What is wrong with the Stonehenge road scheme?
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- The third and final video in which historian Tom Holland interviews Professor Mike Parker Pearson about the problem with the road scheme through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, its likely impact on archaeology and our future understanding of the unique landscape. Numerous archaeologists, including many in ICOMOS who advise UNESCO, are against the A303 road proposals as well. The Stonehenge road scheme is being challenged in the Court of Appeal. Please donate to the legal challenge crowd funder if you can here: www.crowdjusti... Thank you.
I would like to see no main roads in that landscape. For once, let us prioritise our history over the need for haste. Once gone, this landscape can ever be returned.
I am 77 years old and I remember protesting there in my youth against road building at Stonehenge. I am appalled that this is still going on.When will people see sense!!
@@SueWalker-go5ff
Never.
@@SueWalker-go5ff Good job you weren't around several thousand years ago or you would have protested about the removal of trees to build Stonehenge no doubt!
@@SueWalker-go5ff The then Ministry of Works informed me the A303 would be laid further away from Stonehenge. So far that has not happened.
@@jonathanlake6053just tell the tossers in charge plant trees along /beside the road in a few years stone henge will be needed for concrete to build all these houses that we are going to need😊😊😊😊
Upon visiting Stonehenge a few years back I did notice how you don't get to see the stones until you've been corraled past the payment kiosk, even the approach road and car park are carefully out of line-of-sight.
This "hiding the A303 in a tunnel" scheme all seems engineered so that anyone who wants to catch a glimpse of Stonehenge has to pay through the nose with those sky high entrance fees. We can't have people enjoying it for free from the public road now can we!
There's a free public footpath that runs next to the stones they don't tell you about - Makes a really nice walk in the summer if you're in to that sort of thing.
I remember when you could just walk up to the stones for free. Sit there all day if you wanted to. This was before the local idiot who calls himself a 'druid' decided he was someone important.
You can park a few miles away and use one of the many footpaths to get a very good view of the stones.
The orange paint brigade got in for free, how come the rest of us have to ?
@@Andy0Brown Indeed - and the visitor centre hardly hides this fact. If you walk from the visitor centre (rather than taking the bus) one of the several options takes you to the north so that you can enact the probable procession route of rituals. All that is on public foot paths.
These conversations have been taking place since the 60s. Wow, we make decisions quickly in the UK. No wonder are MPs never get anything done.
Just think of all the pollution that thousands of vehicles pump out while caught in the bottle neck around there, then think of the benefits from not having all that pollution to the environment especially if as he says to archeology in “5000 years time”!
Mike mentioned that he thought the tunnel as currently intended is too short. That is, it's the maximum length for a road tunnel without ventilation, which it would need if longer. This is standard spec for road tunnels and I assume based on expectation of build up of fumes from the traffic going through. So, its essentially a cost issue as the ventilation would add cost to install and run and a linger tunnel would cost more. This seems to lack consideration of the purpose of the tunnel. Govt has simply proposed an off the shelf spec rather than be part of the wider development of the site. Turning it into a national park that people could freely walk around would be nice
Ventilation - nothing that a bit of engineering couldn't solve. There's a 7.2 mile car tunnel that goes right under Mont Blanc in the Alpes - they must have sorted out the ventilation.
The long tunnel option looked preferable to me, especially due to its depth, but I lack appreciation of the archaeology. Is that option backed by the alliance or is the position a complete rejection of the undergrounding of the road?
We support UNESCO's stance to place the WHS on the List of World Heritage in Danger because of the damage it would cause. They also ask for a road scheme outside the WHS boundary. We supported a deep tunnel across the whole of the World Heritage Site if that was what Government insisted on. Since then urgent action to tackle climate change, and the black hole in the budget has caused us to ask government to pilot alternatives first such as traffic management etc. These would be cheaper and respect the WHS. Take a look at our briefing: stonehengealliance.org.uk/alternatives-dismissed-sidelined-or-ignored/
Ecologically, it is murderous to put in any tunnel. The combination of historical loss and living loss is unforgivable
@@hd2168I can understand the risk to the archaeology, but tunnels are an environmental measure.
Look at the habitat creation at the Devil’s Punchbowl. Or the Boston Big Dig, or the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement.
Then there are projects in the Low Countries that aim to restore rivers by undergrounding roads.
@EpsilonIndi-zp2zk the tunnel entrances are enormous, one end is planned to go through the breeding ground of the stone curlew, a protected species 🤦♀️ that's just one of the species at risk
@@EpsilonIndi-zp2zk Tunnel construction during the climate emergency is an environmentally destructive measure. It is very energy intensive and will not be powered by renewable energy.
The road which is one of the major routes to the West Country is already there and has been there for hundreds of years. It already goes right through the World Heritage site. Anyone who has to travel along it or lives in the villages along it such as Winterbourne Stoke can see that a tunnel is essential if only to stop the traffic from continuing to go through the heritage site. Furthermore, they have been farming on the land for hundreds of years too so impact on archaelogy is hardly a new thing. This tunnel needs to be built for people who live here today and will be living here tomorrow, not for the possible benefit of people who may have left shards of pottery 5000 years ago.
Evidently you don't realise what cultural heritage really means, for people like you who want a new tarmac for their racing car you'll be 4 min. earlier in Taunton.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the tunnel to be built deep under the archaeology without disturbing the surface so that it can be studied in the future where appropriate? Isn’t that why it’s costing so much?
No ancient man ever went down 50 feet into solid chalk.. so nothing to disturb
Most of the tunnel will indeed be deep beneath the WHS. Mike was talking specifically about the 'entrance portals' at both ends of the bored tunnel, where it re-emerges from the depths. Together, these will require excavation of long stretches of the WHS. That's why he said he did not agree with the 'short tunnel' scheme, as the way it's proposed means that both portals will be within the WHS. Making a longer tunnel would possibly bring MPP and lots of others on board with the project, but that would be even more expensive so there's almost no chance of that.
@@T11639 Whislt we desecrate acres of ancient and historic land putting in solar farms. There is an imbalance in all these arguments. Relieving road chaos is "bad" changing landscapes "supposedly good"
@seewhatifouActually there is ine well or whatever that is pretty deep.
@@seewhatifoundWrong. Solar farms do not desecrate the land. They lie lightly in the land and the ground beneath them xan still be used for agricultural purposes or even simulated woodland edge wildlife conservation. If yhey are removed tha land can be returned to its original use. It is qujte differebt from building a factory or even a housing estate
The tunnel sounds a good idea - but is just too expensive; we need the money spent on more important things. Just widen the road, and get archeologists involved with the digging of it.
Or get the level of car ownership back to 1950/early 60s levels when Stonehenge didn’t need a car park.
That completely destroys the archaeology. Archaeological techniques are constantly improving so any road widening is both against the idea of a unified archaeological landscape and destroys stuff that will be very useful in future
So what happened at the hearing? New Government - new thinking?
AT TYWFORDOWN they didn't want a tunnel because of a site of special interset ?
they protested and protested .
IN THE END A CUTTING WAS PUT ALL ACROSS IT.
Something has to happen TUNNEL OR ROAD CUTTING.
Oh my goodness £28 per person to see a few fake rocks or stones lol, wow I drive past it a lot and I still cannot get my head around the people paying that just to walk around and staring at nothing. I pray for these sad people hoping for them to one day wake up.
Why are you here
@@reekiereekie7264 I’m here to tell the truth, what madman would pay £28 just to look at a few fake stones or rocks. Wake up and smell the coffee because not only that your being fooled but your also being conned. My goodness people are so easily led.
I have family roots that come from shrewton and story has it back in the day nobody really battered an eyelid at the henge.. a local guy who owned the land it's on donated it to english heritage on the condition they would never change admittance fees and here we are paying a fortune now that he's long passed... I have also seen pictures of stonehenge without any stones and a friend of mine tells me it's fake and was built as a money machine tourist attraction 🤔 what do you know as you seem to know things?? Please share your knowledge 😊
@@paulgreen3361 Ah, Paul, if only you were around a hundred years ago when Chubb bought the site for 6 grand. You could have persuaded him to bulldoze the pile-o-fake stones to expand the nearby aerodrome.
@@adamprice9214 you will be shocked with the lies that we’ve all been taught, ALL the dinosaurs in the museums all over the world are fake and most of them were made in China, their excuse is that the real dinosaurs are locked away for protection. I do not believe dinosaurs are real!
I truly believe in the flat earth and not the fake globe earth, Brian Cox once said on his Twitter account that he knows the earth is flat but gets paid one million dollars a year from NASA to lie about the shape of the earth. The Gleason’s map was always used world wide until the Freemasons NASA created the fake globe earth, the Gleason’s map shows the North Pole at the centre and the Antarctic Circle circles the whole earth. Also in the 1950’s many Governments around the world singed the Artic Treaty stopping anyone going to the Artic Circle, you can only go there to curtain places but you cannot go there without permission, It’s because they don’t want you to see the truth. The globe earth was created to hide the creator (God), ever since I’ve seen the truth about the shape of the Earth it’s turned me back to having faith again. Look up bubbles in space, the international space station is filmed under water and two astronauts nearly drowned. Also look up “Conspiracy Music Guru” on UA-cam and listen to his amazing songs, his songs are about famous people who were not the sex you thought they were, and his songs are mainly about fake NASA and Dinosaurs. Look him up and come back and tell me what you think of his great songs.
Chaos every weekend and during weekdays now. The henge was reconstructed in the late 1960's. Yes the area is full of history burying the road won't affect that or was a road always there in the first place since ancient times. One road has already been closed at the cost to local residents who suffer from rat runs all the time. This idea to hide the tunnel will open views across all the ancient area without the distraction of streams of traffic every day.
Amusing if digging out the road they find another henge even bigger and older and of inexplicably exotic materials! Anyway they will find more stuff for sure and leave massive road works for future discovery by a later civilisation or the one after that!
It the masterbuilder craze - gone wrong!
Another reason to switch from internal combustion engine vehicles to connected electric cars. They offer a much better driving experience and are much less harmful to other people and the environment.
The environment of Stonehenge is wrecked anyway; vehicles park all along a byway, ruining the views, cars drag past on the A303, their occupants gawping, people swarm to the place in the hundreds; and the visitor centre is just a typical commercial building like any other. If ever the place was sacred, it isn't now, whether a tunnel is built or not
Clearly you have never been to the visitor centre. The other things you mention are pretty superficial and easily remedies.
Why do they need a Huge expensive Tunnel...Answer they dont ...Its all about Money and Prestige...
End car culture.
👶🍼
It's good that it's been axed
Its all about the money.....
The tunnel is a project from the mid 90s, now cancelled much to the average persons annoyance, but talks about the fact the road reached capacity many years before that.
So now many of us will continue to get stuck in the bottleneck so archeologists can continue to be wrong about what it is or was used for...joy.
At this rate the cheapest route will be right through it using the stones as hardcore.
Stonehenge area bypass.
Not possible according to size of area and existing infrastructure
Nowhere to put it without huge disadvantages and upsetting a lot of people.
I find it sad that some of the locals want the tunnel built in favour of preserving a precious part of history. I know traffic congestion is a problem but surely there can be another win/win solution?
No. The Stonehenge landscape should be an undivided whole. No roads, especially trunk roads
A beard of archaeologists, lol
Stonehenge is . . .
(1) really not so special. I mean there are a lot more henges around. All over the place and more than people think. Many overseas visitors are surprised by how small it is. It is really not that ancient. Don't try to impress an Egyptian with it.
(2) really not in the right place. Transplantation would come cheaper than the contending road schemes. I would not be against auctioning it off. But how about one of the London parks as its new venue? I would go for Greenwich, near the Royal Observatory.
The majority of locals want this tunnel built so get it built
They can have it in their back gardens then. The Stonehenge sight which has been around for thousands of years and yet they think it's fine to destroy it.
@@martinputt6421 The site is already destroyed by the existing road.
Ok bot 🙄
@davelee4885 Millions across the entire world won't agree with you. Do try and look further than that pint at the local pub.
Just make it a bit longer
Poor old Stonehenge, the least primal/mystical of our monuments. Completely abused by Science & Government
Yes, the milk cow of Wiltshire.
send them through Salisbury but keep the road there for trippers? NO TUNNEL please
Salisbury gridlocks already, not a chance. Tunnel hides the road and opens views of the ancient landscape (but only from Stonehenge ) where English Heritage will relieve you of £20 or thereabouts to see across the whole area
One may park up, and walk around the (Stonehenge) plain for free, and see the stones in their context. The tunnel will further give a greater view of context that we won't have seen for many hundreds of years. Maybe our ancestors shouldn't have put a pile of stones next to a main road... 😉