[Stones] Thornborough Restoration short-list

[George Chaplin]

All this talk of restoration has kind of got me wanting to put my words into
action. I'm thinking that now is the time to start pushing for a restoration
of the ruined parts of Thornborough's landscape, starting initially with the
cursus/landfill.

If what I'm lead to believe is right, then Thornborough's cursus will get a
significant mention in Yan Hardings book about the astronomy of
Thornborough, due out later this year. This book will I believe be endorsed
by the RAS and I think all of the calculations have been verified by
Sheffield.

For those of you that have not been to Thornborough, the western half of the
cursus has been pretty much quarried in full and then partially landfilled.
Leaving behind a cursus that is initially a 4m quarry ditch, then a 5m
landfill mound and then a 4m quarry ditcvh again.

The furthest western tip of the cursus was never quarried. The quarried bits
have been left as pretty useless strips of land, with little topsoil and
poor light conditions.

I principle, what I think we should push for is to flatten the landfill and
use the excess to fill the quarried areas. Mark out the cursus in some way
and turn it into a piece of open parkland running down to the river Ure,
with a path connecting West Tanfield to the cursus via a riverside walk. I
know the area and I think that other than actually paying for the
restoration, the landowners would be happy to have this land resored, and
afterwards they cam continue to use it as it is now - as pasture for sheep.

Personally, I'd also be open to adventurous ideas of trying to recreate the
ancient cursus on the section that has been fully quarried to make it more
interesting for visitors. I personally think that such a recreation can be
done in a way that inspires solid debate on the subject, even in common all
garden Joe Public, with the right interpretation boards it could be made
both interesting and not too dictatorial in terms of the actual recreation,
after all there are few records of what was actually there and that
information is lost forever.

I tend to think these days that cursuses where kind of symbolic spirit paths
similar to those that appear in other cultures, and that the connection with
Orion could well be astrologically based - the rising sign of the gods?

George

-----Original Message-----
From: stones-bounces at henge.org.uk [mailto:stones-bounces at henge.org.uk]On
Behalf Of Ric
Sent: 29 July 2007 21:02
To: The Stones Mailing List
Subject: RE: [Stones] Restoration short-list



--- George Chaplin <webmaster at ancienteurope.info>
wrote:

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

Stonehenge is like Thornborough, a head without a body
if abstracted from its ritual landscape context?

>
 in my
> opinion a restoration should have modern use
> otherwise it will be a dead
> duck anyway.

Avebury is a spiritual focus for divers members of the
alternative society; i honestly believe, were it fully
restored, the entire complex would 'come back to
life', in terms of ancient stones interacting with
human beings, who respect and venerate the site, not
merely goggle at it, from behind a melting ice cream?

present company excepted, of course!

;)

Ric
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