Burial ground proposal angers local people
Native Woodland, a company from Edinburgh, want to develop a natural burial ground at Cothiemuir Hill - within 15 yards of the scheduled ancient monument. They have not yet received planning permission for the scheme, but it's provoked an backlash from local people, who are forming an action group. The company wants to offer "rights of burial" for ashes in plots laid out in concentric rings around the ancient site, and full interments in a dedicated grassland area to the east of the stone circle.
The campaign against the burial ground plan is being led by Jo Stover, of nearby Auchnagathle Farm. She said: "We are a close-knit community here and I think that is why people are quite appalled and really quite upset about what is being planned. This is a commercial development which just doesn't belong here. Local people are extremely alarmed and angry about what is being proposed. It has no sensitivity to the local area and the people here - quite the opposite. It would encourage the use of a remote graveyard by persons who have no connection to this area or to the people here."
She added: "The company claims the burial site will not physically damage the stone circle, but it will be changed for ever by this development."
The burial scheme is being backed by the local laird, Malcolm Forbes, the Master of Forbes, whose family has owned the estate incorporating the land surrounding the stone circle for about 600 years. Ian Walls, the director of Native Woodland, was unavailable for comment yesterday. His letter to Aberdeenshire Council, in support of the planning application, curiously states: "The main objective behind our proposals for the site is for the change of use to have as little impact on the landscape as is practically possible. We aim for the changes to be imperceptible."
summarised from the article at http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=370602005
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'Exclusion zone' call to protect Thornborough
Atkins Heritage was commissioned by English Heritage and the Thornborough Henges Consultation Group to prepare a conservation plan for the local area. At a meeting with residents on Wednesday they suggested an eight square mile "exclusion zone". Project manager Andrew Croft said the aim of the plan, due to be completed by next March, was to aid decisions on planning applications, archaeological research and landscape management. The area covered includes Nosterfield Quarry, which has a pending planning application for quarrying only half a mile from the henges.
Local landowners are concerned controls could hit their livelihoods. For example, potato farmer David Robinson, of Howgrave Hall, said a ploughing depth restriction of eight inches would put him out of business.
Mike Sanders, of the Friends of Thornborough, said he hoped North Yorkshire Council would act on the plan's recommendations. He suggested the area would benefit from tourism, and that farmers could be offered compensation or subsidies to allow access to the sites.
summarised from the Yorkshire Post article at
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1006494
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Druid festivities at the Tower..
City Druids line up to put a spring in their step
By Sam Coates - Times Online
It was an incongruous sight: 40 hooded Druids staging a fertility ritual next to the Tower of London, while customers from an adjacent fast-food restaurant looked on in bewilderment.
Yesterday was the spring equinox, one of two dates each year when day and night are of equal length. Since the earliest times this has been celebrated by pagan festivals, with Druids and others gathering round the bonfire to chant, sing, dance and leap through the flames, while praying for a bountiful harvest.
Festivities were held around the country yesterday, including a dawn celebration at Stonehenge. But perhaps the most bizarre was held in the City. Here the Ancient Druid Order, a pagan group based in the financial heart of London which includes businessmen, a dancer, an osteopath and an alternative therapist, donned their white cloaks to take part in the traditional ceremony, begun in London in 1717.
But this ritual came with a modern twist: gone was the bonfire and the seed-planting, while the long flowing robes barely covered the participants' jeans and hotpants. Led by David Loxley, the Chief Druid, the group assembled next to Tower Hill Underground Station to call for peace and prosperity, and mourn the passing of the dead.
At the heart of the ritual was a woman representing the goddess of spring, dressed in a long yellow robe, bringing seeds and flowers to present to the Chief Druid. These were sprinkled liberally on the concrete floor. After this exchange, Mr Loxley, who works in an alternative therapy store, said: "Prepare for the day when that seed in you shall live and grow — when the influence and the power of the All-Excelling shall shine forth in your life."
The spring equinox of the Ancient Druid Order is held in the City of London to demonstrate pagans' belief that the City will eventually revert its "pre-metropolis natural state".
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4484-1535230,00.html
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Friends of Thornborough make statement on jobs claim
Campaigners have hit back at claims by quarry company Tarmac over the threat of job losses if it is not allowed to expand its operations close to the Thornborough Henges.
In a statement last week Tarmac warned the local economy would suffer if quarrying had to cease and said tourism would not compensate for the loss of some £2.3m resulting from its present operations at Nosterfield Quarry.
Responding to the claims this week, the Friends of Thornborough campaign group insisted that quarrying did not provide long-term jobs.
Chairman, John Lowry said: "Aggregates quarries actually create very few jobs in relation to the amount of land they sterilise, and the employees know those jobs are relatively short-lived because all mining ventures have a limited life.
"To ensure a constant supply of minerals, well-managed mining companies buy up mineral reserves in advance, phasing development so that a new quarry is opened as an existing one becomes exhausted. So jobs are not 'lost' - they are simply transferred to the new quarry and the sub-contractors follow them.
Mr Lowry, who is a qualified exploration geologist and chartered engineer, added: "In trying to reduce this issue to a simple contest between the relative economic benefits of quarrying versus tourism, Tarmac is cynically ignoring the over-riding need to save Yorkshire's greatest archaeological treasure for future generations.
"Due to the concern our campaign has raised in both Parliament and the EEC, Tarmac now has to prove that it is necessary to destroy a landscape of international importance in order to supply a local market with sand and gravel that could readily be obtained from a less sensitive site like those already quarried by its competitors."
Tarmac is applying for planning permission to quarry further land close to the henges, at the Ladybridge Farm site.
But Mr Lowry said: "Tarmac's employees should be demanding that the company gives up its plans to expand near the henges and turns its attentions to opening a replacement quarry in a location already designated by the county council. Surely good management practice dictates that a contingency plan should already be in place, in case the application to extend the present quarry is refused?"
Knaresborough Today at
http://www.knaresboroughtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=18&ArticleID=968360
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'Live archaeological dig' for Skye cave
An interactive dig - Diane Maclean, the Scotsman.com
Archaeologists working in Skye have secured funding to begin an innovative interactive project. Excavations of a cave at Kilbride in the south-west of Skye are turning up exciting finds, including bones, early Iron Age tools, evidence of cooking and even what is thought to be Bronze Age pottery.
Most startling the archaeologists have found evidence that the floor of High Pasture Cave was laid with flagstones, suggesting that the cave was used for a specific purpose.
From March the team working at the project hope to launch Scotland's first live archaeological website. This would allow people to see their work as it happens and learn more about their discoveries.
"Archaeology is a little bit elitist at the moment," said Martin Wildgoose, one of three archaeologists working on the project. "Setting up the website will make it much more accessible. It's all about bringing a new approach to involve more people."
The site will broadcast a live feed from the cave while archaeologists are working on the project.
A recent geophysics survey has located the original entrance to the cave, and the team hope to open this access. Once they have opened the "door" they can bring lights and additional equipment into the cave.
The archaeologists are currently speculating that the cave was used in a ritualistic way.
"Bronze and Iron Age people seemed to revere the underworld and places near water," noted Steve Birch, another member of the team. "Perhaps they used this cave as a place to leave votive offerings to their Gods?"
The team hope that bringing their findings to a wider public will encourage more interest in the subject. They also hope to inspire people to join them this summer to work at the project.
Once it has launched, the website will be found at: http://www.high-pasture-cave.org.
This article: http://heritage.scotsman.com/news.cfm?id=182462005
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EH suggests three options for Silbury
This from today's Western Daily Press website.Urgent remedial work must be carried out to save Silbury Hill from collapse, English Heritage said yesterday. The threat to the 130ft mound, which is one of the West's most mysterious prehistoric monuments, was blamed on excavations made for a BBC TV documentary in the 1960s.
An English Heritage survey has revealed that the late Professor Richard Atkinson's tunnel, which was dug in 1968/69 was not, as previously thought, properly filled in.
The unexpected discovery is already causing minor internal collapses and 'voids' within Europe's largest man-made hill that will, in time, reach the surface. If unattended, it will damage highly significant deposits in the centre of the structure that contain its early history and perfectly preserved plant and animal remains.
English Heritage says it is considering three options:
- Pumping chalk slurry into the voids.
- Re-opening the tunnel and backfilling by hand.
- As above, but supporting the tunnel to allow repeated access.
Respected West archaeologist Mike Pitts, editor of British Archaeology magazine which revealed the threat, urged English Heritage to act swiftly. http://www.westpress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=146049&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145779&contentPK=11772411
I can't see any of this on the EH website - it still says "we are relieved to be able to conclude that Silbury Hill is a very robust structure with no major defects that might threaten its stability, due largely to the way it was originally constructed 4,500 years ago."
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Rare Bronze Age Gold Ring Found
From 'Isle of Wight Today' by Martin Neville.
http://www.iwcp.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1252&ArticleID=936045
A crumpled piece of metal found in a field in the Newchurch parish turned out to be an extremely rare Bronze Age decorative ring of national importance.A treasure trove inquest was told how it was unearthed by illustrator Alan Rowe, of Alvington Road, Carisbrooke, while out metal detecting last summer.
Experts believe the ring, known as a composite ring and which comprises of three ribs fused together, may have hung from a twisted torc worn around the neck or from a bracelet.
Frank Basford, county archaeologist, said the piece, which weighs 3.57 grams and is 82 per cent gold, probably dated back to the middle Bronze Age period, making it around 3,500 years old."There is very little Bronze Age gold work around, making this a very significant and important find in a national and Island context," he said.
...Island coroner John Matthews declared the ring treasure following last week's inquest.
The treasury valuation committee at the British Museum will set a value on the item and Newport's Guildhall Museum has already expressed a wish to buy it.
Photo and drawing on the link.
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Hill Fort Repairs to Start
From 'This is Gloucestershire':
A public meeting will explain repairs planned to a nationally important Iron Age hill fort at Painswick. The session tonight at the Town Hall will provide an update on the work that is due to start at Kimsbury Camp on Painswick Beacon next week.
Kimsbury, which is protected as a scheduled ancient monument, is one of a number of Iron Age forts along the Cotswold scarp edge.
But its ramparts have eroded and so the Gloucestershire County Council archaeology service and the Painswick Beacon Conservation Group have planned works on the site that should be finished by the end of June.
The project is intended to enhance the site for visitors and will repair erosion gullies on the ramparts.
Scrub will also be cleared to improve the important grassland and a limited number of sensitively site information boards will be erected.
Countryside adviser to the county council Nick Russell said: "We hope that by undertaking these works now, before the damage gets too bad, we will ensure that visitors are able to continue to enjoy the archaeology, ecology and views from this wonderful hill fort."
Work is due to start on February 8 and will include the archaeological excavation and recording of a series of steps up the erosion gullies.
The meeting starts at 8pm this evening.
also see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/4226021.stm
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Duddo's monuments to be safeguarded
From the 'this is Berwick' website
A new partnership looks set to safeguard two of north Northumberland's ancient monuments.
Duddo Tower and Duddo Four Stones, both designated scheduled ancient monuments on the Duddo Estate, are being protected with funding from both Defra's Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) and English Heritage.
The aim is to create a network of grass margins, new hedgerows, cover for wild birds and a programme of over-wintered stubbles on the 2000-acre estate. These measures will help local wildlife and fauna.
Duddo Four Stones is a prehistoric stone circle, situated within an arable field, which has now been protected by a buffer of grassland reversion, to prevent damage by ploughing or drilling.
In addition to the environmental work, CSS will also pay for new permissive access to the stones, allowing public access for the first time, hopefully to be completed early this year .
more at http://www.berwicktoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=970&ArticleID=918436
If you're wondering about the Four Stones/ Five Stones thing - apparently the fifth was reerrected in 1903. That's only a century to get used to the new name.
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Solstice celebrated at Wilmington Long Man
More than 60 druids gathered on the top of the flat hill to the west of the Long Man crest at 2pm.
They took part in a rite to mark the 'feast of the unforgotten sun' where their activities were watched with enthusiasm by dozens of Sunday walkers.
The ceremony took the form of a mummer's play with actors wearing masks depicting the sun, moon and earth. At one point watchers were asked to close their eyes when the mask was taken off a man and put on to a child, depicting the rebirth of a new year.
The next Long Man ceremony is to mark Imbolc – the first celebration of Spring – anyone who wants to find out more is encouraged to look at: http://www.bardicarts.com
reduced from the article at 'Lewes Today'
http://www.lewestoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=509&ArticleID=916225
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H.A. To Protest At Tarmac-Sponsored Exhibition
Campaigners fighting further quarrying near a site of historical interest will demonstrate at a museum at the weekend.
Members of Heritage Action, angry at plans by Tarmac Northern to extend its Nosterfield Quarry close to Thornborough Henges, near Masham, North Yorkshire, will protest outside the Buried Treasures exhibition staged at Manchester Museum. They are unhappy at Tarmac Northern's sponsorship of the event.
Heritage Action spokesman George Chaplin said: "This is a marvellous exhibition and we hope as many people as possible will see it, but we want them to also reflect on who is sponsoring it and why.
"Tarmac Northern are applying to quarry the surroundings of Thornborough Henges, in North Yorkshire, and the buried archaeology there is treasure as well. We find Tarmac's behaviour breathtakingly hypocritical."
Tarmac chief executive officer Robbie Robertson said he was saddened and surprised that Heritage Action should want to picket the exhibition.
"Careful investigation, recovery and recording of artefacts is an on-going feature of our quarrying operations," he said. "Through working with professional archaeologists, we believe that we have added significantly to knowledge and understanding at Nosterfield and other sites across the UK. At Nosterfield alone, we have spent in excess of £400,000 on detailed archaeological work covering more than 100 acres of land."
He said this included intensive field work, geophysical surveys, trial excavations, sieving and sampling, radio carbon dating and logging of all finds on a website that people could view.
From 'This is the North East'
http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/the_north_east/news/NEWS12.html
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Campaign to bring 'Red Lady' back to Wales
"The chairman of Swansea's tourism association is backing an campaign to secure the return to Wales of the Red Lady of Paviland. The remains have been on show for decades at the Oxford University Natural History Museum.
Earlier this year, Swansea councillor Ioan Richard began a campaign to have the Red Lady returned to Wales. Now, Geoff Haden, chairman of Tourism Swansea, wants to step up the pressure on the Oxford museum.
He said the rainy summer this year emphasised what a great wet weather draw the Red Lady could be. He said, "We are suggesting an interpretive visitor centre near Paviland Cave or possibly at the Gower Heritage Centre, which would be a wet weather and an all- year-round attraction. This is something we must follow up."
The Gower Society is behind the campaign to have the Red Lady returned. The bones date back to 24,000 BC, pre-dating Stonehenge by 20,000 years.
The skeleton was taken from Wales and never returned within a year of being found. Mr Richard said, "Just like the Elgin Marbles were taken from Greece this very important piece of history was taken from us by the English."
The Red Lady of Paviland was excavated by the Reverend William Buckland, who was the first Professor of Geology at Oxford University at the time. As a result the skeleton was taken to Oxford.
There is a dispute about how well the Red Lady's remains are displayed. David Laws of Oxwich, Gower, visited the exhibit and found it "in a dusty cabinet". He labelled the display "pathetic". But Professor Jim Kennedy, the director of the museum, said the Red Lady was being kept in a "beautiful, hardwood cabinet".
Museum administrator Wendy Shepherd said there was "not a chance" of bringing the remains back to South Wales. "This goes back to the days when the archaeologists who made finds had the final say on where they should be exhibited."
From the article by Robin Turner, in the Western Mail (http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/).
[Perhaps she didn't say it 'quite' like it's reported - but when I imagined Ms Shepherd snapping "not a chance" it made my blood boil. What's the point in the bones being in Oxford? Wales and England are both supposed to be part of the UK. What's wrong with 'lending' the bones for a display on the Gower?]
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Bronze Age Arrowhead Found
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4125955.stm
Article about two children who found a strange-shaped flint on Arthur's Seat over Christmas and took it to the museum of Scotland.
(Reads slightly like an advert for responsibly handing stuff over, but fair enough).
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Carved stone controversy continues
Society wants Moors stone to go on display - taken from the article by Julie Hemmings in Yorkshire Post Today
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=912795
One of the country's last surviving literary and philosophical societies may challenge the decision to deny it the chance to display an important archaeological discovery.
Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society, which runs the town's museum, was disappointed to miss out on a significant carved stone, more than 4,000 years old, which was found on the North York Moors near Fylingdales.
The stone was one of thousands of archaeological remains exposed by a major fire on the moors last year and archaeologists believe it is of national importance.
Since the fire in September last year, conservationists have been working to restore the landscape to its original condition. As well as preserving the ecology of the area, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the work is intended to protect the artefacts and earthworks from erosion by the weather. These efforts will continue for some months but the carved stone already has been returned to the earth where it was found. Before this was done archaeologists laser-scanned and photographed it.
Neil Redfern, English Heritage's inspector of ancient monuments, said the stone had been reburied as it "belongs on the Moors", adding that putting it in a glass case in a museum would not have made it any more accessible to the public. He said the image scanned from the stone might serve in the making of a replica, which could be touched, unlike the precious original.
However, some historians are arguing the stone should have been put on on public display and are disappointed not to have been consulted about its future. Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society chairman Fred Payne is meeting members next week to discuss the matter. "We feel it should be exposed, rather than buried again," said Mr Payne.
"It should be on display, and in Yorkshire, if not in Whitby then at the Yorkshire Museum in York.
"To my knowledge, no-one locally was consulted."
Peter Barfoot, the authority's head of advisory services, said the laser-scanned image showed more detail on the stone than could be seen with the naked eye.
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Another Bronze Age boat to take to the water
A half size replica of a Bronze Age boat that was found at North Ferriby will be sailed on the Humber as part of SeaBritain 2005, a celebration of our maritime heritage.
The original 16-metre boat wasn't a dug out but used sophisticated techniques and carpentry skills that are difficult to match today. The replica's planks are cheatingly fixed together with polyester rope, rather than the yew stitches used to sew the oak timbers on the original.
The Hull amateur archaeologist, Ted Wright, who impressively found no less than three boats between 1937 and 1963, always wanted to see them recreated. With extra funding it's possible that a full-scale version will be built.
You can see the half-size replica in the meantime at the Streetlife Museum in Hull.
Read more at the Yorkshire Post's site:
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=904948
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Recreated Bronze Age boat to cross Channel
Archaeologists are planning to build a copy of an ancient boat found in Dover and sail it from Britain to France. The original was found by chance in 1992 in a water filled shaft during roadworks in the town. It was one of the best preserved examples of a coastal vessel from the Bronze age ever found. Studied intensively by experts at Dover museum, the only way they say they can find out more is to build a replica... John Iverson from Dover museum describes it as "a remarkable feat of engineering" and will copy the materials of the original: yew timber, bees wax and moss.
A section of the boat has already been reconstructed but the project is expected to cost £200,000 in total. Funding is now being sought, but some may be available from the EU, as French museums are involved in the project. The boat will probably take three years to complete and after the crossing, it is hoped it will go on tour in Britain and France.
(adapted from the article at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4056021.stm)
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Move by Irish Minister Bodes Well for Future?
This brief piece from the Irish Examiner website:
Minister signs order protecting Bronze Age sites - 17/11/2004
The Minister for the Environment has signed a preservation order to protect two Bronze Age sites in Co Wicklow.
The move is being seen as showing fresh Government commitment to the safeguarding of archaeological monuments throughout the country.
The protection orders were signed following reports that a prehistoric settlement near Blessington had been damaged.
The Bronze Age sites include a stone circle and a number of burial mounds.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/printer.asp?j=102235440&p=yxzz36xzx
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Norfolk Historic Environment Record to go on Net?
Summarised from James Goffin's article, "Norfolk's changing landscape set for web", published on 17.11.04 by EDP24.
The Norfolk Historic Environment Record (NHER) could be made available to the public over the internet in a £140,000 project. It contains more than 40,000 entries detailing archaeological activity, sites, finds, cropmarks, earthworks, industrial remains, defensive structures and historic buildings in the county.
It's currently held on a computer database with built-in digital maps, and there are more detailed paper records for many of the sites.
Currently the records are only available by appointment at the archaeological services' base at Gressenhall, near Dereham. However, the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service is bidding for lottery funding to make easily understandable summaries of the records available on the web.
A decision on the lottery application should be made by March. If successful the scheme could start in July and be completed by June 2007, with records being made available in batches as the project progresses.
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This hill, it has a meaning that is very important for me, but it's not rational. It's beautiful, but when you look, there's nothing there. But I'd be a fool if I didn't listen to it.
-- Alan Garner.
...I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn...
-- William Wordsworth.
Some interesting websites with landscape and fairy folklore:
http://earthworks-m.blogspot.co.uk
http://faeryfolklorist.blogspot.co.uk
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