Stonehenge Visit Versus Conservation Problems
Changes Coming at Stones Site to Deal with Increased UK Tourism
Jun 29, 2009
Stonehenge is an excellent example of the difficult balancing act required to ensure the safety and preservation of an historic monument while meeting the demand for public access to a must-see tourist site. Millions visit this remarkable site each year, as they do ancient castles, great cathedrals and famous battlefields. Tourism can raise funds to help maintain an historic site – but at what cost?
Aftermath of Summer Solstice Activities
The memorable so-called Battle of Beanfield in 1985 was a fracas between police and summer solstice festival crowds who did not know the festivities had been banned by the English Heritage organization who have charge of the care of Stonehenge. While such free festivals and concerts have been banned, crowds still gather for the summer solstice to witness the sun rise over Stonehenge on the longest day of the year.
Crowds are more restrained and are required to camp in fields some distance from the monument. Nevertheless, these visitors, be they nature worshippers, neo-pagans, Druids or plain old revelers, are not so sensible to the mystic nature, antiquity and solemnity of the place as to take their rubbish away with them. Two days after the Solstice, long lines of workers were moving slowly across the fields, collecting waste in bags and filling roadside skips with them [see photo].
Change of Practice at Stonehenge
Prior to 1977, it was possible to freely walk among the stones. The area was a trampled gravel mound amid ploughed fields. Problems such as graffiti, ‘souveniring’ and the wear and tear of contact arose as the site became more and more popular with the upsurge in overseas tourism. The answer has been to rope off the site, provide a paved footpath perimeter and keep the hordes at photography-only distance. Additionally, the farmlands in the near vicinity have been returned to grasslands to restore the appearance that Stonehenge may have had 5000 years ago.
The Stonehenge Experience is far From Mystic
Expect to be disappointed. As the visitor fights to find a parking space in the dusty designated parking area across the A344 from the monument, he or she soon realizes that there will be more communing with fellow-tourists than Mother Nature. Visitors join the queue at the ticket office, pay their 5 pounds (4.50 concession), receive an explanatory leaflet and file past the plastic toy Stonehenges and other paraphernalia in the gift shop.
There is a tunnel under the A344. A sign urges the tourist:
“As you walk through the tunnel on the way to the stones, imagine you are entering a different world – an ancient world deeply marked by the passing of the seasons and the movement of the sun and moon.”
It just doesn’t work. There is no room for the mystical in such a tourist hot spot. The imagination cannot stretch to picture the shuffling lines of fellow-gawpers as Druidic priests, and the constant babble of noise is not mood-enhancing. There is little else to do here but snap and go.
The Future of Tourism at Stonehenge
Tourism is now a feature of the landscape as permanent as Stonehenge itself. What can be done to accommodate future eager sight-seers while maintaining the integrity and safety of this extraordinary ancient monument to human endeavor and spirituality? English Heritage, in consultation with the National Trust and the Highways Agency, believe they have the answer. The following details are taken from the brochure distributed to visitors at Stonehenge.
Within ten years, the face of Stonehenge will have changed dramatically again. The tangle of highways will be gone. The Stonehenge Project will involve a road tunnel to take the busy A303 trunk road underground near the stones, removing a significant eyesore. The A344, which separates the monument from the present visitors’ facilities, carpark and entrance via pedestrian tunnel, will be closed off and the parking lot grassed over. Thus, Stonehenge will revert to a wide grassland setting.
Visitors will arrive at a new facility, which will house a café, shop, exhibitions and educational displays, some 2 miles (3 km) from the site, and will be taken by land train to the stones.
The proposed development must surely act to better preserve the monument, even from exhaust gases. Whether it will enhance the visitor’s experience is questionable: there will always be crowds and there’s a limit to what tourists can do with a ramshackle group of stones. Nevertheless, Stonehenge is timeless, beautiful in its rugged simplicity, and a source of wonder. Even if there are sound theories about how and why it was constructed, the practicalities of the operation are mind-boggling. See Suite101 article about these theories. It is essential viewing in Britain, despite the hordes and the commercial trappings.
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