STONEHENGE

Evening Star, Issue 19664, 17 September 1927, Page 13

STONEHENGE

PLAN TO PRESERVE THE SKY-LINE APPEAL FOR J535.0C0 Tlio Prime Minister. Mr Bamsay MacDonald, Lord Crawford and Balearros (president of the Society^o( Antiquaries), Viscount Crey ol J'allodon (vice-president of the National Trust), and Lord .Radnor (Lord-Lieutenant of "Wiltshire) have signed a letter supporting an appeal for £.T),()D(I tor the purchase of land on Salisbury Plain by which it is desired to preserve from the erection of unsightly buildings,the immediate surroundings of the Stonebongo circle. The signatories say “A Stonehenge Protection Committee has been formed, the object of which is indicated by its title. Wo desire earnestly to support its appeal (o the public for funds. If is now nine years since Sir Cecil Chubb made (be nation the magnificent present ol the Stonehenge circle itself; and the great stones are safely in the charge of the Commissioners of AVorks. The land ol the Plain around them, however, is still private property. So long as it remains in private hands there is an obvious danger that the setting of Stonehenge may be mined and the stones dwarfed by the erection of nnsigblly buildings on the Plain, “Any visitor to Stonehenge may at this moment form a notion as to what, if steps are not at once taken, may happen to the Stonehenge section of the Plain. During the war the military authorities found it necessary to erect an aerodrome and rows of lints very near the circle. These have reverted lo the owner of the land, hut they are still standing. Tn recent mouths an enterprising restaurateur has built a bungalow, the Stonehenge Cafe, within hail of the stones, though happily just out of sight of them, ’flic conditions of modern transport make it extremely likely that this structure, if no preventive measures ho adopted, will he the first of many, and !hat the monoliths will in time he surrounded by all the accessories of a popular holiday resort. The Stonehenge ring, as every British child has learnt to picture it from his earliest years, will no longer exist. “The solitude of Slouehcngo should he restored and precautions taken to ensure that our posterity will sec it against the sky in the lonely majesty before which onr ancestors have stood in awe throughout all our recorded history. AVo are glad to he able to stale that options have just beer: secured for (he purchase of an area of Ihe Plain which includes the whole ol what, may bo called the ‘Stonehenge, sky-line.’ Should the purchases he ofiortod, the Air Force buildings will be removed, further building will be prevented, and the valuable arciucological remains of the site permanently protected from the plough. “'the land purchased will he placed imih'r liic guardianship of (he National Trust ; and part at least of the revenues derived from rents for gracing, etc., a ill, it is Imped, he available for the further protection of (he archmalocical treasures and amenities o( Salisbury Plain. “The total area under consideration is 1,444 acres; the sum aimed at is rihoul .CFi.non. Tim sum is small compared with several amounts recently raised for (be preservation of great, national monumenl.s ; and here we have a monument unique in its fame and significance. A substantial beginning lias already been made. The need is urgent. Projects arc already in existence which would involve extensive building and the laying of watermains; and one important option to purchase expires at the end of August.” ‘The Times.’ in seconding the appeal, slates - “It. is upon', the imagination that Stonehenge will always exert its capital inlliimice. Five branches of learn-ing—-geology, mineralogy, astronomy, arcliicology, ethnology—with much help from aerial photography, are constantly probing into its mystery; ami, for the present the conclusion of the whole matter is best expressed in the words of (bo excavator. Colonel AV. Hawley: ‘ The more we dig, the more the mystery appears to deepen.’ One rmii) may go as far as science will allow him, and suppose, till more may be known, that Stonehenge is a work of the end of the'Stone Age. and the beginning of (he Bronze Age, roughly from ,500 to 4,000 years old, a, temple connected with the worship or at least the observation of (he son, and made of stones of which those in the outer ring and Hie outer horseshoe arc local, or Sarsen stone, and those in the inner ring and inner horseshoe are of ‘foreign’ stone from the Preseeliy Range in Pembrokeshire. Another may indulge bis fancy with any tales that, please, him, tales of human sacrifice, of Druid ceremonies, of horseraces in (1m ‘ enrsus,’ of the Devil and I lie Friar's heel. A third may find in Stonehenge before all things (be scene of one of the most, nobly pitiful moments in all English fiction—the Inst, happiness and the lasi, parting of Angel flare and 'loss of the D’Frbcrvillos. All who are c.-i]nib|e of (be oxperione are united hi feeling that the singular gift of Stonehenge is its quickening touch upon (bo imagination. Let it be surrounded by a modern town, and its bmlorical interest. will be nnimnaired. its fortiliiv in crops of fable will be nmliminisbed. But for its prouer effect upon the spirit of man isolation is necessary. The ideal stale would be Stonehenge. Hie Plain, the sky, and nothing else in sight. That ideal may not yet he attainable: hut. there is small doubt of the good-will of all parties concerned, and at least the worst, dangers will Ijavc been averted.”