singing the ancestors, singing the land

BBC NEWS | England | Wiltshire | Stonehenge centre gets go-ahead.

A £25m plan to revitalise the world-renowned Stonehenge in Wiltshire, including diverting a nearby road, has been announced by the government.

Also included in the plan from the Stonehenge Programme Board are proposals for a new visitor centre at nearby Airman’s Corner.

The news means work can start on design, seeking planning permission and raising cash to deliver the project.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the project in the Commons.

Funding will be provided through a range of private and public sources, including English Heritage, Heritage Lottery Fund and the Highways Agency

Our vision for Stonehenge has always been a simple one: to restore a sense of dignity and wonder to its setting English Heritage

The chosen site at Airman’s Corner is about one-and-a-half miles (2.4km) west from the current visitor centre, at the edge of the World Heritage Site.

The announcement is still subject to a detailed business case, planning permission and funding.

A spokesman for English Heritage said its vision for Stonehenge has always been a simple one: to restore a sense of dignity and wonder to its setting, and provide visitors with a really high quality experience.

“I believe the plans announced today will do this, and significantly improve what we have there at present.”

In 2000, two projects were planned – to remove roads from around Stonehenge by placing the nearby A303 in a tunnel, and to relocate visitor facilities to a new centre, away from the stones.

But in 2007, the government announced it would not continue with a published scheme for an A303 tunnel in view of the estimated cost of around £500m.

The project board was re-convened and in December 2008, and following public consultation on the future of Stonehenge, two options for the location of a new visitor centre were proposed – Fargo Plantation and Airman’s Corner.

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These have been interesting times for those who take an interest in our ancient monuments. After years of prevarication and endless consultations, the results of the latest such review on the future of Stonehenge is due early this year. In addition the  Riverside Project in and around Stonehenge has involved a large number of digs, including one where Aubrey Hole 13 was reopened and the bones that had been placed there found during an earlier dig were removed for further study. That particular dig was one that caused considerable controversy, and was one that left an unpleasant taste for many of those present, though perhaps not always for the same reasons. Whilst a small group of Druids had been invited to visit the site of the Aubrey Hole dig to make prayers and ask for acceptance from the ancestors prior to breaking ground, the day became the focus for what may be considered a large scale demonstration based on assumptions, incomplete facts and inaccurate information. Whilst all those present were seeking the same end-result – the return and appropriate reburial of all human remains taken during the excavations – the methods used by some parties seemed to be provocative and unnecessary.

Meanwhile in 2006 one of the Council of British Druid Orders (CoBDO) groups had formally asked for the reburial of human remains found at Avebury discovered in 1929, being those of a child who lived some 5,000 years ago and known today as ‘Charlie’. Once again a goal fully worthy of the support of all Druids and Pagans, but one which, given the DCMS framework on which the decision will be based, is somewhat unlikely to succeed. Indeed, there are complications in terms of custody of the bones should they be returned for reburial and what’s more it is very possible that the decision reached may be used to set a precedent for all future decisions with regard to the reburial of ancient human remains. All of this muddies waters that are already complex and difficult, and where patience may have been prudent, may have played into the hands of the archaeologists themselves.

It is really important to understand that I fully and wholly support the goal of the reburial of all human remains, irrespective of the age of those remains or any known or unknown religious background. However I am not sure that recent events will achieve this goal, or perhaps (and sadly) make the situation worse, creating precedents that will be difficult if not impossible to overturn, as well as causing entrenched positions to become even more so., Dialogue, discussion and patience always seemed the best path, and is one that I would continue to support, both as an individual and as a Pagan Druid priest.

However, having said all the above, it was interesting to watch the latest edition of Time Team over the weekend, broadcast on the 8th February. I confess to finding this programme both intriguing and infuriating in equal measure, especially when it seems time and patience would offer much greater reward that strict adherence to an artificial time restriction, imposed in the name of entertainment. But I digress, for the dig this week took place at Salisbury Cathedral, where human remains were discovered. However, unlike the human remains found at Stonehenge, and Avebury – and numerous other ancient pre-historic site, these bones were NOT removed for laboratory study. Nor were they placed carefully archived away for some undefined future study pending unspecified scientific advances even though one of the archaeologists stated quite clearly that such studies could tell them much about the individual they had found, and the times and conditions in which they had lived. These bones were reburied within the Cathedral grounds, and given due reverence. Why, one wonders, is this not possible for our own native ancient dead, for our own ancestors, the forebears of this sacred land?

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