Yeah, the age-old argument... some people act like scum, so everyone must suffer. I always advocate trying to work with landowners whenever possible, to build goodwill for those that may want to come after you... if you see farmers, go and talk to them. Knock on the door as you pass through. A number of posters on TMA over the years have alluded to trespassing as some kind of rebellious fun. I disagree and would much rather be welcome - or at least tolerated. Stand up for yourself if abused, yes, but treat as you would wish to be treated.

"More than a quarter" seems a much lower percentage than I would have expected, but to be fair some of the richest concentrations of sites in E&W are on Open Access land, including a lot of upland and coastal sites.

The comments on the article are probably a fair representation of views, ranging from "private is private" through to "all property is theft" with most opinions in between. There seem to be quite a lot of misconceptions about Scotland's Outdoor Access Code in relation to gardens, but I'm guessing mostly from non-Scots. I don't enjoy trespassing, it detracts from the joy of a visit. But I don't like having to ask for permission either, except where it is actually is in someone's garden in which case that's just common courtesy. The consequence is that I visit far more sites that have public access than ones that don't, because then the issue doesn't arise.

What the article doesn't mention is all those sites that are publicly accessible but made practically inaccessible by landowners who block paths or ensure dangerous livestock is placed in the fields where the monuments are.

Also, for all the (partially justified but exaggerated) criticism of damage caused by visitors, there's no mention of damage caused by the landowners themselves, which all of us who visit these places see, whether it's ongoing incremental damage from the plough, the dumping of rubbish, or sudden and shocking destruction (like at Priddy).

It must also be said that the potential of activity by unscrupulous detectorists may also be a factor in farmers and landowners protective or obstructive attitudes.. fair enough. I accidentally found seems to be a huge site out in the White Peak and had a little discrete look at a section of it but when I met the farmer later he, despite being amiable, was plainly very keen that anyone on his land should keep to the signed paths. I did not mention what I had seen but he must know what is there. I’m sure there are many other unrecorded sites elsewhere with similarly protective owners.

The first thing I noticed about this article is the credit for the main photo: "A.Brookes/The Modern Antiquarian bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4x7qg43v7o

Hey baza, nice to see you. Well, while every other form of social media is going to shit, we like to advertise TMA 🤣