The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Carn Meini

Rocky Outcrop

News

Stonehenge tourist bosses demand visitors stop chipping stones and selling them on eBay


"To take fragments from Carn Menyn is to violate a part of our heritage which has been valued for over 4,000 years" Geoffrey Wainwright

A quarry which scientists have recently identified as being the source of Stonehenge’s famous rocks is being plundered at a “terrifying rate” by thieves selling them on eBay for £8, tourism bosses say.
Preseli bluestone can only be found on the Preseli Hills which runs the spine of Pembrokeshire, West Wales.
The stones were cut from rock and transported 160 miles to Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain to form the iconic circle around 5,000 years ago still stands today.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12164042/Stonehenge-tourist-bosses-demand-visitors-stop-chipping-stones-and-selling-them-on-eBay.html
moss Posted by moss
19th February 2016ce

Comments (5)

The small chunks I have seen on EBay (which have been lovingly carved and polished) are dwarfed in comparison to the enormous boulders said to have been "chipped off" and transported to the Stonehenge site thousands of years ago by well-meaning ancients...
I don't think anyone these days is going up with a hammer and "chipping off" any bits of Bluestone from the Preseli Hills. They'd probably just pick up chunks from the ground as it is easier and less strenuous I'd imagine. There's millions (probably billions) of tons of the stuff all along the Preseli's. And I don't actually think the seller I saw had gone to Kenya for that bit of polished Crystal... so mibbe the Peseli bits and pieces are just polished and carved bits from some beach or other. Who knows? Remember that lots of the people that buy these things believe in Goblins, Elfs and Faeries, so if you sold them a polished bit of rock and said it was actually from the "Realm of Gondor" they'd probably believe you.
But this is the first time that I have seen any reference to the "alarming rate" at which The Preseli's are disappearing through EBay trinket plunder.
Howburn Digger Posted by Howburn Digger
19th February 2016ce
To be honest, that was my first thought, it is a hell of a long ridge of rocks to demolish anyway by just chipping. And considering the stuff taken away originally for Stonehenge who is to say who are vandals. There is a stone with a terrible memorial plaque to Waldo Williams the poet, situated by the road, that needs removing or some TLC!
But news being news and with the word "Stonehenge" in it we are led up another path of non-news ;)
moss Posted by moss
19th February 2016ce
Surprised EH aren't selling lumps of it in the visitors centre. harestonesdown Posted by harestonesdown
19th February 2016ce
Brilliant, has Chesil Beach run out now then?

Perhaps it's just any old rock, like medieval fakers selling bits of the True Cross and St Cuthbert's knee (I may have made that last one up).
thesweetcheat Posted by thesweetcheat
19th February 2016ce
I agree with Moss......a typically non-news story with a misleading headline. As for the Park Authority's stance.......predictable. They'd fence it off if they could. Posted by tomatoman
20th February 2016ce
You must be logged in to add a comment