MEDIA REPORTS SUMMER SOLSTICE 2005 ...Back
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Salisbury Journal Thursday
June 23 2005 p1
Perfect dawn greets solstice
revellers
BY LESLEY BATES
AN estimated 21,000 people saluted the summer solstice sunrise at Stonehenge
on Tuesday.
A wicker woman cavorted between a phalanx of flaming torohes and, as the
first flush of pink on the horizon turned to gold, a reveller climbed on
top of one of the lintels and trumpeted the dawning of the longest day.
Inside the stone circle, cameras flashed and hundreds of mobile phone cameras
relayed pictures of the celebrations across the world.
English Heritage had once again declared open house on the ancient stones
for the summer solstice and was rewarded with an exuberant but orderly
crowd and a perfect dawn at 4.58am.
Solstice regular Arthur Pendragon declared: "This is about as clear
as it gets - it was certainly worth the wait."
He joined Arch Druid of Stonehenge and Britain Rollo Maughfling and a few
dozen druids in calling for peace in the world and success at the G8 conference
in clearing the African debt burden.
Wiltshire police reported only eight arrests for a variety of minor drugs
and public order offences. Police spokesman David Taylor said: "We
consider the general conduct of a crowd this size to be exemplary.
"The car parks were opened earlier and stewards got the cars in more
quickly."
Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said: "We are
very pleased to be welcoming people to Stonehenge once again to enjoy the
summer solstice.
"This builds on the considerable success of the celebrations in previous
years."
Jumping for joy: a reveller leaps above Stonehenge, where some 21,000 people gathered to celebrate sunrise on the longest day of the year. DA8216P01 PIC1
Picture by Tom Gregory
p2
Actors re-create solstice at 'foamhenge'
MORE than 5,000 years after the ancient Britons built Stonehenge, a new site dubbed Foamhenge has appeared on the landscape. A replica of the world famous monument has been constructed for a live television programme which aimed to show how Stonehenge was built and solve some of the mysteries of the ancient stones. Wood and polystyrene were used to recreate the 45 tonne stones and a team of historians and archaeologists attempted to show how they were moved into position. The first programme of Stonehenge Live was broadcast on Monday night and featured a reconstruction of a 360 degree stone circle in a secret location near the original stones. On Tuesday, actors dressed as ancient Britons re-created a summer solstice ceremony from 4,000 years ago and investigated why Stonehenge was built and how it has been used over the centuries.
A section of Stonehenge rises above Salisbury Plain. DA8226P01 PIC1
p4 Salutations
to solstice sunrise
A reveller greets the
sunrise DA8216P07 PIC1
The sun rises over the Hele stone in a perfect dawn at 4.58am. DA8216P14
PIC2
Bubbles float into the early morning sky. DA8216P03 PIC3
Druid Bertie Nichols greets the summer solstice. DA8216P02 PIC4
Revellers silhouetted against the sunrise. DA6216P10 PIC5
As good as it gets - watching as the sky lights up. DA8216P11 PIC6
Revellers enjoy the sunrise.
DA8216P08 PIC7
DA8216P06 PIC8
DA8216P09
PIC9 DA8216P05 PIC10
Pictures by Tom Gregory
Devizes Gazette and Herald Thursday June 23 2005
Revellers enjoy place in the sun
THERE was peace and love `60s
style in the air at Avebury on Monday and Tuesday as hundreds converged
on the ancient stone circle to celebrate the Summer Solstice.
In contrast to the thousands who turned up at Stonehenge, the gathering
at Avebury was lower key and very friendly.
Villagers said everything went smoothly and there was no trouble at all,
thanks in part to the large police presence that kept traffic moving.
Some revellers were in for a shock, however, when they returned to their
cars parked on roadside verges to find they had been towed away by police.
Although the tourist car park was full with revellers, some of whom were
camping there, coachloads of visitors coming to view the Sarsen stones
still turned up, but locals said that, all in all, it was quieter than
a usual summer weekend.
Avebury Primary School closed for two days instead of its customary one.
Headteacher Debra Tomlinson said: "We always close for a day at Solstice
to avoid frustration of parents trying to get their children to school
and so that we don't add to the chaos. This year, because Solstice fell
on a Tuesday morning, we decided it was more sensible to take the two days
rather than have parents bring their children in for one day."
16491/24 PIC1
Sun rises on a perfect day
VILLAGERS and revellers at the
Summer Solstice in Avebury enjoyed a peaceful start to the Longest Day
but the invasion still prompted some minor niggles on Tuesday.
The revellers arrived in force and took over the village's car park, which
left some locals seething. But the actual celebrations went off in an atmosphere
of peace and good nature.
Brian and Angela Sumbler at Avebury Antiques were in the thick of it but
said how peaceful it was. Mrs Sumbler said: "It was absolutely brilliant.
There was no trouble at all and the atmosphere was so friendly. Apart from
keeping our customers away over the weekend, there were no problems from
our point of view at all.''
Heather Peak-Garland, who also lives in the centre of the village, said:
"Quite honestly it has been perfect, one of the quietest weekends
I've known for years.
"The police presence does make a difference. The bobbies on the bikes
were certainly keeping the traffic moving.''
Druids were as happy about the event as the residents. Tim Sebastian, an
antiques restorer from Bath whose claim to fame is being the first to be
arrested at the Battle of the Beanfield, near Stonehenge, 20 years ago,
said he prefers to celebrate the Solstice at Avebury. He said: "Avebury
has a specialness of its own. For a start, it is 3,000 years older than
Stonehenge. The rituals are beautiful.''
But duty as an Arch Druid meant Mr Sebastian had to travel to Stonehenge
for the Solstice. He said: "I feel sad that it is so chaotic there.
The Druids fought all those years so that the ordinary people could have
their day in the sun at Stonehenge, but who is going to fight for the Druids
to have their day in the sun?''
Druids were not entirely popular among some of the revellers. Piers Miller,
from Camden, north London, said: "It's like being back in school.
The Druids keep telling you not to do stuff. Like don't lean on the stones.
They've been here 4,000 years. Me leaning on them is not going to do them
any harm.''
As the sky began to lighten, people started to move to the eastern ridge
of the circle to greet the first rays of the sun. Music from guitars and
flutes floated over the still, quiet air as the moment came closer.
Terry Dobney, the Keeper of the Stones, spoke to the assembled multitude
before Orionmoon, head of the Order of the Wickan, carried out a Pagan
ceremony.
From then on, people began to drift off and by midday Avebury had virtually
returned to normal, its car park handed back to tourists paying full price
for its services rather than the free use granted to revellers after negotiations
among members of the Sacred Sites Forum.
The group, comprising representatives of the National Trust, which owns
the site, Wiltshire Constabulary, Pagans and Druids, had arranged that
the car park could be used on a donation-only basis during the Solstice,
which has not pleased the parish council.
Jenny Baldrey, chairman of Avebury Parish Council, said that negotiations
will continue with the National Trust over this bone of contention.
She also welcomed the peaceful way that the Solstice was celebrated. "If
it wasn't for the police our parish would have been overwhelmed,"
she said.
One visitor from Swindon put it more forcefully. She said: "How can
the National Trust and the police justify these travellers taking over
the only car park in Avebury when it is now impossible for local people
to get anywhere near the village?"
"Even the usual tour buses were being forced to put down their passengers
in a dangerous position because they could not access the car park either."
Have you noticed the days getting
shorter?
By Eddie Glenn, Press Staff Writer
That's because, starting today,
they are. And they'll be getting shorter and shorter until Dec. 21.
Yesterday was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in our hemisphere,
and the first day of summer. In the Southern Hemisphere, it was the sinter
solstice, the shortest day of the year, and the first day of winter.
What does all of this mean? Quite a bit, to some folks.
The day is also known as Alban Heflin, Alben Heruin, All-Couples Day, Feast
of Epona, Feast of St. John the Baptist, Feill-Sheathain, Gathering Day,
Johannistag, Litha, Midsummer, Sonnwend, Thing-Tide, and Vestalia.
It's had spiritual significance for a very long time, and to a lot of people,
it still does.
About 21,000 people celebrated the solstice yesterday at Stonehenge, the
prehistoric stone monument about 100 west of London. Scholars say the circle
of stones was built between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C. There isn't a lot of
agreement on why it was constructed, but a lot of folks, particularly Druids
- members of a religious order dating to Celtic Britain -- believe Stonehenge
was at one time a spiritual center.
But you don't have to go to England to celebrate events like the summer
solstice. Carol Parrish, pastor of the Light of Christ Community Church
on Sparrowhawk Mountain, said her congregation celebrates the day as a
time of balance between energies that are usually operating in opposition
to one another -- feminine and masculine, or activity and rest, for example.
"The word 'solstice' means 'sun stands,' as in 'the sun stands still,'"
said Parrish. "It's when all of humanity links itself with all of
nature, and its keynote is transformation."
Just as the energy of the sun causes plants to grow and bloom, a similar
phenomenon occurs within humans.
"The summer solstice is when the sun is most intense," Parrish
said. "And it acts upon all of nature, trying to bring it to fruition;
it's a time of growth in nature, and it's a time of internal growth in
humans as well."
Parrish said that in recent years, the summer solstice has also become
a time to reflect on humanity's connection to nature in a more scientific
way, as well as the effects human technology can have on the natural balance
of things. Spiritually or scientifically, the sentiment is the same, she
said - there has to be a balance.
Of course, some folks see the day in a more immediate, pragmatic way. If
you're the kind of person who likes sunshine, what's to dislike about the
longest day of the year?
"I was actually aware that it was the summer solstice, because the
sun just moved into my astrological sign," said Tahlequah Cancer Kate
Kelly.
(She's a Cancer astrologically, not medically. She doesn't grow uncontrollably
or require radiation - except, of course, the radiation she gets from the
sun, which was in ample supply on the summer solstice.)
"To be honest with you, I don't know exactly what that means -- that
the sun has moved into my astrological sign - but I'm taking it as a positive
thing."
Whether it's positive or negative (or a balance between the two), Kelly
still thinks the solstice is one of the better days of the summer.
"You've got to love the longest day of the year," she said. "You
can enjoy the sunlight until 9:30."
The Guardian Wed June 22 2005 p1
Summer's leap: A reveller jumps in the air at Stonehenge yesterday as crowds gathered to mark the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. English Heritage said about 21,000 people watched the sunrise.
Photograph: Matt Durham/AP
PIC1
The Times Weds June 22 2005 p2
Stonehenge find
Archaeologists have located the
prehistoric quarry in the Preseli Hills in Wales from which Stonehenge's
circle of bluestones was excavated.
A team led by Tim Darvill, Professor of Archaeology at Bournemouth University,
identified a crag-edged enclosure on Carn Menynas as the bluestones' source.
Financial Times Wed June 22 2005 p4
Civil servants take pay protest
to Stonehenge
By Chris Tighe
Mystical spirituality mingled
with protest action over pay as English Heritage employees lobbied Druids
watching the sun rise at Stonehenge yesterday, the longest day of the year.
As cheers rang out across Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire from many of the
20,000 people who gathered to greet the summer solstice, English Heritage
staff disgruntled with a below-inflation pay rise began a day of protest
by distributing leaflets and displaying protest placards.
"Our members took the opportunity to raise avareness among the people
there over low pay," said the Public and Commercial Services union,
Britain's biggest civil service union.
"They were speaking to Druids and people like that."
Around 800 staff employed by English Heritage, the government-funded body
which protects and promotes the historic environment, staged a two-hour
strike at sites throughout England, including Hadrian's Wall, Dover Castle,
Stonehenge and Tintagel Castle. Staff at English Heritage's regional offices
and London headquarters joined the action too.
The Stonehenge celebrations were unaffected by the protest. The employees,
represented by PCS and Prospect, the public sector professional staff union,
were protesting at an imposed pay deal which, their unions say, means a
below-inflation average rise of l.5 per cent.
"People on the lowest rung earning E12,000 will get 50p a day,"
said the PCS. The pay award, for the year to August, was imposed recently
by English Heritage which has had a 4.7 per cent cut in its government
allocation for the three years to 2007-08. The unions say the financial
squeeze is resulting in more focus being placed on the commercial, rather
than the educational, value of sites.
The unions hope yesterday's protests, which they said were overwhelmingly
backed by their English Heritage members, will influence pay talks due
to be heid on the coming year's deal. English Heritage said visitor access
to its 400-plus properties had been unimpeded, with just one, Porchester
Castle, opening late. The PCS said that at Clifford's Tower in York some
visitors had declined to cross a picket line, preferring to wait until
the protest had ended.
The Independent Wed June 22 2005 pp 42 &43
Sunrise at Stonehenge
As dawn came at 4.58am yesterday, a crowd of more
than 20,000 gathered amid the ancient stone circle to celebrate the summer
solstice. The glorious weather made for one of the most spectacular celebrations
in recent years.
Picture: Tom
Pilston PIC1
Telegraph Wed June 22 2005 p14
The ancients knew the proper
significance of a solstice
Prof Steve Jones
With yesterday's passing of the
summer solstice, the nights are drawing in, and at Stonehenge the faithful
gathered to celebrate. The druids would be more realistic in six months,
in long johns rather than party frocks, to cheer the departure of the shortest
day. The 5,000year-old tomb at Newgrange, near Dublin, has a slit through
which the Sun shines - and for a few minutes at dawn on December 20, 21
and 22 each year illuminates an inner chamber (it holds two people but
20,000 apply for tickets, allocated by lottery). For three days, at the
trough, or the peak, of its annual cycle the Sun seems to stand still:
which is what "solstice" means. For the ancients, that was the
truth, for Earth sat motionless and the universe moved around it.
The Inquisition agreed but the Church needed astronomy. Easter was set
as the Sunday after the first full moon of spring. Churches turned into
observatories, with a hole in the dome and a line in the floor along the
track of the solar image. At each solstice it reached high or low; and
to measure the correct distance along the line set the date of Easter.
The system worked even for believers in a static Earth.
They were wrong: but there are fixed points in the heavens. They turn not
on blind faith but on Copernican truth. Every object has its own gravitational
field, its own orbit and its own spin, and in certain places they cancel
out. The idea was picked up 60 years ago when Arthur C Clarke came up with
the idea of geostationary satellites. Launched into orbit 35,786 kms over
the Equator, a satellite would cirele at the same rate as Earth rotates
and would stay above the same spot. The idea, he wrote in his 1945 letter
to Wireless World, might help in communication, but was impractical: "I'm
afraid this is not going to be of the slightest use to our postwar planners."
Clarke was too pessimistic, and now 400 satellites sit in his orbit where,
if the universe were simple (and it is not) they would stay for ever. His
idea has gone much further. There are many "libration points"
(from the Latin librare - to balance) in space. There, the gravitational
pull from two or more bodies, plus the centrifugal force from rotation,
cancel out. One of the five Earth-Sun points sits l.5 million kms from
us, and 148.5 mlllion kms from our star. In theory, a satellite should,
like those pouring televisual pap from the heavens, stay poised until the
end of time.
Al Gore wanted to send a camera to beam the image of the sunlit Earth back
24 hours a day. That did not happen, but ACE - the Advanced Composition
Explorer - now sits in its place, spinning at 5 rpm. ACE measures the solar
wind. Life is calm at present, but just last month the satellite gave an
hour's notice of a massive storm which had the potential to overload power
networks, disrupt radio signals and injure astronauts. There are five such
points between Earth and Moon. They could be used to suspend service stations
in space, where passing astronauts could call to relax. Like those on the
Ml, they will be messy places, for they are already filled with astral
dust that settles at the zerogravity spots when it blows in, and cannot
escape. Even in the heavens, life is not simple. Because of the mathematical
impossibility of predicting the behaviour of a solar system in which many
more than two objects interact, libration points can jitter about. As a
result, ACE is not at the crucial site itself, but circles round it in
the astral equivalent of dancing round a handbag. Satellites in Clarke
orbit have the same problem: they are pulled by the Moon as well as the
Earth, and are further confused by the uneven shape of our planet. As a
result, they drift towards one of two locations around the Equator. Most
operators blast their machinery out of orbit when it dies, but 40 scrap
satellites (mostly Russian) have been abandoned and will one day find themselves
oscillating near a place of libration over the Pacific or over India (which
annoys the Indians).
Astronomers now plot a lendscape of gravity around each distant point,
which spacecraft can follow as if rolling downhill to their destination.
The maths is fierce - but it descends from the people of Newgrange, whose
shrine gives the earliest evidence of scientific thought. For those optimistic
about intellectual progress, the brass line in the floor of the church
of Saint-Sulpice in Paris is described in The Da Vinci Code not as an astronomical
instrument but as evidence that the building was once a pagan temple.
Steve Jones is professor of genetics at University College London
Daily Mirror Wed June 22 2005 p8
Stoned Henge
MYSTIC: First rays of light yesterday
IT'S been a regular knees-up for almost five thousand
years - but there are always a few pagans who have to spoil it.
And it was the same yesterday as 23,000 turned up to the beating of drums
for the summer solstice at Stonehenge.
The all-night do to mark the longest day passed off peacefully - apart
from just six arrests, mainly for drunkenness.
Druid King Arthur Pendragen, 51, led "warriors" - students from
East London - in a dance to honour Mother Nature.
Wiltshire police said: "The weather was superb and people were friendly.
Ancient site for sore eyes
King Arthur Pendragon led up to 21,000 people greeting the summer solstice at stonehenge yesterday. After a sleepless vigil, cheers rang out at Salisbury Plain, as the sun rose over the Druid site at 4.58am. Pendragon, 51, battle chieftain of the British Council of Druids led "warriors" in a dance for Mother Nature at the Wiltshire monument amid the meeting of drums. He said: "Solstice is about the death and regeneration of nature. This is part of our religion."
RITE CARRY-ON: Arthur Pendragon,
left, leads the torchlight vigil before dawn. PIC1
Stonehenge Tunnel Cost Climbs
to £223M
By Katherine Haddon, PA Political Staff
The cost of a controversial tunnel under Stonehenge has risen again to £223 million, the Government said today. The 2.1 km tunnelled section and approach on the A303 in Wiltshire is likely to end up costing even more once officials have examined a report written following a public inquiry into the project last year. When the scheme was announced in 2002, it was estimated that it would cost £183m in 2002 and the price had gone up a further £10m by the following year. The latest figure emerged in a response to a written question from Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat office of the deputy prime minister spokesman. Transport Minister Dr Stephen Ladyman said: "These figures are currently being reviewed by Highways Agency following further site investigations and some further increase in costs is now anticipated. "Details of the revised cost will be announced alongside our decision on the inspector’s report following the public inquiry into the Stonehenge improvement scheme."
Chicago Tribune Wed June 22 2005
Drums, druids celebrate solstice
STONEHENGE, ENGLAND -- Thousands
of revelers gathered near Stonehenge early Tuesday to watch the sun peek
above the ancient stone circle at the start of the summer solstice.
According to conservation group English Heritage, about 21,000 people,
some of them self-styled druids, saw the sun rise at 4:58 a.m. local time
as drummers beat out a welcome to the longest day in the northern hemisphere
year.
The summer solstice was sacred to the pagan Britons who built Stonehenge.
Globe and Mail, Canada Wed June 22 2005
It is the dawning of the age of summer of 2005
London -- A colourful crowd of
20,000 people gathered yesterday at Stonehenge to witness the dawning of
the longest day of the year.
Amid the beating of drums following an all-night festival, druids, pagans,
New Age travellers and curious spectators celebrated the summer solstice
in what has become an annual tradition.
Cheers rung out across Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire as the sun rose over
the "heel" stone at 4:58 a.m., local time.
Local police said the all-night festivities at the ancient stone circle
passed relatively peacefully with just six arrests, mainly for drink-related
offences. AFP
Yorkshire Post Wed June 22 2005
Save the henges, says new petitions
Julie Hemmings
THOUSANDS more people have put
their names to a campaign to protect an important Neolithic site known
as the "Stonehenge of the North".
The Friends of Thornborough Henges, the pressure group set up to fight
for the preservation of the earthworks near Ripon, have submitted two new
petitions to North Yorkshire Council in support of their case, and are
demanding an end to open-cast quarrying around the ancient monument. Tarmac
is in dispute with local campaigners, who say its extraction of sand and
gravel from land around the henges - which are 5,500 years old - is destroying
their setting.
One petition, compiled digitally, contains almost 5,500 signatures, collected
from all over the world via the group's website - www.friendsofthornborough.org.uk
The second is a conventional paper petition signed by more than 2,000 residents
of North Yorkshire, as well as the entire archaeology department of Nottinghamshire
Council. It says: "The internationally important Thornborough Moor
and its surrounding area with its natural, historic, hydrological and archaeological
features are under threat from quarrying. Please sign below if you are
opposed to such developments."
Friends' chairman John Lowry said: "The voice of both local people
and international opinion is clear and unequivocal.
"Such unprecedented public opinion cannot be ignored by our elected
councillors, who must now prove they have changed their attitude to heritage
preservation by voting to reject Tarmac's application to extend its present
quarry on to Ladybridge Farm.
"As long as this mining company retains ownership of Thornborough
Moor and its gravel deposits, the spotlight of concerned world opinion
will remained focused on North Yorkshire." The monument, one of Britain's
most important Neolithic sites, is often described as the Stonehenge of
the North.
Campaigners would like the surrounding area to become known as Thornborough
Plain, similar to Salisbury Plain, where the henges' southern counterpart
was built.
At present a conservation plan for the area is being prepared by consultants
Atkins Heritage. It was commissioned by English Heritage and the Thornborough
Henges Consultation Group. One proposal to protect the landscape and archaeology
is to create an eight-square mile "exclusion zone" around the
monument.
An area under investigation includes the villages of Nosterfield and Thornborough,
and extends to the outskirts of the villages of Well, Kirklington, Howgrave
and West Tanfield.
Project manager Andrew Croft said the aim of the plan, due to be completed
by next March, will be to aid decisions on planning applications, archaeological
research and landscape management. But local landowners and farmers are
concerned any such controls could hit their livelihoods, affecting land
use such as the permitted depth of ploughing.
The area covered by the plan includes Nosterfield Quarry, which has a pending
planning application for quarrying at Ladybridge Farm, which at its nearest
point is more than half a mile from the henges.
Tarmac has called for clear information on any possible restrictions.
The Friends of Thornborough Henges have suggested farmers could receive
subsidies or compensation in return for public access to the henges, which
could generate income for the area as a tourist attraction.
julie.hemmings@ypn.co.uk
British revelers mark summer solstice at Stonehenge
STONEHENGE, England (AP) - Thousands
of revelers gathered near Stonehenge early Tuesday to watch the sun peek
above the ancient stone circle at the start of the summer solstice.
According to conservation group English Heritage, about 21,000 people,
some of them self-styled druids, saw the sun rise at 4:58 a.m. local time
as drummers beat out a welcome to the longest day in the northern hemisphere
year.
"This was one of the best sunrises I've seen in a long time,"
said Mark Graham, a Druid member of the Order of Charnwood Grove who has
been watching summer solstices since 1975.
The summer solstice was sacred to the pagan Britons who built Stonehenge
thousands of years ago, long before Britain was Christianized. Modern Britons
interested in reviving some pagan traditions gather at the site every year
to mark the occasion, along with other partygoers and spectators. "Here
in the cold, northwestern part of Europe, it's something worth celebrating:
when the sun shines," Graham said.
Stonehenge, 80 miles southwest of London, was opened to the public for
the summer solstice in 2000, after being closed following violence between
police and revelers in 1985. Police reported a peaceful event this year,
with just eight arrests, all of them for minor offenses.
Stonehenge - the remnants of the last in a sequence of circular monuments
built between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C. - is one of Britain's most popular
tourist attractions and a spiritual home for thousands of druids and mystics.
Exactly how and why Stonehenge was built remains a mystery. Some experts
believe it is aligned with the sun simply because its builders came from
a sun-worshipping culture, while others believe the site was part of a
huge astronomical calendar.
©2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Thousands celebrate summer solstice at Stonehenge
LONDON: Up to 21,000 druids,
spiritualists and revellers gathered at Stonehenge early yesterday with
many beating drums and playing pipes to celebrate the annual summer solstice.
A spokeswoman for English Heritage said they had witnessed a "fantastic
sunrise" and enjoyed a great atmosphere at the start of the longest
day of the year in the northern hemisphere.
Cheers rang out across Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire as the sun rose at
4.58am.
The prehistoric stone monument is open to the public throughout the year,
but the solstice allows revellers a rare opportunity to walk among the
20-tonne stones and touch them.
Druids, a pagan religious order dating to Celtic Britain, are drawn to
Stonehenge west of London, because they believe it was a centre of spiritualism
more than 2000 years ago.
Scholars say the circle was built between 3000 BC and 1600 BC, but there
is no consensus on whether it was a temple, a burial ground, an astronomy
site or served other spiritual or temporal purposes.
JUMPING FOR JOY: A man dances on the top of Stonehenge as the sun rises in Britain during summer solstice celebrations. Thousands of people travelled to the ancient site to celebrate the northern hemisphere's longest day of the year yesterday. Reuters PIC1
Salibury Journal online (this is wilts) Tues June 21 2005
Summer is here
by Anthony Osborne
THOUSANDS of people gathered
at sites in Wiltshire to watch the sun rise on the summer solstice.
More than 21,000 people turned up at Stonehenge and several hundred gathered
at Avebury, and they cheered as they watched the dawn in clear skies.
Many were in a party mood making the most of the warm weather.
At Avebury they gathered around the huge sarsen stones and the sound of
guitars could be heard drifting across the village.
The atmosphere was friendly and by dawn Wiltshire Police had made only
a handful of arrests.
At Stonehenge druids and others who went along for the experience took
the chance to get near the monument, which is normally out of reach to
the public.
Eight people were arrested at Stonehenge for a variety of offences, including
arrests for being drunk and disorderly and criminal damage.
Others were arrested for assaulting a police officer and the possession
of cannabis.
Wiltshire Police spokeswomen Jacqui Broadbridge said: "The general
behaviour of the crowds who all attended this year's summer solstice was
exemplary considering the huge numbers of people which have turned up this
year.
"Our traffic management also worked very well, the roads were kept
flowing."
Police officers closed the A344 between Airmans Cross and Stonehenge Fork
to cope with the numbers of people.
Crowds head to ancient Stonehenge
Up to 23,000 people gathered
amid beating drums and blowing horns to witness the Summer Solstice at
Stonehenge on Tuesday. Cheers rang out across Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire
as the sun rose over the heel stone at 0458 BST.
The all-night festivities at the ancient stone circle passed relatively
peacefully, police said.
Wiltshire Police said that there had been eight arrests during the day,
mainly for drink-related offences.
English Heritage chief executive Dr Simon Thurley said: "There has
been no trouble. People seem to have enjoyed themselves."
English Heritage has now opened the site to the public free of charge for
the Summer Solstice since 2000.
About 2,000 people gathered for Solstice celebrations at the ancient stones
in Avebury. There were no arrests, police said.
PIC1
Stonehenge Solstice in Pictures:
Twenty years on, the peace-loving
festival fans still bear the scars of the Battle of the Beanfield
By Arifa Akbar
It was a gloriously sunny Saturday
afternoon in June 1985 when a convoy of children, peace activists and travellers
made their way to an annual free festival on land beside the ancient ruins
at Stonehenge.
The line of vehicles of the 550 people going to Wiltshire led to grassland,
next to a bean field where many families settled for a picnic. A few hours
later, the convoy erupted into full-scale violence as festival-goers clashed
with 1,363 police officers in riot gear. The event, which led to 537 arrests
- the largest civil arrest since the Second World War at the time - came
to be known as the Battle of the Beanfield.
Twenty years later, many who were there still bear the scars of the bloody
confrontation.
Andy Worthington, the editor of a book about the event, called The Battle
of the Beanfield, said: "Some of the people were psychologically damaged
but for the most part, people refused to be cowed and carried on living
the lives they believed they were entitled to."
Some people believe faulty police intelligence led the forces to think
the travellers were armed and dangerous.
The protests took place within an area that had been made the subject of
an order banning all "trespassory assemblies".
Plans to stop the convoy near the A303 collapsed when a convoy outrider
spotted the roadblock and directed the travellers down a side road, where
they encountered a second roadblock. After a first wave of what travellers
claimed were violent assaults by the police, in which windscreens were
smashed and the occupants dragged from their buses and vans screaming,
most of the vehicles broke into a neighbouring field, further derailing
the police plan.
Assistant Chief Constable Lionel Grundy, the officer in charge, ordered
all travellers to be arrested. The final assault came at 7pm, with police
in riot gear.
Many witnessed scenes of horrifying violence, with women dragged out of
vans by the hair, and vehicles smashed and set on fire. Those who tried
to escape the violence by driving through the bean field were trapped by
hundreds of police.
All of those arrested were charged with obstruction of the police and the
highway, although most did not result in convictions.
Ian Readhead, Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire, who was then an inspector,
said the aggression had not been planned. But he added: "With all
the benefit of hindsight, the police operation had not been thought through
very well."
Alan Lodge, now 53, was working at the festival as a photographer and a
first aid volunteer. He was arrested and held in a police cell for three
days. "I was one of a number of people to take civil court action
against the police. Nearly six years later at the High Court in Winchester,
we won most of our case and were each awarded damages against the police.
On the last day, the judge made an order on court costs that, as we were
getting legal aid, meant we got nothing.
"We went through the proper legal process to get recompense but while
some police officers got promotion, we got nothing. Nobody was told off,
there was no inquiry, and 20 years on, some of us remain impoverished by
that experience."
'I carried the experience for years after'
Sheila Craig, 50, from London,
is a former peace activist. She now works as a freelance teaching consultant
and trainee counsellor.
"I still see the total brutality of the attack. It was malicious.
We had all travelled there in the spirit of non-violence. People were physically
and psychologically wounded, and I carried the experience for years after.
I still have the scars. But the scars served a purpose and I became more
committed to political, social and environmental change.
My son, who was four, was with me. We were having a picnic. We saw dark
figures in riot gear charging down the field. It was unreal. We ran into
the bus and they said they'd smash it if we didn't get out. We got out
and they arrested us. We were taken to police cells and [later] they took
the children, who were screaming. My son was affected by the separation
but he is proud to be in the history books. I later joined a squatting
community."
'Police slammed truncheons into the vehicles'
Earl of Cardigan, landowner at
Savernake.
"With my neighbour, John Moore, a barrister, who also owns a motorcycle,
we determined to follow it all. I think we both realised the motorcycle
helmet would give us some anonymity, which I was keen on. There was a long
period of negotiation, with the convoy asserting their right to go through
to Stonehenge and the police saying that was not allowed. After a long
period of this impasse, the leading vehicle started its engine and drove
through the hedge into a field of beans. Vehicles 2, 3 and 4 followed.
Police rushed out on foot, from behind their barricades. Clutching drawn
truncheons and riot shields, they ran round to the driver's door of each
vehicle, slamming their truncheons into the bodywork to make a deafening
noise, and shouting at every driver, 'get out, get out, hand over your
keys, get out'."
It was like a scene from 'War of the Worlds'
Kim Sabido, 50, from Birmingham,
is a former ITN reporter, now a freelance media consultant.
"I have a vivid picture of the day and its aggression. I was working
at ITN. I thought I was going to a gathering of hippies protesting at the
gates of a field. When I got there, the police had cut off routes into
the field... so I and the crew set off on foot with the camera. We climbed
up a tree and over a fence to get into the field. It was like a scene from
the War of the Worlds. It was barbaric. I was in a sort of state of shock.
I had covered the Falklands War and the hunger strike at Northern Ireland,
and I had seen people being shot and beaten. Yet this, in its stark reality,
was the most barbaric example of what a so-called civilised state could
do to its people. Women with babies were hauled by the hair through smashed
windows of their vehicles. The police were banging truncheons on their
shields. It was like a war cry."
DRUIDWATCH
DON'T mess with Druids, and especially
not King Druids, such as Arthur Pendragon, who is marking the summer solstice
with an omen for the Highways Agency. The Agency is planning a new road
under Stonehenge and, says The Economist (June 18), has two options fnr
its tunnel: cheap or deep. The latter is less likely to disturb archaeological
gems in the area and, naturally, King Arthur wants the agency to dig deep.
He has promised "the biggest protest in Europe" if the Government
chooses cheap.
[Economist article Jun 16]
Sheffield UPI Tues June 21 2005
Modern druids partying 6 months too early:-
Some 20,000 robe-wearing hippies,
would-be Druids and science buffs who greeted summer's arrival at Stonehenge
early Tuesday were six months too early.
The scientific background to the claim is found in Neolithic piglets' teeth
that indicate the ancient Druids gathered only to celebrate winter's vernal
equinox, and not the summer solstice, The Telegraph reported.
Dr. Umburto Albarella, an animal bone expert at the University of Sheffield's
archaeology department said pigs in that period were born in spring and
were slaughtered in December or January, which supports the view the celestial
revelry happened only once a year, and not in the summer.
The news didn't dampen this year's turnout, however. The newspaper said
the overnight celebrants were all told to be away from Stonehenge by 9
a.m. to allow a day-long massive clean-up of modern garbage left by the
crowds. (UPI)
Stonehenge:
Beating drums and blowing horns,
thousands celebrated the summer solstice at the mystical site.
Every year, thousands converge at the giant stones to welcome in the first
day of summer.
Police said there were no arrests during the all-night party.
Last year, dozens of people were arrested for public intoxication and other
drinking-related offensives.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Marlborough Gazette & Herald Thur June 02 2005
Travellers ousted from forest camp
THERE were some tense moments
when police had a face-to-face confrontation with a group of travellers
who settled in Savernake Forest on Tuesday evening.
All weekend extra officers had been on duty manning access points to the
forest after police received information that a major rave could take place
there to mark the 20th anniversary of the Battle of the Beanfield, when
police clashed with New Age travellers at Cholderton.
The expected anniversary rave did not materialise although police said
lorries carrying mobile stages had been seen in the area but were deterred
by the large number of officers guarding accesses to the forest.
The police cordons were due to be discontinued yesterday.
However on Tuesday a small band of travellers, most of them from eco groups
from West Wales, set up camp at the forest's Hatt Gate picnic area on the
Wootton Rivers road.
About half a dozen vehicles got past a wooden barrier, that was later found
damaged, shortly before 7pm. A powerful battery-powered amplifier was set
up and music could be heard at the nearest homes at Hatt Gate a quarter
of a mile away.
Police led by the Marlborough sector commander Insp Jerry Dawson were quickly
at the scene.
After confirming that the travellers had no permission to camp from the
landowner, the Savernake Estate, police asked them to move.
Some of the campers had been drinking and demanded to be allowed to stay.
With just a handful of police officers a few yards away to back him up
if necessary although there were more waiting in other parts of the
forest to provide reinforcements the inspector talked with the travellers
and calmed the situation.
One of the travellers called Ian said they had headed for Wiltshire to
commemorate the Battle of the Beanfield although he was too young to be
there in 1985.
He said: "We want to mark the fact that 20 years ago the police broke
the law when they made all those arrests at the Battle of the Beanfield.
"Although the police actions were later declared illegal they have
never apologised. What they did was out of order and we would like an apology."
After speaking to the travellers Insp Dawson said: "They said they
would move on if I apologised for the police actions at the Battle of the
Beanfield.
"I said to them that if they felt they had been mistreated then I
was sorry and they appeared happy with that."
Some two-and-a-half hours after arriving at Hatt Gate, the travellers left
and headed south on the A346 to Burbage and then to Grafton where they
did a U-turn and headed back to Burbage and then drove through the Collingbournes
before spending the night at Amesbury.
After they left Hatt Gate officers discovered the barrier into the picnic
site had been broken.
Insp Dawson said: "It looks as though they were planning to get into
the site and probably have more travellers join them if we had let them
stay."
Police remained at Hatt Gate until the barrier was mended.
