previously thought,” she said.
A decision on plans to quarry near an ancient monument known as “Britain’s best kept prehistoric secret” will not be rushed, North Yorkshire Council has promised.
The council is considering an application by Tarmac Northern to extract sand and gravel from Ladybridge Farm at Nosterfield, near Ripon, which is within a mile of Thornborough Henges – three 5,500-year-old ancient monuments forming part of a sacred landscape across North Yorkshire.
English Heritage is among the opponents of quarrying until more archaeological investigations are carried out.
The council is waiting for archaeological information from Tarmac, which will form part of the company’s environmental statement in support of its plans.
Tarmac has sought to reassure local people, including the Friends of Thornborough Henges, who oppose any further quarrying, that the Ladybridge Farm application for an 111-acre quarrying extension would not damage the area’s archaeology.
Simon Smales, North Yorkshire’s assistant director (planning and countryside unit), responded to Friends’ criticism over the council’s handling of the planning application, saying it would be determined in the same way as any other scheme. He said: “Far from putting anyone at a disadvantage, the county council is providing everyone who has an interest in this particular application a period of time far in excess of that required by law to formulate their views and provide their comments.
“The county council must strike a balance between complying with the relevant legislation, the efficient handling of a planning application and obtaining the views of those people who are affected by, or have an interest in, a proposed development.”
Mr Smales said the usual 21-day period for responses had been extended by a week to July 30 and the Friends had been told the council would accept representations received up to September 30.
Planning officers are not expected to prepare a report for councillors before late October and a site visit would follow.
See snipurl.com/7rz8 for the original article by Julie Hemmings, as published on 14th July 2004 on the YorkshireToday web site.
An English cave has been described as the “Sistine Chapel of the Ice Age” after the discovery of 80 engraved figures in its limestone ceiling.
The discovery at Creswell Crags was announced on Tuesday.
It comes a year after the initial discovery of 12 engraved figures, which were trumpeted as the earliest examples of prehistoric cave art in Britain.
The new discoveries were made possible by the good natural light in April and June, rock art experts said.
Creswell Crags – a Site of Special Scientific Interest – lies on the border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. It comprises a gorge and many caves.
The latest artwork, dated to be about 13,000 years old, was found in an opening in the rock known as Church Hole, in Nottinghamshire.
Scientist Dr Sergio Ripoll, from Spain’s Open University, said: “’The good natural light both in April and June of this year, and the realisation that the Ice Age artists who were visiting Church Hole were actually modifying the natural shapes in the limestone, has enabled us to see many new animal figures.”
The figures include representations of bison, deer, bears, plus two or three species of bird; including one unusual bird head with a long, curved bill.
British rock art expert Dr Paul Bahn said: “The sunny mornings especially provided an opportunity to see the cave illuminated by a brilliant reflected light, presumably how our Ice Age ancestors meant for the art to be experienced.”
Dr Nigel Mills, manager of the Creswell Heritage Trust, said the discoveries were “absolutely fantastic news”.
“Church Hole cave is really the Sistine Chapel of the Ice Age,” he said.
Although older cave art in France and Spain is regarded as more sophisticated, the Creswell images are deemed to be significant because of their northerly position.
They are the only examples of Palaeolithic cave art in the UK, and the artists who made them would have witnessed a British landscape still being shaped by glaciers.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/3890113.stm
***Thanks to Mrs Goffik for this link!***
Mindless vandals have scrawled graffiti over one of Yorkshire’s best loved beauty spots.
Shocked walkers on Ilkley Moor have discovered that ancient rocks have been defaced by louts.
The hooligans have used white gloss paint to leave their mark between the Cow and Calf and the White Wells.
And they have defaced an earlier carving of a deer on one specimen.
Local councillors and walkers have expressed their disgust at the senseless vandalism.
Coun Brian Mann said he had not personally seen the graffiti but would be raising the issue with his colleagues on the council, and he urged everyone to be vigilant.
He said: “It is nasty and cowardly. What do they hope to achieve?”
He said graffiti on the moor would have a massive impact, and he stressed: “It is something we are going to stamp down on.”
Coun Mann said thankfully vandalism did not appear to be a persistent problem.
He added: “I think more people should report these kinds of things if they see them happening – and certainly they should bring it to our attention.”
Coun Anne Hawkesworth said the graffiti had not been brought to her attention but she was planning to look into it.
She said people tended to respect the area, and but added: “Obviously it would be quite disturbing if the vandalism got too much.
“It is quite incredible that someone had trailed white paint up there.”
Richard Perhim, a spokesman for Bradford Council’s countryside department said the reports of graffiti would be investigated.
He said: “It comes round every now and again but it is usually not too bad up there.”
He said masonry paint would be used to cover the graffiti.
“We have tried using removal stuff in the past – but it doesn’t work particularly well,” he said.
“The rock is quite coarse so it is easier to paint over it.”
Source: Ilkley Gazette – Thursday 01 July 2004
thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/archive/2004/07/01/otle_spor22.int.html
From the THES 9/7/04;
It’s Brit Art, but not as we know it
Steve Farrar
Published: 09 July 2004
The cave engravings emerged first, then shadowy bas-reliefs. Steve Farrar reports
The finest collection of Ice Age bas-relief sculpture found on a cave ceiling is as elusive as it is beautiful. Indeed, the experts who will soon officially announce the discovery overlooked its existence during a preliminary survey.
A search of Church Hole, a cave in Creswell Crags, near Worksop, Nottinghamshire, last year first revealed engraved – as opposed to bas-relief – images of horses, bison, red deer and possibly a wolf that are probably more than 13,000 years old.
Until then, the Ice Age residents of Britain were widely considered impoverished cousins of continental Europeans who produced rich cave paintings and carvings.
But even as that image crumbles, the team admits that the most astonishing achievements of the Creswellian artists initially evaded detection.
“We’d seen no bas-relief before,” says Paul Bahn, an independent scholar and leading Ice Age art expert. “When we first saw the horse’s head, we thought it was a trick of the light.”
The oversight is forgivable. At first glance, only the natural cracks and bumps of the limestone are evident in the cave. But with expert guidance, a menagerie of animals can be espied in the gloom.
Chaotically aligned, overlapping figures peer out from every corner. First come the engraved outlines, which reveal a sophisticated understanding of the animals’ physiology. Then comes the bas-relief, formed by chipping away rock to leave images proud of their background.
Many combine natural features suggestive of an animal with sculpted elements such as an eye, ear or muzzle. Among them is a large brown bear and the horse – a haunting image with a bas-relief mane – whose mouth is formed by a white chip of mineral in the rock.
Paul Pettitt, lecturer in human origins at Sheffield University, who organised the search for UK cave art with Dr Bahn 18 months ago, notes how a minimum of elaboration was often enough to complete the picture.
“They bring out the ghost of these animals’ form,” he says.
When the experts began the work, they dared not imagine they would enjoy such success. Dr Pettitt and Dr Bahn were joined by Sergio Ripoll, a leading Ice Age art specialist at the Spanish Open University, who is renowned for having “the eyes” to detect previously unrecognised cave art.
They started at Creswell Crags, where traces of Ice Age people had been found. Twenty minutes after entering Church Hole something caught Dr Ripoll’s eye.
“I saw a line and suddenly a head was there. I then said a very big bad word in Spanish – it was so exciting,” Dr Ripoll says. He had found the outline of what later turned out to be a red deer stag.
Since then, up to 81 possible pictures have come to light, most emerging since international experts descended on Creswell in April to discuss the discoveries.
The artists are thought to have been the first hunter-gatherers to return to Britain after the last Ice Age.
Dr Pettitt says the artwork suggests strong cultural links between the people of Creswell Crags and their counterparts elsewhere on the great plain that once linked Britain to Germany.
The experts admit they can only guess what the pictures meant to the artists, though their sheer number suggests they were intensely personal.
Dr Pettitt interprets boomerang-shaped figures found deep in the cave as highly stylised depictions of dancing women similar to those found on the continent. His colleagues are not convinced.
“We still argue for hours and bounce ideas about,” Dr Bahn says.
The evidence is still coming in. It seems likely that Church Hole was completely covered in pictures, while the handful of images identified in other Creswell caves makes it possible that the entire gorge was decorated.
The pictures might even have been brightly painted – a possibility that infra-red imaging could soon confirm.
With more discoveries possible elsewhere in Britain, it seems the original exponents of Brit Art are finally getting recognition.
Scutchamer’s Knob, has always been a a glowing belisha beacon on the beautiful Berkshire downs for rave parties and illicit camping trips – especially during the early ‘90’s. Largely helped by its ease of accessability but yet fairly remote location.
Unfortunately, it now proving to be popular with our local ‘yoof’ community, wryly twisitng it’s older meaning of a ‘moot’ point about face.
As well as the usual load of cans, plastic bags and even car doors to be found there, I was astonished and saddened to see that ten or so of the trees to the left of the mound have been heavily vandalised by green paint (I’ve posted then pictures in the Image section).
A local tree surgeon has recommended that the paint is allowed to weather off naturally, as forcing it’s removal may actually damage the tree itself.
So, next time your down there please stop and admire our new fluorescent world – sheer magic!
- Come and find out from the horse’s mouth exactly why it’s so important that Thornborough should be quarried. You can ask questions.
From Nidderdale Today
nidderdaletoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=18&ArticleID=818968
“A quarry firm at the centre of a bitter row with conservationists is squaring up to its critics by staging a public exhibition to explain its controversial plans to extend operations next to an ancient site near Ripon.
Tarmac Northern Ltd – part of Anglo American plc, one of the world’s largest mining companies – is holding the event to enable members of the public to find out more about its plans for Nosterfield Quarry at Thornborough.
Tarmac submitted proposals to extract sand and gravel from a further 111 acres at Ladybridge Farm, east of the current quarry, last month, saying the expansion was necessary to provide much-needed sand and gravel supplies to North Yorkshire’s construction industry.
Now members of the public will be able to see the plans in detail for themselves. Visitors to the exhibition being held at West Tanfield village hall on Saturday, July 10, from 11am to 4pm, will find information about the application and quarrying in general. They will also be able to follow a virtual tour of how the area will be restored once the quarrying has finished, access information on the archaeology of the area and view some of the finds from excavations as part of the quarrying process.
Bob Nicholson, estates manager at Tarmac, said: “This is a great opportunity for residents from the local communities to get a clear picture of our plans for Ladybridge Farm, why we need to quarry here and how the area is going to be restored in the future. There will be a team of us there to deal with any questions people may have.”
The exhibition by Tarmac will be closely followed by a talk about the importance of the henge site and what should be done to protect it.
The new visitor centre was unveiled yesterday (5th July) and the caves are once more open to the public.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3867385.stm
Also see ThisIsDevon for more details:
thisisdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=143650&command=displayContent&sourceNode=143634&contentPK=10562050
