MODERN VANDALS.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18426, 6 July 1925, Page 13

MODERN VANDALS.

DAMAGE DONE IN RURAL ENGLAND. Milos of moorland roads *in Devon and Cornwall have been,. mended with blocks of granite wrenched from the walls of hut circles or uprooted from those stone avettues which lead to tltt> biJl'iftl places of forgotten chiefs. This soft of thing liaa been going on im' generations, declares 'l'.tJ.B. in the -Daily Mail," and 110 longer ago than last khaimer the' owner of Spitchwick Manor was forced to protest against the spoliation of prehistoric remains near Daitmeet, the lovely spot where the East and West Darts meet. But dreadful damage has been done, and it is still most difficult to persuade the average roadman tliit the marvellous relics of the past have a. better use than to be turned into road metal. Unhappily, it is not only on the indors that vandalism of this kind has been in progress* The older parts of the village of Avebury, six miles west of Marlborough, are largely built of stones taken from what Was once the greatest Druidical temple in the British Isles. So utterly lias this wonderful work been destroyed that it is difficult even to trace out the plan of t-hfe original circles and avenues. The spoliation Weilt on for tentufi-es, and did not cea.se until, in ISB2, the Act for tile Protection of Ancient Monuments pfefised the House of Commons. St&nehcnge happily remains to us almost untouched, but this is only because of tlie happy chance that it stands on comparatively barren soil and Ms never had lluuian dwellings near it. Antiquarians Wring their hnilds at the vandalism of the Turks, wlio for awes used the Pyramids as stone quarries, but it is doubtful whether the Turks' behaviour in this respect was any worse than that of the. people who pulled down the stones of the Roman Wall to build byres and pig-sties. In spite of legislation, in spit© pF modern education, the ill-work still goes on, a lid the tripper, when ho gets a chance, tpars down or defaces moiiunients of tlie greatest value aiid interest. Not long ago a fine marble medallion wns found to have been wrenched away from the ruins of Sir Francis Bacon's home near St. Albans, while relic hunting ruffians have badly damaged the Wonderful old church at Thuudridge in Hertfordshire. One of the most astonishing cases of the kind occurred in the United States. In Washington County, Pennsylvania, stood the so-called Painted Rocks, consisting of great stones on. whidli some forgotten race had carved figures of men and animals, including—this is the amazing part of it —one of the kangitrodi There" were also curious hieroglyphics which have never beeti translated. The owner of the. land, annoyed apparently l:v the number of visitors attracted to view these relics, put in a charge of dynamite and blew the whole thing skyhigh. And in spite of the intense indignation with which his conduct was viewed, there was no law under which he could be punished.