Monumental Lockdown: A period of Rejuvenation for Stonehenge

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Stonehenge Stone Circle News and Information

One of Britain’s rarest – and strangest – birds is back at Stonehenge. The Great Bustard was affectionately christened by Stonehenge staff as “Gertrude”

This period of rest for the worlds monuments and natural resurgence is set to benefit the world and will improve the tourists experience when they return. Nature needs time to breathe, so it could be that the way tourism is viewed may alter to allow nature further breathing space.

This period of rest is also set to benefit the ancient monoliths of Stonehenge, which remains unvisited for weeks, in a number of ways. Firstly, just like in Venice, the latent wildlife surrounding Stonehenge will have reclaimed full rights to the area – not only the grasses and plants that make up the verdant surroundings of the stones, but also birds and insects that call the planes of Wessex home. The resurgence of the nature in the surrounding area will surely make the site all the more pleasant when it reopens.

The drop-in air pollution and return of wildlife signal a return to environmental conditions closer to that of the stone’s erection, thousands of years ago. It is believed that this is crucial for the rejuvenation of the site’s primordial energies. For thousands of years, the site would have only seen large gatherings of people once or twice a year. Today, the rate of foot fall has increased exponentially. Experts in earth energies believe a short period of rest for the stones is sure to revitalise the wealth of energy that flows beneath the stones, and indeed all the lay lines which run through Wessex and the country as a whole.

Many of us will also have seen the pictures (no-one gone in person, I hope!!) of goats roaming the streets of Llandudno ... and I suspect there are other cases of wild fauna moving in, and wild flora recovering from the human pounding they normally get.

[Andy]

"birds and insects that call the planes of Wessex home."

Would these planes of Wessex be Airbus or Boeing?

 

[stuving]

"birds and insects that call the planes of Wessex home."

Would these planes of Wessex be Airbus or Boeing?

More likely Lockheed-Martin C130s, surely?

I may be a bit more strictly pedantic about the use of hyphens than is really necessary, but doesn't "the drop-in air pollution" mean something different to "the drop in air pollution"?

[Andy]

And while we're at it:
a return to environmental conditions closer to that of the stone’s erection
"those" conditions, surely. The 'of' sounds decidedly strange, too (during/at the time of).

worlds cities and monuments a well needed break

 A silver lining in the crisis, appears to be a global drop in air pollution


In Venice have cleared and wildlife has returned in droves...

This period of rest for the worlds monuments and natural resurgence is set to benefit the world and will improve the tourists experience when they return.

 

[grahame]

The Internet has brought the ability to publish to a wide audience to many people who are far from being professional authors. And the lifestyle changes brought upon us by the current pandemic has brought others in into the forefront of contributing where even a month or two ago they would have been rephrased and proofread.  I can hugely sympathise with the people dropped in at the deep end (heck, members know I have a spelling problem!) and it's light relief to be reminded of Stonehenhge Aerodrome and think back to visits to Boscombe Down and Old Sarum Airfield

Where I lack sympathy for muddled or inaccurate wording at present is in official pronouncements or advise - still being provided by professional local or central government, the police, ministers, the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) and the like from whom we have seen a number of clumsy statements leading to confusions as to whether there's a time limit on exercise, whether you're allowed into your own garden, and whether you can put non-essentials in your shopping trolley when in the store for basic essentials anyway.  Anyway - I'm repeating myself there and I'm going to head onwards - I have a whole lode of massages to send.

[Marlburian]

... it's light relief to be reminded of Stonehenhge Aerodrome and think back to visits to Boscombe Down and Old Sarum Airfield ...  Anyway - I'm repeating myself there and I'm going to head onwards - I have a whole lode of massages to send.

Your reference to Stonehenge Airfield adds to this morning's nostalgia when, on another forum, I gave the precise location of Pond Farm, NE* of Market Lavington, which was taken over by the War Office around 1900, with a summer camping-site being established about 1.5 miles away. (It's now an impact area for artillery shells.) I looked at various old maps, someone else contributed a couple of modern ones, and lots of memories came flooding back of cycle rides and walks on the "permitted" parts of the Plain. Will I ever be able to return? 

And only last night I was ruing how much I missed a conventional massage (a reflection brought on by watching Lee Remick helping Burt  Lancaster unwind in The Hallelujah Trail).

As I've recounted, on Friday I passed untroubled through a wood notorious for sexual mispractice, but I wouldn't mind a virtual massage ...

* As Grahame has pointed out, this should have been "SE"!. Too many attempts to get the correct compass points when advising on the other forum - and when discussing the subways and tunnels at Purley!

[eightonedee]

The Great Bustard at Stonehenge is not so surprising. There has been a long running project to try to reintroduce the species to Salisbury Plain - see http://greatbustard.org/

Occasionally escapees range further. We were fortunate enough to have one by the Ridgeway for a couple of days a few years back. When the world gets back to normal I would recommend a trip to Spain to see them in the wild. A displaying male is an unforgettable sight. Extramadura is best, but they occur remarkably close to Madrid. I once saw a group at the head of a shallow valley with a view of construction sites in the city on the horizon.

[grahame]

Your reference to Stonehenge Airfield adds to this morning's nostalgia when, on another forum, I gave the precise location of Pond Farm, NE of Market Lavington, which was taken over by the War Office around 1900, with a summer camping-site being established about 1.5 miles away. ...

Pond Farm is to the South East, rather than the North East, of Market Lavington, and is in the Parish of Easterton. An area I know very well as I moved to Easterton ("East Lavington") 1982 and lived there until 1999. A long and personal story which I have started to write up and will post in "And Also" in due course.  Small world!

[grahame]

Pond Farm is ... in the Parish of Easterton. An area I know very well as I moved to Easterton ("East Lavington") 1982 and lived there until 1999. A long and personal story which I have started to write up and will post in "And Also" in due course.  Small world!

http://www.passenger.chat/23257 - in "Intro and Chat" as there's nothing in there I'm not proud to admit to in public.

[CyclingSid]

Further on Pond Farm. Pond Farm has two photographs in The Field Archaeology of the Salisbury Plain Training Area https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/field-archaeology-salisbury-plain-training-area. You can find it at cheaper than list price on the web, and when it is open at the Stonehenge visitor centre bookshop. Shows that in its own way the northern part of the plain has almost as much history as the Stones. The two photos;a tented camp in 1909 and farm itself in 1910. The Field Archaeology gives a location of SU 044525, NDG James in Gunners at Larkhill (Gresham Books with RA Institution, 1983) gives a location of SU 043525. This gives a track junction with a disused well on the 1:25,000 OS^▸ (Ordnance Survey) map, use Bing maps and locate the spot and change to aerial and there is a structure, possibly a splinterproof shelter as shown on the 1920's 1:10,000.

EDIT: James NGR amended

[Marlburian]

Further on Pond Farm ...  The Field Archaeology gives a location of SU 044525, NDG James in Gunners at Larkhill (Gresham Books with RA Institution, 1983) gives a location of SU 435525. This gives a track junction with a disused well on the 1:25,000 OS^▸ (Ordnance Survey) map, use Bing maps and locate the spot and change to aerial and there is a structure, possibly a splinterproof shelter as shown on the 1920's 1:10,000.

My chance to redeem myself for confusing "NE" and "SE". James' location is actually 043525 and that's for the original farm, as is the Field Archaeology location. In Plain Soldiering he gives a grid reference of 055534, but that's for the camping-site, which was some way away. There's a link to a 1898 map and a couple of modern maps on the Great War Forum, post 18-19.

Googling "pond farm camp great war forum" will lead to various other threads.

Here's Stonehenge Airfield on the horizon in the 1920s.

[Marlburian]

Perhaps Pond Farm c1911. The postcard was published by a Market Lavington photographer, but the War Office had taken over other farms in the locality.

[CyclingSid]

Certainly wasn't the last time the Royal Artillery had problems pointing things in the right direction.

[Marlburian]

There have been cases of shells overshooting the ranges, including one that landed "only yards" from a railway line in  2014.

Daily Telegraph

"The round landed at Patney, near Devizes, only 3330 yards from the Paddington-Penzance railway, leaving a crater 6ft in diameter and 2ft deep."

Hang about, isn't 3330 yards almost two miles? However, another article says "the shell left a 6ft (1.8m) wide crater when it hit the ground 980 ft (300m) from a railway line at Patney, near Devizes".

(So an extra "0" crept into the Telegraph measurement.)

Way back when (c1963 actually), another shell landed in the garden of a hotel in Market Lavington. I got my parents to take me for lunch there, so I could inspect the modest dent.

[eightonedee]

I am aware from a recently retired army acquaintance of mine that the 2014 incident caused considerable embarrassment, but was not unprecedented. It was as much the publicity as the fact that it happened - looks like Cycling Sid knows more......