Government kills off DCM's Stonehenge Visitor Centre

[Misty]

The Stonehenge bus runs from Salisbury to Stonehenge and is well used. However, if the Visitor Centre is built at Airman's Corner the A334 will be closed to all vehicle traffic except for a "land train" which will carry visitors who are unable/unwilling to walk to Stonehenge from Fargo Plantation. EH hope that most people will walk from Fargo to the stones but obviously has to provide transport for those who can't manage it. So the Stonehenge bus will only get as far as the Visitor Centre. The land train will I presume be manned by EH staff. With the 334 closed and that part of the A303 being a "no stopping" road there will be less opportunity for people to park close to the stones to have a look without paying. That said, there are plenty of places (relatively) nearby where you can park and walk to the stones now. I understand that the double fence will remain around the stones and only those with a ticket (purchased at the Visitor Centre) will be allowed through the first fence and access right up to the stones will still only be available for those who book a visit after hours. This plan will stop cars being more visible than the stones and also cut the number of accidents (including fatalities) where cars have hit visitors who don't use the official car park and pay for access via the underpass.

[deadlylampshade]

Thank you for the info Misty:face-approve:

"That said, there are plenty of places (relatively) nearby where you can park and walk to the stones now. That said, there are plenty of places (relatively) nearby where you can park and walk to the stones now. "

I hope this does not mean the By Way which is blocked more often than not by visitors who then try to reverse onto the A303!! Hard to get a horse through some days.

The fence would be most welcome - Grockle Dodging is not my sport of choice and it must be the only place in Britain where people step backwards into an arterial road trying to focus their camera and dont' follow the Green Cross Code!:0

[Misty]

Ha!Ha! I was thinking more of parking at Strangways and walking down the footpath along King Barrow Ridge - then you can pick up The Avenue or the Cursus and walk about, usually in splendid isolation. I think the By Way is to be closed to vehicles - although the trailbikers are claiming it is their inalienable right from time immemorial to roar up and down it! I agree about the people with their cameras and on this day of the year (and tomorrow) the whole area for miles is infested with people wandering the (very busy) roads. I'm always surprised at the number walking up/down the main Salisbury-Devizes road when they could walk up or down the Avon Valley - though even that is not exactly car-free.

[deadlylampshade]

Thankfully this year I don't live on the other side of the Plain and have to commute! SUCH a palaver about the Solstice...will require a soapbox if I get on to the subject of trailbike riders and BOAT...gone are the days when I used to hack up to the Stones of an evening and ride amongst them!!!:0

[mpoole]

...gone are the days when I used to hack up to the Stones of an evening and ride amongst them!!!:0

You can go off people, you know! I was extremely disappointed on my first visit to Stonehenge to have to stare at it from the other side of that ridiculously low barrier. I'm still grumpy about it.

[Dinosaur]

Why don't they put the centre on the site and cut out the transit system? There's only some old ruins in the way that wouldn't take a 45 ton machine 2 seconds to get shifted into a skip, and a bit of bulldozing would soon get the car/coachpark levelled :face-approve:

[Dirty Boy]

No private money for Stonehenge it seems. The druids are revolting!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wilts...348702.stm

"I've been assured by English Heritage that it is their intention, should the government pull the plug, which they have now done, to go ahead with the visitor centre and they will raise the money internally and that has satisfied me."

Well, I'm glad he's satisfied. I wouldn't like to think what would happen if he wasn't. Human sacrifices in retaliation?
Personally, I would have liked to have seen the stones moved into a big "M" shape }



Its a shame that he hasn't seen the latest shocking archaeological revelation about Stonehenge:


http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2010/06/21/my...plication/

[mpoole]

Ahhh, the Mystickall MyckDonyalds Goldeyn Aryches Walk-through. At least you could get a chance to make your way amongst the stones as you place your order and pick up the resulting comestibles.

The BBC article made me laugh more than the Newsbicuit one did, although I am sure they didn't intend it to happen that way.

"Senior druid Arthur Pendragon said he hoped the funding blow would not lead to Stonehenge becoming commercialised."

Sorry, forgot to add the quote. Made me laugh as I sipped my tea from my Stonehenge mug.

[Dinosaur]

I still think it was used for mammoth grading, only eat the ones that just fitted through the biggest trilothons, throw the tiddlers back onto Salisbury plain to fatten up a bit more....

[Comarch]

Sorry for being boring but there are some serious points to be chewed over here. Do we want some form of 'heritage management' or not is the first question. Some would say just pull down the fences and let people trample all over the site and if they destroy what they came to see that is what freedom of choice means (the libertarian option). Or do we trust the designated 'guardians' - EH, NT, DCMS? Or do we have unofficial/official bodies powerful enough to lobby/protest for a solution to this mess? If we opt for heritage management of the site what needs to be done that all 'stakeholders' can sign up to? It's been 10 years since the first MA course in Heritage Management ran at UCL looking at how sites can be conserved and open to the public; where are the professional managers that supposed to have been coming out of this process?