Facts about Stonehenge

_Elsa_

‘Stonehenge once was put up for auction - Starting in the Middle Ages and for centuries afterward, Stonehenge was privately owned. By the late 1800s, crowds of visitors had taken a toll on the site. Sir Edmund Antrobus, owner of the land on which Stonehenge is situated, resisted calls from preservationists to sell the property to the British government. In the early 1900s, Antrobus’s son put up a fence around the prehistoric monument and for the first time in its history visitors were charged an admission fee. Meanwhile, the British military began establishing training facilities in the surrounding area, resulting in an influx of soldiers, equipment and, eventually, aircraft, some of which crashed near the site. However, the passage of the Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act in 1913 protected Stonehenge from being intentionally demolished. In 1915, after the Antrobus family heir was killed during World War I, Stonehenge went up on the auction block, where local resident Cecil Chubb successfully bid on the site, on a whim, for £6,600. Three years later, Chubb donated Stonehenge to the national government. In recognition of this deed, he was knighted by Prime Minister Lloyd George.

Summer solstice gatherings were banned at Stonehenge - First held in 1974 during the summer solstice, the Stonehenge Free Festival started as a counter-culture gathering that grew significantly in size over time. After tens of thousands of people showed up for the 1984 festival, authorities, concerned about such issues as open drug use, banned the event for the following year. Nevertheless, on June 1, 1985, a long convoy of vehicles filled with would-be festival goers (who were part of a movement called the New Age Travellers) made its way toward Stonehenge.

About seven miles from the ancient site, police stopped the convoy. Accounts of what happened next vary: Law enforcement officers claimed they were attacked by people in the vehicles, while those in the convoy said the police dragged various individuals, unprovoked, from their vehicles and beat them. The Travellers fled to a nearby beanfield, where they were surrounded by police, and more violence ensued. Two dozen people were hospitalized, and numerous arrests were made. In the aftermath of the so-called Battle of the Beanfield, summer solstice gatherings at Stonehenge were prohibited until 2000.

Darwin studied worms there - In 1877, naturalist Charles Darwin traveled to Stonehenge to conduct research on a subject that had long fascinated him: earthworms. During his visit, Darwin, who was interested in the impact that worms had on objects in the soil over time, observed how a fallen stone at the ancient monument had sunk deeper into the ground as a result of the activities of the lowly creatures, who continually churn through the soil. Darwin’s research was included in what would be his final book, “The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms,” published in 1881.’ (Source)

Let’s continue – Jean-Luc learns more about the stones

Start at the beginning – Jean-Luc time travels to the Stonehenge