http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/product\/1861978804\/ref=sib_rdr_dp<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nLike Pevsner and among many others I have shared Tom\u2019s disappointment in visiting Stonehenge in the middle of the day with a thousand other tourists, and have done the same visit only once since we were no longer allowed to have picnics on the sacrificial stone. \u00a0And no one can tell me that it is not indeed a sacrificial stone, since my own time and place meant I was brought up with the romantic view of Stonehenge as described by Clive King\u2019s immortal \u2018Stig of the Dump\u2019. In it the time-misplaced caveman Stig who lives in a chalk pit, leads our adventurous hero out of his long summer holidays and back in time to witness Stonehenge one Midsummer\u2019s Eve. <\/span>The sense of time and timelessness of the stones are ingrained via the experience of childhood.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nIt is in the moonlight or early morning that the stones look at their most magical, or in the drama of a storm as portrayed by Turner. <\/span>One must go out of hours. The only way to visit Stonehenge in my view is then to keep your romantic beliefs, and in the current layout to keep your distance. One must see it without the crowds; the coaches and concessions; barbed wire and information panels \u2013 (the latter soon to be redone by English Heritage\u2019s \u2018intellectual access scheme\u2019 which apparently involves rewriting all information so that it can be understood by someone with the reading age of ten.)<\/span><\/p>\nOne of the best views of the Stones and the settings is from the footpaths behind Countess Farm, on the Amesbury roundabout. <\/span>Walking up behind the Kings Barrows and looking out along the Avenue you get the sense of scale and grandeur which makes the whole plain feel like a cathedral nave with the stone circle as the trancept. <\/span>One of the fairly recent proposals was to have the visitor centre at Countess Farm, with pedestrian access to the stones from there. <\/span>This would be a brilliant way of regaining the atmosphere of the place, with the half mile walk allowing the time and space to feel the sense of place. <\/span>The cars and coaches would be out of the view too. <\/span>We would then just need to get rid of the barbed wire.<\/span><\/p>\n At the poet and philosopher John Michell\u2019s memorial service last month was read this poem:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nHow Lord Montagu Gave Stonehenge to the Freemasons<\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nBy John Michell, Midsummer 1988<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nWHEN philanthropic Mr Chubb gave Stonehenge to the Nation <\/span><\/p>\n (He\u2019d bought it just before he made this generous donation) <\/span><\/p>\nHe laid down two conditions: public access as of right<\/span><\/p>\nAnd nothing to be built nearby to mar the sacred site.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nThe answer to these clauses form the government Trustees<\/span><\/p>\nWas \u2018Bother Mr Chubb, we\u2019ll do exactly as we please.<\/span><\/p>\nA few more buildings round Stonehenge aren\u2019t really going to spoil it,<\/span><\/p>\nBeginning with a carpark and a gents\u2019 and ladies\u2019 toilet.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nThe Commissioners of Works who were the first administrators<\/span><\/p>\nWere succeeded by another bureaucratic apparatus<\/span><\/p>\nEntitled \u2018English Heritage\u2019, and what these people do<\/span><\/p>\nIs bugger up historic sites; their head\u2019s Lord Montagu.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nThey made a fence of steel and wire which everyone bemoans<\/span><\/p>\nAnd dug a concrete tunnel from the carpark to the stones.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one is permitted now to walk inside the ring<\/span><\/p>\nYou\u2019re kept behind some ropes so you can hardly see a thing.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nThere used to be a festival to greet the summer sun<\/span><\/p>\nAnd people would assemble there as they had always done.<\/span><\/p>\nIn 1985 we saw the end of that tradition<\/span><\/p>\nLord Montagu decided on its total abolition.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nBut ever since he ordered that the festival should cease<\/span><\/p>\nStonehenge has been surrounded by an army of police,<\/span><\/p>\nAnd if you try to join them they get terribly excited<\/span><\/p>\nAnd tell you that it\u2019s private and you haven\u2019t been invited.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nNow, I\u2019m not the sort of person who\u2019ll impetuously hasten<\/span><\/p>\nTo spread the word that every single policeman\u2019s a Freemason,<\/span><\/p>\nBut many of them are you know, and here\u2019s the subtle dodge;<\/span><\/p>\nStonehenge has now been proved to be an old Masonic Lodge.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nThe person who revealed this \u2013 and he certainly should know-<\/span><\/p>\nIs Mr Russell Herner of the Grand Lodge, Ohio.<\/span><\/p>\nHis book about Stonehenge says it was built for all eternity<\/span><\/p>\nTo house the Master Mason and the rest of his fraternity.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nSo when upon the longest day, St John the Baptist\u2019s Feast,<\/span><\/p>\nYou see a group around Stonehenge who gaze towards the East,<\/span><\/p>\nThey\u2019re not just simple coppers spoiling other people\u2019s fun,<\/span><\/p>\nThey\u2019re members of the brotherhood out worshipping the sun.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nPerhaps there was a senior officer at the memorial, for we learn this week that all pagan police officers are to be given time off to celebrate the Summer Solstice. And all witches in the force are to be given Halloween for religious parity. <\/span>Who will police the solstice then?<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 The paperback version of Rosemary Hill\u2019s Stonehenge has just come out. In this witty and erudite volume she unpicks the various theories of the purpose of the stones and shows how they \u201csay more about the theorists and their time than the place itself\u201d. http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/product\/1861978804\/ref=sib_rdr_dp Like Pevsner and among many others I have shared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12,15,16,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gardenvisit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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