STONEHENGE — THE DRIVE FOR A TUNNEL
Blog #2 Tuesday 17 October 2023
Campaigners won a High Court battle in 2021 to stop the controversial A303 road project. However, Transport Secretary Mark Harper has granted a Development Consent Order (DCO) to construct a tunnel
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1852 British Romantic Painter
This is about Stonehenge the ancient monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, which has been Inscribed by UNESCO the World Heritage Convention in 1986 as Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites. @ If you want to know about it there are hundreds of internet sites which will give detailed maps, plans and descriptions of the stones with much better information than I can. To say what it is not, is quite easy. It was not built by Merlin for Arthur II, the Uther Pendragon of the British Isles in the 6th century AD. Uther or Uthyr Pendragon is not a name it is a title and it means the great leader and head (pen) of the dragon. It’s equivalent to an emperor with vassel kings. This is affirmed in the works of Alan Wilson and Baram Blackett, historians. It was built much, much earlier than the 6th century, and is estimated to be around 6,000 years old.
Who built it and why? Some researchers seem to suggest it could have been built by semi-naked primitive savages, which makes me wonder, did they do astrology, geometry and maths as well? In which case, they were not primitive.
The best explanation I have read of its likely purpose is by Knight and Lomas in their work, Uriel’s Machine. In this book they declare : “…that important megalithic sites of the British Isles, nearly 1000 years older than the Great Pyramid in Egypt, were painstakingly engineered to measure the long term movements of the planet Venus and provide the people who built them with a time-keeping system accurate to a few seconds over a forty year period.”https://www.knight-lomas.com/index2.html
To return to the immediate reason for this blog: Stonehenge is being threatened by a road tunnel which is planned to replace a section of the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down road which is as close as 200 meters away from the megalith on its south-eastern side. The tunnels’ excuse, er reason, is to relieve congestion on this road and to hide the traffic which, presently, is very busy and noisy. The tunnel planners [cite government document] inform us that the site will be a) quieter b) prettier, i.e. no road in view from the stones, and c) faster. (My paraphrase) Their claim to be able to restore the site to its original appearance is just not possible, and the flat computer generated rendering of the finished look, is dismaying. It looks as if aircraft could land and take off on it. That is not what it must have looked like originally! The last bit of reasoning intended to make the Stonehenge road users jump for joy is at the thought of getting past the blockage in a faster time. The trouble with this reasoning is that many of the commuters to the west country use that road so that they can get a glimpse of the wonderful megalith as they go past without having to pay English Heritage (the proprietors of the site) to go in and patronise its visitor centre. And, at certain times of the year, visitors can freely wander around the site as it is now ‘protected’ from foot traffic because of its global importance. For those who question whether we are really spinning at a crazy speed on a “globe”, perhaps a rephrase is appropriate — earth-embracing import? Other ancient remains are there, such as Avebury Stone Circle, Winterbourne Stoke Barrows, Durringhton Wells, and discoveries of the extent and variety of ancient remains are continually being uncovered.
https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/
Who can say what is under the original very old track that has been utilised over centuries for the convenience of travellers. Drawn, no doubt, by the spectacular and giant stones. As with much of our road system, ancient tracks have been utilised as convenient modern roadways. They already connect places and often use the best terrain. Examples are many and studied in the book, the Old Straight Track, authored by Alfred Watkins in 1925. @ https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/alfred-watkins/the-old-straight-track/9780349137070/ still available in print.
Let’s Get Back on Track, or, Back to the Tunnel
There is some misgiving about building a road tunnel and dualing the road so close to this ancient monument. Admittedly it is not in ‘as new’ condition though, considering its age, it’s not bad. It has been somewhat restored and is, amazingly, still correctly aligned and the stones where they should be. My inspiration for concentrating on the tunnel is, firstly, the Stonehenge Alliance [reference website] currently raising funds for its third legal representation to stop this dubious ‘improvement’ to the A303 road. It won the first two but, contrary to what most people might think, winning your legal case does not mean you’ve won outright or for the rest of time. Oh, no. Justice does not work like that, except for petty criminals who can end up locked away for life. Since the UK Government has decided it wants a tunnel, a tunnel it will have by hook or by crook. (This has nothing to do with bent people, it simply refers back to the habit of collecting firewood from someone else’s woodland by pulling at dead branches and fallen trees with a billhook or shepherds crook. Whatever came away easily was yours.) In the 21st century version this means if you have the money you can get what you want, by hook or by crook.
But, why do they want a tunnel so badly? Is it not expensive? Would it not be just as cost effective to move the road, use traffic calming measures, speed limits, diversions? Either way, people driving to the west country (Taunton and beyond) via the A303 would not (by zooming under a tunnel) be able to anticipate a view of Stonehenge quite close up and, for free. No, it would perhaps be a mere speck on the horizon or, even, not apparent at all. So, would they really appreciate a tunnel which robs them of one of the most unique views in Britain.
Is it perhaps planned more cunningly, as Baldrick would say to Blackadder (sorry, to people who may have missed it, this was a popular British comedy in the 1980s) and featured many comic innuendoes. Tony Robinson was one of the actors who played Baldrick and, ironically if you like, is now a well-known presenter of archaeology programmes!
So, IS a tunnel just a cunning plan to thwart travellers who may look forward to seeing these “hanging stones” (not sure what this means, maybe cantilevered in the air, or for punishing felons?) on the present A303 (interesting numerology) as they crawl slowly past in a dignified procession. Are they really bothered about Stonehenge at all or simply trying to get from A to B as quickly and recklessly as possible? The Government seems to think the latter. (There are alternative faster routes BTW!) If most car racers are indifferent to cultural experiences (I’m not saying they are), then surely moving the road bodily somewhere else might be just as sensible a solution, and even cheaper? (Tunnels are not cheap!)
Will the luckless cultured commuter, therefore, catch a flying glimpse as they zoom into the tunnel, and just before he or she loses sight of it forever as it sinks slowly beneath the vibrations caused by more traffic hurtling underneath its south-eastern border.
Any acoustic engineers out there will probably want to disagree here, but it seems that the further down one goes under the ground, the lower the sound gets. And the lower the sound frequency the more powerful is the vibration. Therefore lowering the road under a tunnel is only going to lower the frequency of the sound vibration. Just a thought.
So, in theory (to labour the point, and why not), instead of crawling past and admiring the view, drivers would enter the tunnel at high speed, so that they can reach their destination quickly. This is based on the premise that travel is for the object of getting from A to B and enjoyment on the way is not part of it. Unless one enjoys driving very fast and seeing the scenery in a blur. On the other hand, crawling along at 30 miles an hour for all of 2–3 miles, is tedious unless the scenery is wonderful or in-vehicle television is available (or some such diversion). Given that a tunnel will nullify the pleasure of seeing this rare and universally significant ancient relic, many commuters may well switch to a different route entirely. So much for the £2.5 billion or more budget which, as usual, will probably be quite an underestimate of the final cost. The possibility that the ambitious scheme will become a proverbial ‘white elephant’ (meaning a costly mistake) in more ways than one should give our glorious unelected Government pause. Our leaders are unelected, at any rate BTW. They just seem to have slid into office, somehow.
The whole site of this thunderous road scheme is full of ancient earthworks, archaeological treasures, mysterious pits and ponds, relics and more — because it is so large it has not been fully explored yet. It is of universal and world-wide significance and many years of painstaking examination will be needed to fully explore all it hides. So pulverising some of it, using a TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) is a great idea, no? NO!
Take a look at what they do, here Meet our giant Tunnel Boring Machines — HS2
We will use TBMs to excavate tunnels through a variety of soil and rock in dense urban areas and to reduce…www.hs2.org.uk
courtesy of HS2 our planned and eagerly awaited new rail network which, when it is finally complete, will be a boon to desperate commuters, who, hopefully will be able to afford the train tickets. I like trains, really I do, and vividly remember taking a trip on a double-decker one in the south of France. HS2 has to live up to that for me.
Yes, take a look (there’s some interesting videos on TBM sites) at what these machines can do. Its impressive/frightening take your pick. At its lowest depth the proposed tunnel past Stonehenge may reach 40 meters deep. At 10 meters plus depth there are unexplored and endless remains of various kinds (bones, pot sherds, inscribed stones, other hidden sites) still waiting to be examined for what they can tell us about our past. The machines are slow, inexorable, and efficient. The pulverising process leaves nothing but dust and toxic slurry behind.
Oh, and the vibration of the road traffic is as nothing compared to the vibration of the machine which, see this explanation https://www.techniconacoustics.com/blog/high-vs-low-frequency-noise-whats-the-difference/ is felt rather than heard by human beings. Have our UK Government factored this in, I wonder? However that may be, Joshua knew about vibration and it’s efficiency as he demolished Jericho. @ Joshua 6:1–27
And any excuse is a good one to listen to Mahalia Jackson singing, “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho”, see references :
In the equation priceless ancient monument versus modern motor travel (and I know that’s not an equation strictly speaking!) I would always vote for the irreplaceable remnant of our world history against the modern contingency plans, hands down. However, if, by any remote chance there is a more sinister reason for wishing to destroy part of this site, then destruction will go ahead. And make no mistake, this is a recipe for disaster. The reason I say this is because no alternatives have been seriously considered and alternatives there are: …………..
Our travel system is old and is being updated to make it more fitted to modern times and it is not an easy task. It seems that plans are made at least 5 years in advance so that demand can be predicted. Predicting demand is a part of the procedure. Crystal balls may help. Seriously, our present people-moving and goods-moving systems seem to be approaching their limits. Even SMART roads are only the same old carriage ways with some electronic detection systems alerting traffic control systems a few miles ahead. Is this really progress?
This may help to explain why driverless cars are now being considered and worked towards. Initially geared(!) towards none-drivers because anyone who gets pleasure from driving is not going to want a robot to do it for them. And there I was thinking driving was a means to an end — getting from A to B. In this scenario, of the hands free motor, all sorts of in-car entertainment would be possible and the scenery might not be much of a factor to the “motorist”. On the other hand, all-round viewing might be advantageous. How would tedious and boring, smooth, artificially lit, tunnels fit in?
For the connoisseur of tunnels and their ramifications this blog on a website called About the Sky by Sofia Smallstorm. @ is the best. Briefly, it is the fascinating tale of a road through a park called The Cumberland Gap, over in America. This road involves a most fascinating tunnel constructed by military contractors, with mysterious deep caves, and vanishing nuclear reactors. Of course, our small British tunnel couldn’t possibly compare! This piece has given me a lot of inspiration. Sometimes there are more to tunnels than appears on the surface.
UPDATE
HS2 the high speed rail system has been cancelled by Rishi Sunak’s government so, this means a TBM machine (tunnel boring machine) is going spare. Perhaps this is another explanation for the proposed Stonehenge Tunnel? Just an “uffish thought.”
These are the uffish thoughts of The Questing Beast and do not reflect any others’ opinion but my own. Any information herein should be checked independently.
Much more information on this matter can be found at:
https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/
REFERENCES & FURTHER READING:
https://nationalhighways.co.uk/media/zqebmyqw/delivery-plan-2023-24.pdf
https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/
Pp. 250–252, Knight, Christopher and Lomas, Robert, URIEL’S MACHINE, 1999, Century Books Limited, London
Charles, R. H., The Book of Enoch, 1912, Oxford University Press, ibid p.250
Latest discovery on Salisbury Plain — c.f. Prof Mike Parker Pearson, UCL, Professor of later Prehistory
Vincent Gaffney of the University of Bradford, co-principal investigator of the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project,
4,500 years ago some vast shafts were built on Salisbury Plain near Amesbury. 5 meters deep, up to 20 meters across, in a circle 1.2 miles dia.
Derek Parody, Highways England project director for the A303 Stonehenge scheme
Cost — £2.6 billion in 2020 from a Guardian newspaper article of 2020
A sketch of Stonehenge is found in the Scala Mundi manuscript of AD 1440 featured by Professor Sarah Peverley: https://sarahpeverley.com/tag/scala-mundi/
Stonehenge and Avebury were inscribed together on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1986.
https://www.stonehengeandaveburywhs.org/
https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-west/a303-stonehenge/
“20th century[edit]
”The A303 near Stonehenge c.1930. Sign reads “Fork left for Exeter”. The houses and AA phone box have since been demolished. The road to the right was the A344…..
The A303 was created on 1 April 1933 as the “Alternative London — Exeter route” after the Ministry of Transport realised the New Direct Road was still useful as a major road for motor traffic. The route created a long bypass for sections of the A30 that ran south of it.[c][20][22]
In 1958, the Ministry of Transport upgraded the A303 to trunk road status. It believed it was easier to upgrade than the parallel A30 as it passed through fewer towns.[23][ …] Andover and Amesbury were bypassed in 1969,[25][26] while general improvements to the road, including additional dualling, took place throughout the 1970s.[27]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A303_road
“Strictly speaking, the A30 is the road from London to the South West, running from Hounslow in West London to Land’s End. In the early 1930s, it was already struggling to handle the holiday traffic every summer, so in 1934 a collection of back roads and B-roads running slightly to the north were reclassified as a new main road, the A303, to provide an alternative. The choice of route wasn’t as arbitrary as it sounds — it was actually the route of a centuries-old coaching route to the South West called the New Direct Road.”
https://www.roads.org.uk/motorway/a303
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/373/
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) © UNESCO
“The presence of busy main roads going through the World Heritage property impacts adversely on its integrity. The roads sever the relationship between Stonehenge and its surrounding monuments, notably the A344 which separates the Stone Circle from the Avenue. At Avebury, roads cut through some key monuments including the Henge and the West Kennet Avenue. The A4 separates the Sanctuary from its barrow group at Overton Hill. Roads and vehicles also cause damage to the fabric of some monuments while traffic noise and visual intrusion have a negative impact on their settings. The incremental impact of highway-related clutter needs to be carefully managed.”
“The A303 continues to have a negative impact on the setting of Stonehenge, the integrity of the property and visitor access to some parts of the wider landscape. A long-term solution remains to be found.” 2013
“2022, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 45th session, with a view to considering the inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger if the A303 route upgrade scheme is not modified to deliver the best available outcome for the OUV of the property.”
- Reiterates its concern that, as previously advised by the Committee [i.e. The World Heritage Committee] and identified in the 2018 mission report, the part of the A303 improvement scheme within the property retains substantial exposed dual carriageway sections, particularly those at the western end of the property, which would impact adversely the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, especially affecting its integrity;
- Notes with concern that, although consideration was given to extending the bored tunnel and to greater covering of the cutting, as requested by the Committee, it was determined by the State Party that the additional benefits of a longer tunnel would not justify the additional costs;
- Reiterates its previous request that the State Party should not proceed with the A303 route upgrade for the section between Amesbury and Berwick Down in its current form, and considers that the scheme should be modified to deliver the best available outcome for the OUV of the property;
- Notes furthermore the State Party’s commitment to ongoing engagement with the Committee, the World Heritage Centre, and ICOMOS, but also considers that it is unclear what might be achieved by further engagement unless and until the design is fundamentally amended;”
This appears to approve a tunnel, if it is longer!!” From UNESCO
Shooting themselves in the foot — is the grass roots response here.
TBM = Tunnel Boring Machine, have a look here:
https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/tunnels/meet-our-giant-tunnel-boring-machines/
Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho, sung by Mahalia Jackson here:
https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-west/a303-stonehenge/
https://lbi-archpro.org/cs/stonehenge/
https://www.aboutthesky.com/aboutthesky/images/newsletters/update_AprilMay2016.pdf
