[Stones] Restoration short-list

[George Chaplin]

Surely a landfill site is modern clutter of the worst sort? Similarly there
is afalse cursus at Thornborough, created by the hedge, which has been
planted in the ditch of the original henges and gives people the impression
that the cursus runs north south, when it does not.

Surely these are conservation issues of the highest order?

Personally, I would also get rid of the concrete lintel at Silbury, it has
no place there.

Reconnecting Stonehenge with its landscape would be good, but unfortunately
the "festivasl goers" have plated right into the hands of the politicians by
insisting they have the right to trash the place. So thats not going to
happen.

I suggest that the finest forms of restoration must surely be where the
previous monument was destroyed. However, I'm not certain about those folks
that carry out the restorations also (no offence to any talkative restorers
around these parts). They should be involving the locals and folks who have
a connection to the site, instead of letting their own egos run the show.

I am dubious about trying to restore monuments that are not in danger - just
to make them look "good" in our modern eyes. I think it is clear we know too
little about them and do not have the technology or techniques to understand
them. If they are not going to fall down, leave them so that as much
evidence as possible remains for future generations. I think even somec
monuments that are crumbling might be better left alone.

So for me, a real restoration would be just that - going to a place where
modern activities have destroyed a site, and marking its existence, writing
its story, including why it was lost - perhaps attempting to recreate it in
some way - with local help in the design of the replacement structure, in my
opinion a restoration should have modern use otherwise it will be a dead
duck anyway. The primary objective is to involve the community - leacing
them somethnig practical whilst marking and remembering the existence of
something ancient is for me excellence in restoration.

Others sites, I'd like to see a local project aimed at restoring flattened
barrows. These scheduled sites are now being argued for destruction, since
farmers are ploughing them and developers see them as cheap building land
(cheap, because the small fry do not have the clout to remove the scheduling
and so do not want the land. But major developers can get permission to
destroy them pretty easily and cheaply. So why not simply ask folks to bring
along some soil to rebuild the mound? Then the farmers would know what to
avoid and maybe thisd would be cheaper than paying sudsidies that force
farmers to plough the land every six years to keep the subsidy?

Now, I feel myself drifting into a rant so I'll stop. I guess in reality,
the most important form of restoration, would be to restore our pride in all
of our monuments. A task that I would say all of us could do better.



-----Original Message-----
From: stones-bounces at henge.org.uk [mailto:stones-bounces at henge.org.uk]On
Behalf Of Andy Norfolk
Sent: 29 July 2007 08:06
To: The Stones Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Stones] Restoration short-list


Well both Thornborough and Avebury need TLC - as does Stonehenge, but
that's not that sort of thing I was talking about.

Which sites need inappropriate bits of previous "restoration" and other
modern clutter removed?

Andy N




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