|
 |
|
|
| Stone Formation Archive 1989 |
|
 Stone Formations news, views, gallery and archive brought to you by Weird Wiltshire Introduction Latest News News Archive Stonehenge Stonehenge Project Stonehenge 360 Avebury Saviours Stones Village Solstice Wayland Smithy Long Barrow Woodhenge Gallery Summer Solstice Gallery 2002 Summer Solstice Gallery 2004 Postcards Wallpaper Links  |
First published on September 28, 1989 THE National Trust has launched two major projects affecting Wiltshire's two most famous stone circles. It is looking for £250,000 to buy land surrounding the Neolithic stone circles at Avebury to save it from developers. And the Trust is currently clearing trees near Stonehenge so an important Bronze Age bell-shaped barrow will be revealed on the skyline. The Avebury appeal is being launched next month by Professor Barry Cunliffe, a professor of European Archaeology at Oxford University. The Trust owns the stones but is equally concerned to preserve the setting and believes if any unsuitable development is allowed near them it will totally spoil the site. It has gained the right to buy 480 acres of land but needs to raise £250,000 to secure the purchase. Once it has bought the land the Trust wants to open up ancient pathways around the stones and create more interest in the surrounding area. This will help protect the stones and the Trust hopes it will give them the chance to find out more about the mysterious monument. At Stonehenge, the Trust is clearing trees and scrub as part of an on-going plan for the area to reveal views of Bronze Age barrows on the horizon as they would have originally been seen. Approximately five acres of trees, mainly sycamore and ash, will be cleared from the 43-acre Fargo Plantation on the A344. After the work is complete the largest bell barrow at Stonehenge, called the Monarch of the Plain by antiquarians in the 18th century, will be revealed for the first time in about 50 years. The Trust's expert team of foresters will also plant another 21/2 acres of trees on the opposite side of the road to further emphasise the barrow. The area will be left to regenerate naturally to chalk downland which has successfully occurred in the same wood where a similar clearing operation took place to reveal the Great Cursus, a ceremonial monument. The Cursus is a Neolithic structure which consists of a pair of parallel ditches and banks just over 100 meters apart and three kilometres long, running between two ridge tops. Work to reveal the barrow is due to start sometime in the autumn. Back to 1989 index |
|
