e Stonehenge area
is scant, there are continued indications of settlement in the form of
the hillfort of Vespasian's Camp, to the east of Stonehenge, and a later
Iron Age enclosed settlement immediately north of Durrington Walls (Richards
The prehistoric occupation of the Stonehenge landscape has left a palimpsest
of material traces. Throughout most of this period the region was in some
senses 'special', characterised by forms of activity which were unusual,
or internally differentiated, or which made use of elaborate material
assemblages. For this reason, it is to be anticipated that the evidence
which will be located in any archaeological intervention anywhere in this
landscape will be of particular value, and its destruction should not
be contemplated without good reason.
A brief history of the ownership and management of Stonehenge
From at least 1562 onward, Stonehenge began to be visited by tourists,
and was mentioned more and more frequently in diaries, journals and travelogues.
The site was surveyed by Inigo Jones in 1655, William Stukeley in 1723,
John Wood in 1760 and Flinders Petrie in 1877 (Bender 1998: 110-12; Chippindale
1983). Increasingly, the site became an object of intellectual attention.
But alongside this, it remained a part of a living landscape. Up until
the 17th century stones occasionally went missing to help build bridges
or houses; also in the 17th century Stonehenge was the location of an
annual fair. Nonetheless, it was eventually the status of the site as
a curiosity which became of greater importance. In 1824 the Amesbury estate,
including Stonehenge, was bought by the Antrobus family, and at this time
the draw that it exercised on the public was recognised for the first
time by the appointment of the antiquary Henry Browne as guardian of the
site. This situation, of minimal supervision under the Antrobus family,
continued until 1901. In the 1890s Pitt Rivers, as inspector of Monuments
and under the 1882 Ancient Monuments Act made plans to reconstruct the
site and protect it by having a policeman constantly present. However,
the Antrobus family showed little enthusiasm for these proposals. One
of the sarsen stones had fallen in 1797, while another came down in 1900,
and it was this which finally caused the site to be enclosed (Chippindale
Throughout the Victorian period Stonehenge was a popular
location for picnics, and gatherings at public holidays. From the 1890s
onward, with the recognition of the astronomical significance of the site,
up to 3000 people would gather at midsummer morning each year to watch
the sun rise over the Heelstone. However, with the recognition that the
stones might be unstable Stonehenge was fenced, a policeman was installed,
and a 1 shilling entrance fee was charged. At this time a number of groups
opposed the enclosure, and one of them, interestingly enough, was the
National Trust. In the early 20th century, the Antrobus family attempted
to sell Stonehenge to the British government, under the threat that they
would sell it off to America. This met with no success. In 1915 the Antrobuses
finally sold the whole of the Amesbury estate to Cecil Chubb, who in 1918
gave Stonehenge to the nation (Chippindale 1983: 174). During the short
period that he owned the site, Chubb granted the Order of Druids the right
to hold ceremonies there at the solstice (Sebastian 1990). Given that
the site was still relatively unsafe, six of the stones were immediately
righted and concreted by the Office of Works, and the suggestion was made
that the Society of Antiquaries should undertake a proper archaeological
investigation. After the fall of the stone at the start of the century
William Gowland had undertaken a very small excavation, but the work done
by Colonel Hawley between 1919 and 1926 was far more extensive, resulting
in the stripping of half of the centre of the monument. Hawley worked
either with gangs of workmen, or sometimes on his own, over very long
seasons. He published a series of interim reports in the Antiquaries Journal
(Hawley 1926, etc.), but the definitive site rep