The aim of the exhibition is to set Stonehenge into the context of an era during which there was great social and technological change. It will include the Nebra sky disc on loan from Halle Museum in Germany.
Druids face defeat as bulldozers get set for Stonehenge bypass
It has been bitterly debated for the past three decades, but the latest plans to partly bury the A303 in a tunnel beside Stonehenge may this week finally get approval from transport secretary Grant Shapps.
150-year-old Stonehenge photos unearthed on the Summer Solstice
"They are some of the oldest photographs ever taken of the ancient Stonehenge landmark and the book in which they are bound dates back to 1867. It’s a chronicle which until now has been lost in the archives of the national mapping agency Ordnance Survey....."
Archaeologists may have found architects' camp for Stonehenge
A team of archaeologists believe they may have discovered a spot where some of the architects of Stonehenge gathered and camped.
The team have been investigating a causewayed enclosure – these are thought to be ancient meeting places or centres of trade – on army land at Larkhill close to Stonehenge... continues...
New Stonehenge path open – at last 9 October 2017 |
For those who like to walk and cycle and it's free...
The new Permissive Path at Stonehenge is finally open after a three-year delay waiting for the grass to grow strong enough to bear the weight of a few cyclists and pedestrians... continues...
The Stonehenge tunnel: ‘A monstrous act of desecration is brewing’
“The issue is whether Stonehenge exists to provide a tourist experience, or whether it is something more significant, both historically and spiritually,” he says. “It has stood there for 4,500 years. And up to now, no one’s thought of injecting enormous quantities of concrete into the landscape and permanently disfiguring it... continues...
A tunnel is to be built under Stonehenge under plans announced by ministers, in a move that will reignite the controversy over improving major roads around the ancient site... continues...
Stonehenge parking expansion planned after transport issues
A planning application to provide more parking spaces and resurface the overflow car park at Stonehenge is to go before the local authority.
English Heritage said the work would create about 25 additional coach parking spaces and ensure high volumes of visitors can park in wet weather... continues...
"Archaeologists working on a site near Stonehenge say they have found an untouched 6,000-year-old encampment which "could rewrite British history".
David Jacques, from the University of Buckingham, made the discovery at Blick Mead in October, and said the carbon dating results had just been confirmed... continues...
Stonehenge's most intricate archaeological finds were 'probably made by children'
Some of the most high status pieces of prehistoric ‘bling’, prized by Stonehenge’s Bronze Age social elite, are likely to have been made by children, according to new research... continues...
The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project, is a four-year collaboration between a British team and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Austria that has produced the first detailed underground survey of the area surrounding Stonehenge, totaling more than four square miles... continues...
Stonehenge builders' 'bright and airy' homes re-created
Another housing development!
Five Neolithic houses have been recreated at Stonehenge to reveal how the ancient monument's builders would have lived 4,500 years ago.
The single-room, 5m (16ft) wide homes made of chalk and straw daub and wheat-thatching, are based on archaeological remains at nearby Durrington Walls... continues...
Not sure if anyone has mentioned these, fancy having to go to Malta for the news.....
team of volunteers are recreating a piece of Neolithic history at Stonehenge in the UK.
They are building five houses to give an authentic glimpse of life at the time the World Heritage Site was constructed... continues...
Before Stonehenge - Did this man lord it over Wiltshire's sacred landscape?
What they have discovered sheds remarkable new light on the people who, some 5500 years ago, were building the great ritual monuments of what would become the sacred landscape of Stonehenge... continues...
“A dig at the Blick Mead site, just a mile from Stonehenge, near Amesbury, Wiltshire, led to the discovery of a charred toad's leg alongside small fish vertebrate bones of trout or salmon as well as burnt aurochs' bones (the predecessor of cows)... continues...
New Stonehenge visitor centre to open on December 18
English Heritage announced today that the first phase of the long-awaited improvements to the setting and visitor experience of Stonehenge will be launched to the public on Wednesday, December 18.
Visitors will be welcomed at a new visitor building, located 2.1km (1.5 miles) to the west of Stonehenge... continues...
Ancient skeletons have been found on a Mansell house-building site near Stonehenge in Wiltshire.
"Six Saxon skeletons dating back more than 1,000 years and round barrows dating back to the Bronze Age 4,000 years ago have been discovered on a brownfield development site in Amesbury"
Stonehenge visitor centre and road closure project starts
A £27m project at Stonehenge to build a new visitor centre and close the road alongside the monument has begun.
The centre will replace existing buildings. After the closure of the A344, a shuttle service taking visitors to and from the stones will start... continues...
Stonehenge was built to unify Britain, researchers conclude.
Building Stonehenge was a way to unify the people of Stone Age Britain, researchers have concluded.
Teams working on the Stonehenge Riverside Project believe the circle was built after a long period of conflict between east and west Britain... continues...
Wiltshire Heritage Museum awarded £370,000 for new Prehistoric Galleries
“The Wiltshire Heritage Museum has been awarded £370,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to support plans to create a new gallery focusing on their outstanding Bronze Age archaeological collections. This will tell the story of the people who built and used the world renowned monuments of Stonehenge and Avebury... continues...
Stonehenge: Closure of A344 near monument to go ahead.
Plans to close a main road running past Stonehenge are to go ahead.
English Heritage wants to stop traffic from travelling close to the stones and "restore the dignity" of the World Heritage Site by closing the A344... continues...
Let's have a dispassionate look at the latest Stonehenge news. The Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project (University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection) continues its geophysical survey... continues...
Plans to close a main road running past Stonehenge have been backed by the government following a public inquiry.
English Heritage wanted to stop traffic from travelling close to the stones and "restore the dignity" of the World Heritage Site by closing the A344... continues...
"This project will provide a united historic environment research agenda and strategy for the Avebury and Stonehenge World Heritage Site. The two parts of the World Heritage Site currently have separate research frameworks that were created at different times and in different formats... continues...
English Heritage photo rights trawl getting wider publicity
I know this has been covered before and affects wider than Stonehenge but it's interesting to see that EH's approach to photo rights is getting wider exposure (pun intended).
English Heritage Meeting Decision on Future of Stonehenge
STATEMENT - THE FUTURE OF THE STONEHENGE ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
At their meeting on 29th and 30th June, English Heritage Commissioners discussed the future
of the Stonehenge Environmental Improvement Project following the Government's decision
on 17 June to withdraw Government funding
Commissioners decided t... continues...
The Stonehenge Campsite still has a limited number of pitches available for this years Summer Solstice celebration but those who wish to book have been advised to do so before the end of the month... continues...
Prohibition of Driving at Stonehenge World Heritage Site
The consultation on the proposed Prohibition of Driving at Stonehenge World Heritage Site is currently available, but will close on 15th february 2010.
English Heritage welcomes Stonehenge Vistor Centre decision
"English Heritage has welcomed yesterday's decision by Wiltshire Council's planning committee to approve plans for a new visitor centre for Stonehenge."
WANHS formal response to Stonehenge Visitor Centre
The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society has written to Judy Howles the Area Development Officer at Wiltshire Council in Salisbury with the following comments:
*****
(25 November 2009)
Stonehenge Visitor Centre Planning Application: S/2009/1527/FULL
We write to comment on the Application... continues...
Time Team Special - The Secrets Of Stonehenge Monday 1st June at 9pm
Most people will probably have seen the advert but I thought I'd post this as I'd be gutted if I hadn't heard and missed it.
It's on this Monday night on channel 4 and incorporates all the findings and new theories from the last 6 years of digs by the Stonehenge Riverside Project run by Mike Parker Pearson, Julian Thomas and Colin Richards.
From an article published on the BBC News web site on 13th May 2009:
A £25m plan to revitalise the world-renowned Stonehenge in Wiltshire, including diverting a nearby road, has been announced by the government... continues...
"Plans to build a £20 million pound visitor centre at Stonehenge in time for the 2012 Olympics are under threat because of a major row between Britain's two leading heritage organisations... continues...
The 5,000-year-old, 20ft-high fence which hid Stonehenge from its nosy Stone Age neighbours
Tourists who complain about the fence put up around Stonehenge in the Seventies should spare a thought for their Neolithic ancestors... they couldn't even see the site because of a huge wooden barrier... continues...
English Heritage (EH) has confirmed it is looking at resuscitating previous visitor-centre proposals following the recent demise of Denton Corker Marshall's (DCM) £67 million scheme... continues...
The label "national disgrace" has for too long been attached to our national icon. But now the failure to deal with it after so many years is creating the appearance of a national humiliation.
The most recent scheme (the Stonehenge Project) was cancelled by the government in December 2007... continues...
Winterbourne Stoke's bypass is also threatened
Plans for a tunnel taking traffic away from Stonehenge are likely to be scrapped within days.
The BBC has learned the government believes the tunnel's cost of £510m is too expensive... continues...
Archaeologists working near Stonehenge have uncovered what they believe is the largest Neolithic settlement ever discovered in Northern Europe.
Remains of an estimated 300 houses are thought to survive under earthworks 3km (2 miles) from the famous stone rings, and 10 have been excavated so far... continues...
English Heritage's Appeal against refusal of planning permission for its new Stonehenge visitor centre has been allowed and planning permission granted by the Secretary of State, subject to 58 conditions and a Section 106 Agreement between Salisbury District Council and the applicant... continues...
Plans for vast irreversible changes to the surroundings of our national icon "in time for the Olympics" are fully in place. Most heritage and archaeological bodies, with the extraordinary exception of English Heritage, are totally opposed to them. Yet final government confirmation may be imminent........ continues...
Archaeologists say they have found a huge ancient settlement used by the people who built Stonehenge.
Excavations at Durrington Walls, near the legendary Salisbury Plain monument, uncovered remains of ancient houses.
People seem to have occupied the sites seasonally, using them for ritual feasting and funeral ceremonies... continues...
A lecture re-assessing the local and regional associations of Stonehenge, by Prof. Mike Parker Pearson, Professor of Archaeology at Sheffield University.
This is a fundraising lecture in aid of the Wiltshire Heritage Museum... continues...
Campaigners for early improvements to the surroundings of Stonehenge have expressed delight that a number of high profile organisations have now called for the same thing... continues...
New plans for Stonehenge bypass
A government transport minister has been outlining possible options for the A303 road around historic Stonehenge... continues...
The RSPB says that the two proposed overground routes would destroy nesting and roosting sites of the stone curlew, which only has two UK strongholds... continues...
A team of archaeologists from Sheffield University have revealed significant new insights into the role of Stonehenge after discovering a prehistoric ceremonial road. The team, also from four other universities, discovered the avenue... continues...
"Plans for a £67m visitor centre at Stonehenge have been turned down over worries about the environment.
Salisbury District Council said the decision to refuse the plan was exacerbated by government plans to review upgrades to the nearby A303."
The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) has responded to news that the proposed tunnelling of a main road past Stonehenge is to be reviewed after its estimated cost doubled. The CBA hopes the Government will reconsider the whole scheme.
"We were strongly opposed to the planned tunnel," said Mike Heyworth, Director of the CBA... continues...
The "national disgrace" of Stonehenge is back where it started. After decades of argument and millions spent, the government yesterday went back to the drawing board on the traffic-choked roads which strangle the world heritage site.
Supporters and opponents of the tunnel were equally stunned... continues...
Roads Minister Dr Stephen Ladyman today announced that a detailed review of the options to ease congestion on the A303 and improve the setting around Stonehenge is to be carried out... continues...
The controversial tunnel under Stonehenge was dubbed "the new Bath Spa" by campaigners yesterday after the cost of the project soared to £223million... continues...
Revisions to the Stonehenge planning application and environmental statement are now available for viewing and comment. Online at Salisbury District Council's website: http://www.salisbury.gov... continues...
THE government will face "international outrage" if the green light is given for the dual carriageway to be constructed near Stonehenge, according to a survey by the Save Stonehenge group. The group claims that a new survey shows people from all parts of the world are opposed to the Stonehenge road scheme... continues...
Salisbury district council is urging people to comment on the Stonehenge visitor centre planning application before the public consultation comes to an end next Wednesday.
Already, more than 250 people have written to the council with their views on English Heritage's plans... continues...
"SALISBURY, England (Reuters) -- Whoever built Stonehenge, the 5,000-year-old circle of megaliths that towers over green fields in southern England and lures a million visitors a year, couldn't have planned for the automobile... continues...
The wrangling over the future of the roads near Stonehenge came to an end on Tuesday, after almost three months of hearings. Since the inquiry began on February 17, Inspector Michael Ellison has heard arguments supporting the construction of a 2... continues...
"King" of Stonehenge may have been Swiss - Swissinfo - February 11, 2003 8:08 PM
Stonehenge, the 4,000-year-old mysterious ring of ancient stones, which is one of Britain's most famous landmarks, may have a Swiss connection... continues...
by Richard Sadler of The Guardian
Wednesday February 4, 2004
A public inquiry into plans for a dual carriageway under Stonehenge will stoke the fierce debate on how best to protect a site on a par with the Taj Mahal and the pyramids... continues...
The secrets of how the ancient ancestors of modern Britons lived and died could be lost forever because the evidence is being destroyed by badgers... continues...
The landscape around Stonehenge and Avebury has yielded more of its secrets during a new investigation. Archaeologists have spent the last three weeks walking 90 hectares (222 acres) of private land around the monuments to look for prehistoric flint... continues...
Public Inquiry Will Decide Fate of Controversial Stonehenge Plans
A public inquiry will decide the fate of controversial road plans for Stonehenge, it was confirmed this week.
An inquiry had been on the cards since the £193m scheme for ridding the world heritage site of traffic and returning the stones to an ancient setting was first announced... continues...
From BBCi, 4 September 2003
Next Thursday is the deadline for people to express their views over a proposed £193m road development around Stonehenge. It is hoped that the re-routing of the A303 road, and a £57m visitor centre, will rescue the World Heritage site from its label as "a national disgrace". Read whole story here....
Protesters Rally as Deadline for Stonehenge Objections Looms
As the deadline for raising objections to the Government's road development plans for the Stonehenge World Heritage Site approaches, experts have been airing their opinions on the controversial scheme.
LONDON (Reuters) - The construction of one of Britain's most famous ancient landmarks, the towering megaliths at Stonehenge in southern England, might have been supervised by the Swiss, or maybe even the Germans... continues...
Stonehenge road tunnel scheme condemned as 'not good enough' by environmentalists
Daily Telegraph 12.12.02 says that "the Council for British Archaeology, the International Council for Monuments and Sites UK, the National Trust, the Stonehenge Alliance and Save Stonehenge will all be expected to call for a longer tunnel at a public inquiry into the scheme next year."
A £5.5 billion package of transport improvements for England, including a £183 million road tunnel to protect Stonehenge. was announced today by the Government.
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... continues...
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 ... continues...
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 ear... continues...
WORLD CLASS TEAM TO SUPPORT DESIGN OF NEW STONEHENGE CENTRE
The next exciting phase in the creation of the new Visitor Facilities at
Stonehenge, located outside the World Heritage Site at
Countess East, Amesbury, was announced by English Heritage on Friday 3
Au... continues...
I guess everyone has to make the 'pilgrimage' to the 'henge at least once in their life if only to decide for themselves whether the stones are worth the hype or been commercialised beyond reason.
Well I guess their is an element to both arguements. Obviously it's a well impressive site and something to be proud of but it is a pity the place has suffered so much abuse. The A303 being so close is bad enough, but the tacky gift shop and entry fee plus the headset issue to hear some cheesy misinformed commentary is taking it too far. I think the place can speak for itself. Oh and the (in)security guards patrolling the grounds is pathetic.
A top site ruined by the bad vibes of gross commercialisation.
Stonehenge is totally cool except for the traffic noise from the big road. Dont be put off by all the touristy stuff, it's so famous eveyone wants to go there so of course it has lots of tourist facilities, its just a pity theyre so ugly. But i did like the pink frisbies and bought three.
i was surprised by the colours in the stones, they arent just grey like in photos and also by the tongues on the stones for joining them all together. it spun me out that it was so architectural, not like Avebury where the stones are all rough and unworked.
actually i also really liked woodhenge even though its just concrete posts because it is so quiet after stonehenge. its really complex. you can walk all through it and use your imagination
Nice to see that newspapers have always been a reliable source of information.
Whereas one of the Burroughs near the famous Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, was lately levelled, and very deep within the said Burrough or Burying Place was found an entire Humane Skelleton of an unusual Size, the Length thereof measuring full Nine Foot Four Inches. Theseare therefore to Advertize any curious Person or Persons, who may be inclined to purchase the said Rarity, that it will very soon be brought to Town and lodg'd at the Duke of Marlborough's Head in Fleetstreet, and shall remain there some time before it is exposed to publick View.
From the 'Post Man and the Historical Account' of August 29th, 1719.
Another explanation for the "Heel stone" name is that it comes from "Helios", as in Sun ... as it marks the rising of the midsummer sun, it sort of makes sense, but you'll never know ...
The following account of Stonehenge and it's many Barrows comes from 1740:
I COME in the last place to speak of the barrows, observable in great numbers, round Stonehenge. We may very readily count fifty at a time, in sight, from the place; easily distinguishable: but especially in the evening, when the sloping rays of the sun shine on the ground beyond them. These barrows are the artificial ornaments of this vast and open plain. And it is no small entertainment for a curious person, to remark their beauties, their variety in form and magnitude, their situation. They are generally of a very elegant campaniform shape, and done with great nicety. There is likewise a great variety in their shape, and turn, and in their diameters, in their manner of composition. In general, they are always upon elevated ground, and in sight of the temple of Stonehenge. For they all regard it. This shews, they are but superficial inspectors of things, that fancy from hence, great battels on the plain; and that these are the tumultuary burials of the slain. Quite otherwise; they are assuredly, the single sepulchres of kings, and great personages, buried during a considerable space of time, and that in peace. There are many groups of them together, and as family burial places; the variety in them, seems to indicate some note of difference in the persons there interr'd, well known in those ages. Probably the priests and laity were someway distinguish'd; as well as different orders and stations in them. Most of the barrows have little ditches around, extremely well defin'd. In many is a circular ditch 60 cubits in diameter, with a very small tumulus in the center. 60 or even too cubits is a very common diameter in the large barrows. Often, they are set in rows, and equidistant, so as to produce a regular and pretty appearance, and with some particular regard to the parts of the temple, the avenues, or the cursus.
From: Stonehenge, A Temple Restor'd to the British Druids, by William Stukeley
Before everyone gets very excited indeed. This is a supernatural thriller set in the modern day about ancient sites being destroyed of which stonehenge is the key.
It should still be good with hopefully some juicy flashbacks to rituals of the neolithic and bronze age.
Begs the question though, why has no one made a really well done film about the neolithic/bronze age. Think gladiator/apocolypto style
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Stonehenge and its Barrows by William Long
(From the Wiltshire archæological and natural history magazine, vol XVI.)
Published in 1876, H. F. & E. Bull, printers (Devizes)
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stonehenge, Today and Yesterday by Frank Stevens and illustrated by Heywood Sumner is available for free download.
Frank Stevens was curator at the Salisbury museum and this is a copy of the first popular guide book of Stonehenge and its Environs from March 1, 1916.
"A Virtual Stonehenge Landscape" is a short video showing what LIDAR can do - you swoop in over Stonehenge, the Normanton Down barrows and the Cursus.
(The most surreal bit comes at the end when the 'tile' of this hugely detailed data is illuminated from different angles, as though the sun is moving through the day.)
The earliest drawing we have of Stonehenge is from 1340, and many famous artists have drawn and painted this landscape. Archaeologists have also meticulously drawn the sites here. This article is about 6 artists who were 'in residence' during the Stonehenge Riverside project, and how they responded to the archaeological discoveries and recording methods.