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The Thornborough Henges

Setting

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Setting: one of my favourite subjects :-)

Many people will say that the setting is the <i>entire viewshed</i>, which is a very, very important and probably the major part of a site's setting. Obviously sites like barrows on the slopes of a hill can not just be contained in a setting that consists of the viewshed, because there are parts of the hill that can't be seen from the barrow itself. These surrounding areas must be part of the setting too, even if they can't be seen.

I think the above kinda says that, in my opinion, a site's setting is the immediate vicinity, say 500m radius (maybe 1km to be safe), and the entire viewshed of the monument.

It has to be horses for courses doesn't it? I rather hope EH doesn't and can't come up with a universal definition as they'd be so terrified of the implications elsewhere that it would be very generalised and wouldn't prevent Tarmac's Thornborough ambitions at all.

Whilst I agree the visual element is important, relying on that would be unhelpful to Thornborough as well. Drawing a line one place or another there makes little difference. And of course, once you start on about ruining the view it hands them the chance to say No problem, we'll reinstate everything.

So we need more. Tarmac's appeal is likely to be - "EH were wrong to say the near part of Ladybridge is nationally important but failing that, we'll have the far part, which isn't.

Against that, a counter claim of "Ah but it sort of looks as if it's part of the setting" is weak. We need hard evidence that it's part of the setting. So how about setting being partly defined by "evidence of intensive associated use"?

Tarmac has already hinted that that line is speculative, not fact based, and therefore invalid but EH have committed to the view that it's most likely the truth. So on this subject, unlike the visual thing, we're ahead.