English & Irish Sacred World Heritages Sites Imperiled

Two sacred UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the British Isles are facing preservation challenges. Silbury Hill, part of the Avebury complex in England, is a huge earth mound embodying the sacred earth. It is now caving in and in danger of collapsing. The Boinne (Boyne) Valley landscape in Ireland, famous for the megalithic passage graves of Newgrange, Knowth, and Longcrew, among others, is endangered by forestry and mining.

Sacred Sites International recently received several reports on these sites. We would like to thank our European colleagues, John Palmer, Danny Sullivan,Phil David, Andy Burnhamof www.megalithic.co.uk and John Billingsley, of Northern Earth Journal, for bringing these reports to the readers of Sacred Sites Newsletter. We would like to encourage readers to write to the various officials listed at the end of these articles.

Sibury Hill Protest Reinforces the Need for English Heritage Intervention

by Andy Norfolk

Silbury Hill is a spectacular and unique ancient place. It's the tallest Neolithic monument in Europe and is about 4700 years old. It was first given legal protection in 1883 and is in the Guardianship of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and is mananged by English Heritage , but Lord Avebury owns it. Silbury Hill is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Avebury. It is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of rare plants.

photo by Andy Burnham - www.megalithic.co.uk

Silbury Hill was endangered in May of 2000 when a hole appeared in the top of the hill caused by the collapse of the covering of a shaft dug in 1776. There is now real concern over the future of this monument which is regarded by many as the sacred center, the ompalos, of the Avebury sacred landscape, and a representation of the Goddess of the land.

The shape of the hill has changed visibly as water entering via the shaft affects its structure. English Heritage have monitored the hole which has been growing in size as the sides slip in. There have now been three collapses and the hole that started off 2 meters wide has been allowed to grow to 10 meters across. Elspeth Henderson, of English Heritage Heritage has admitted, "It could be that what we have here is a sort of Swiss cheese, full of holes which cannot be seen from outside, and the danger is that the whole thing could almost implode."

English Heritage is struggling with massive underfunding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport which is causing dangerous delay in the proper care and management of Silbury Hill and many other ancient sacred sites.

It seems that it may be government policy to switch funding away from the care of ancient heritage to propping up stately homes and castles. "Power of Place", the review of policies for the historic environment carried out for the government by English Heritage, has just been published and worringly, it hardly mentions ancient archaeological sites, many of which are Pagan sacred sites. Several of the senior archaeological bodies are reported to have complained about this omission.

A peaceful protest was held on May 19, 2001, to highlight the dire state of Silbury Hill and the underfunding of the care of ancient monuments. About forty people participated and spoke at the gathering, representing many groups including the Megalith Society, Save Our Sacred Sites, the Pagan Federation, RESCUE, and the National Trust. English Heritage was prevented from sending a representative because of the upcoming genreal election. The point that funding would probably be needed from the Department of Culture or UNESCO to actually do the work once the survey was complete was quite forceably made. King Arthur Pendragon was his usual resplendant self and, along with a local Druid, spoke about guardianship for ancient sites.

According to Jill Swanton, a local archaeologist, a ground penetrating radar survey had already been done and an experimental seismic survey is planned to provide a three dimensional tomographic image of the hill to a resolution of 2 meters.

Please write to UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites, ICOMOS, and express your concern for sacred site preservation in England:

Mr. Mounir Bouchenaki, Chairman
UNESCO World Heritage Centre
7 Place de Fontenoy
75352, Paris, France

Dr. Michael Petzet, President
ICOMOS
49-51 rue de la Federation
75015 Paris, France

Unique 3D Images Will Guide English Heritage On Vital
Repairs To Prehistoric Monument

By Andy Bernham

21st century AD science is coming to the rescue of Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, built between the 28th and 20th centuries BC. English Heritage is preparing to use the latest techniques to map the interior of Western Europe's biggest and most mysterious neolithic monument.

3D images will be used to plan repairs to the hill where an 18th century mineshaft has opened up, leaving a hole on the summit. Archaeologists and scientists from English Heritage, who look after the hill, and engineers from Cementation Skanska, who are undertaking the seismic survey, started preliminary work to stabilise the hill on 8 August. The shaft has been temporarily filled with lightweight polystyrene and will be covered with a cap of chalk so that the survey, scheduled to begin on 20 August, can go ahead in safety.

The stabilising work has been designed to have minimum impact on the hill and its precious archaeology. Modern technology that would have been the envy of the ancient craftsmen has been called into play. Where they had to use wooden buckets and antler picks, Cementation Skanska can call up a lightweight winch to transport materials and a helicopter to lift the chalk to the hilltop.

English Heritage's Acting Regional Director Chris Smith said: "The survey will be a vital tool in our plan to repair Silbury Hill. It will provide a unique internal view of one of our oldest and least-understood monuments, something no-one has ever been able to attempt before. What we learn will help us secure the long-term future of the mound that our ancestors spent so much time (three million man-hours) and energy in building."

The seismic survey will allow English Heritage to look deep into the hill and plot the extent of the shaft and other tunnels and holes, dug over the last 200 years by various people, curious to discover the mound's secrets. Experts will use the survey to work out a solution to what is an old problem. Photographs from the 1920s and '30s show that the shaft has opened up at least twice before and it is thought that these collapses lie at the root of the hill's instability.

The survey technique, known as 3dT, produces three dimensional images through the ground (rather like a medical CAT scan) identifying structures and major features such as cavities and man-made excavations. The process involves the generation of seismic (sound) signals both at the surface and inside four small diameter, vertical boreholes that Cementation Skanska will drill down into the hill. The seismic data is recorded and after processing, is presented as an image on computers. The cores of the boreholes will provide valuable archaeological information on the development of Silbury Hill and the boreholes themselves will allow English Heritage to monitor the hill's stability in future.

Drilling should finish by the end of September and the results be known by late October. English Heritage will then be able to formulate a repair plan. This should ensure that Silbury Hill is secure and our understanding of it enhanced for generations to enjoy over the next few millennia.

For Health and Safety reasons the hill is closed to the public. Secure fencing has been erected and the hill is being regularly monitored.

Further details are available at:
www.english-heritage.org.uk/news-events/heritage-briefing/silbury_eh.Asp

This report is from: www.megalithic.co.uk

Sacred Site Preservation Challenges in Ireland

By Nancy & Leonard Becker

A report by Irish sacred site preservation activist, Phil David, states that sacred site preservation in Ireland is undergoing difficult times in the face of the Irish economic boom, or what is refered to as the "Celtic Tiger economy." Preservation legislation is well written but is unenforced and the Dúchas, the department responsible for site protection, are unaccountable in spite of the present wave of commercial destruction.

The Irish National Development Plan admits to fostering "unsustainable patterns of development" especially with plans to build new multi-lane roads between major cities. Dúchas, in fact, recently made a deal with the department of National Roads to simply record archaeological sites and then destroy them. Only a year ago, Dúchas policy was to preserve sites in situ as a primary goal.

An independent advisory organization, the Heritage Council, has said that Ireland¹s archaeological heritage "is now under more threat than at any other time in history." ; a third of recorded sites are already destroyed. Phil David's report states that one of the best ways to preserve ancient sacred sites is to keep them secret. Many landowners preserve prehistoric monuments by simply not reporting them. Hikers are encouraged to contact landowners to ascertain that the owners are caring for the sites, and report them, only if and when they are threatened.

Sacred landscapes are also endangered and Ireland is in violation with EU Habitats Directives because of on-going delays in designating Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). The Dúchas recently redrew the boundaries on an SAC in Doonbeg, County Clare, to accommodate a large-scale golfing development. SAC's account for only 5% of the State's land compared to 23% in Denmark.

The sacred land of the Boinne (Boyne) Valley, home of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Newgrange, is now endangered on several fronts that include the western spread of Drogedha's urban development, and forestry and mining taking place in County Meath, around Loughcrew, part of the Newgrange complex. Newgrange is considered the most important and largest complex of megalithic art in Europe with social, economic, and funerary functions. Loughcrew is part of a vast necropolis consisting of 30 mounds spread over four hills. It consists of three hills known at the Mountain of the Witch or Slibabh na Caillighe. The chambers of the Loughcrew mounds are transcepted with some slabs exhibiting a unique decorative style named after the site.

Phil David reports that one of the Loughcrew hills, Patrickstown, a large cairn surrounded by smaller satellite carins, has been densely planted with chemically treated commercial sitca spruce, a species that is extremely hostile to Ireland's ecosystem. No regard to the archaeology has been made despite the fact that photographs exist of archaeological remains unearthed by heavy equipment trenching. A Site Management proposal by Michelle Boyle of the Univsersity of Leicester recommends the immediate removal of the plantation because its continued growth and subsequent harvesting will result in further destruction of the site. David states, "I strongly support this but also feel that much can be accomplished by removing the financial incentives (EU grants) for such projects." Mining, mostly gravel for roads and concrete, is destroying the adjacent sacred geometry of the hills, thereby ruining its contextual meaning. David feels that there needs to be more incentives for traditional stonework and permaculture techniques.

Sacred Sites International recommends a Letter-Writing Campaign to alert officals of the need to curb development and stop irresponsible mining and forestry at Loughcrew and other megalithic sites in Ireland:

Mr. Mounir Bouchenaki, Chairman
UNESCO World Heritage Centre
7 Place de Fontenoy
75352, Paris, France

Dr. Michael Petzet, President
ICOMOS
49-51 rue de la Federation
75015 Paris, France

ssif / preservation / Silbury Hill