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Heritage Journal
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Three Fined for Dumping Waste at a Scheduled Ancient Monument
August 31, 2007, 5:46 pm
Three men - the landowner, one of his tenants and a local trader - have been successfully prosecuted by the Environment Agency and fined over £15,000 for dumping large amounts of construction and demolition waste on land at an ancient hillfort at Tunley Farm, Near Bath
which would have been scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The owner of the land had renovated his farm buildings to business units and had allowed rubbish to be dumped on the hillfort, a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM), which incidentally also has a record of an earlier cromlech on the land. The prosecution followed an investigation by the Environment Agency.
Speaking for the Environment Agency, Caz Lane noted: "Stephen Jones (the landowner) made no attempt to prevent waste being deposited on the site and took no action to minimise or remove waste that had been dumped. Furthermore, he took insufficient action to stop further deposits of waste being made after numerous letters and a site meeting. The tipping occurred within the hillfort site. This may have damaged the ancient site, which is by its nature irreplaceable."
Scheduled Monuments have both legal and planning protection. The monuments are not owned or managed by either the local Council or English Heritage. The responsibility of safe keeping lies with the landowner, and there are clearly defined guidelines within all the county areas as to how the historic landscape is protected.
The dumping of rubbish on Tunley Hillfort was a sad case of ignorance and laziness on the part of the offenders, and we hope that the waste will be removed and the site does not suffer permanent damage. Sadly, fly tipping and the illegal dumping of waste are difficult to police and prosecute, but our prehistoric inheritance is a precious and vulnerable resource that needs protection. The onus is on all of us as members of the public to preserve our prehistoric heritage, and to make the Police and the Environment Agency aware of any activity that threatens it.
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Mindless Vandalism at Skara Brae Neolithic Village
August 16, 2007, 11:27 am
Police in Orkney are looking for those responsible for defacing stones at the Neolithic village of Skara Brae. The culprit daubed several inane and stupid words on the stone dresser and on the stone bedposts that still exist in the houses. Fortunately he foolishly left his name as well, and as his number plate was also noted it is very doubtful that he will get away with this crime.
Mary Dunnett of Historic Scotland said:
"Someone has come in and gone into house one, which is one of the best houses in Skara Brae, they've put a marker pen on a dresser and they've also written their name, put a smiley face and the date on one of the bedposts so its quite prominent. I'd imagine it will cost a lot of money to remove this without damaging the stone too much"
A specialist team at Historic Scotland's conservation centre in Edinburgh are looking at the best method of removing the graffiti at the earliest opportunity.
The defacing of ancient monuments with mindless graffiti is a stupid and useless act, and a CID spokesman in Orkney said that they were looking for the six occupants of a Silver Hyundai Matrix, registration number LT56 CZJ. The name scrawled across the stone is Brian Finlay.
The beautiful 5000 year old stone village of Skara Brae can be found at the following link:
http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/
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Silbury repairs halted due to fears of instability
August 7, 2007, 3:10 pm
One of Britain's iconic treasures is apparently threatened by dangerous collapses. At the request of Health & Safety Directorate all work inside the Hill stopped on the afternoon of Saturday 28th July, when problems with the area above the chamber at the centre of the Hill were discovered.
Whilst in no way wishing to delay the remedial work, and noting that the safety of the people working on the project is of paramount importance, Heritage Action is concerned that decisions regarding the immediate future of the Hill will be made without the full appreciation of what exactly the Hill means to many people both within the UK and abroad. We therefore call for English Heritage to keep the public informed through its Weekly Silbury Hill Updates website as to the exact state of play of any considered response.
Heritage Action appreciates that exercising due diligence in the conservation and restoration of Silbury after this sudden setback is liable to elongate the window of inaction, and may thereby put the future of Silbury at risk. We ask, therefore, that English Heritage act quickly and openly in order to:
1.Allay public concern as to the future of the Hill.
2.Quash any scaremongering that is bound to arise in the absence of any definitive information.
Are we within our rights to be concerned? We believe so.
In 2002, responding to the completion of the 3D Tomography survey run by Skanska on behalf of English Heritage, Dr Kevin Brown, regional director of English Heritage, said:
"The results of the seismic survey are very encouraging as they have shown that the hill's structure appears stable.
"The survey has revealed, however, that a small part of a tunnel constructed near the base of the hill in 1969 has suffered a roof fall."
In November 2005, at a ticket-only meeting called by English Heritage called to promote its discuss its preferred option for the future of Silbury Hill, Professor Chandler from Imperial College, London, said the Hill was in no immediate danger. He said:
"Rabbits and badgers are doing more damage than anything else done to it over the centuries."
Heritage Action would dearly like this to be the case. We hope that a site that generates 194, 000 Google hits is worth more to an organisation that:
"...exists to protect and promote England's spectacular historic environment and ensure that its past is researched and understood."
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/
Certainly more than an 86-word statement announcing a temporary halt to the conservation works, and a subsequent account of the structural situation that raises far more grave concerns than it directly expresses. We intend to address these in detail shortly.
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