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The Modern Antiquarian Forum » Climbing on Standing Stones |
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goffik 3926 posts |
Jan 14, 2012, 00:17
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[quote="Spaceship One day I'll write my book...[/quote] Yes! Please do! :) And cheers for the clarification re access. If antigens gonna know, it's you! :D I think my info came from the Rough Guide our similar - was probably a bit general... G x
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Resonox 604 posts |
Jan 14, 2012, 08:19
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Lubin wrote: You make a good point there but I don't really think it is members of "The Ramblers" who are doing the damage. It is more likely , on Dartmoor anyway , to be locals who have just wandered on the moor for a stroll and have no idea what the Cairn is or what they are doing. Another particular thing that has happened on Dartmoor is the Kist in the centre of the Cairn Circle at Sousons being used as a fire place. Again more than likely just someone who has no idea what they are looking at and thinks it will be a good place for a barbecue. As Sweetcheat says there are countless castles/sites etc which are used(and abused) by locals as their personal picnic area...try visiting Bramber Castle remains on a Bank Holiday...there are fires, family football matches and piles of litter left at the end of the day(there are signs that late night activities also abound there...burnt foil, empty beer cans and used johnnies...oh and the seemingly obligatory proliferation of spent tea-lights) and this is all despite signage...but let an "incomer" try that behaviour...all hell is let loose. They might be ignorant of history but they are ignorant of history NIMBYs. Cairns do seem to be fair game to those who maybe don't know better...probably because some cairns are relatively new piles...it used to be common practice to start a cairn to mark places you had rested just after the war if you were a walker or even in a cycling club and others followed suit....but can you imagine the logistic nightmare trying to differentiate between a say, Bronze age and a 1940/50/60/70 cairn and put up signs to point this out . BTW the Barrow on Redstone Hill Redhill Surrey seems to get its fair share of fires lit upon it....yet there are fragments of what appear to be Bronze/Iron age style pottery risen to the surface....the local "archeological" society couldn't be less interested if they tried. I photographed these bits but left them in situ....it tasks my patience and I feel that removing them for safety would be somehow wrong...yet I feel I must do something as these bits are prone to even more damage...from the elements as well as the bonfire building brigade....any advice appreciated!
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goffik 3926 posts |
Jan 14, 2012, 12:12
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Oof! I've said before that it's my firm belief that nobody should climb the stones. Or other type of site, of course. Because although one person probably won't cause any damage, if every single visitor had that mentality, and every single visitor believed they had the right to climb the stones/whatever, as they, personally won't cause any damage, then you're looking at potentially hundreds, thousands, our even millions in some cases, of people "not causing any damage"! And you know what? Over the years, that amount of boots on rocks WILL cause damage! Just look at the steps in old castles, churches, even town halls! Some sites are so reconstructed to the point that it probably doesn't matter, but it's best not to take the risk, eh? I know it'll upset some, but I think it's a selfish act. Nothing personal - I'm referring to EVERYONE who thinks it's ok. S'obvious, really. Just my opinion, of course. G x
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tjj 3606 posts |
Jan 14, 2012, 16:27
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goffik wrote: Oof! I've said before that it's my firm belief that nobody should climb the stones. Or other type of site, of course. Because although one person probably won't cause any damage, if every single visitor had that mentality, and every single visitor believed they had the right to climb the stones/whatever, as they, personally won't cause any damage, then you're looking at potentially hundreds, thousands, our even millions in some cases, of people "not causing any damage"! And you know what? Over the years, that amount of boots on rocks WILL cause damage! Just look at the steps in old castles, churches, even town halls! Some sites are so reconstructed to the point that it probably doesn't matter, but it's best not to take the risk, eh? I know it'll upset some, but I think it's a selfish act. Nothing personal - I'm referring to EVERYONE who thinks it's ok. S'obvious, really. Just my opinion, of course. G x I think you've put your finger on it, we all think we aren't doing any harm but multiply that by thousands ... definitely applies to people who insist on climbing Silbury. The same argument applies to all the things we do to damage the environment - one unessential car journey doesn't do any harm but multiplied by a million other journeys we are poisoning the atmosphere (ditto plane journeys). I personally would never climb on a stone monument and will think again before walking onto a long/round barrow - which I have done to take photographs in the past.
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juamei 2013 posts |
Jan 14, 2012, 23:21
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As a scheduled ancient monument its illegal for you to remove anything, but I wonder if taking a small shard to the local FLO may be the only way someone will listen to you. You could try contacting the county archaeologist or the EH person in charge of that region, but sadly they will probably be too busy to help.
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juamei 2013 posts |
Jan 14, 2012, 23:23
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Thanks, so they are normal bronze age barrows made unusual by their height. Good to know. :)
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Resonox 604 posts |
Jan 16, 2012, 07:13
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juamei wrote: As a scheduled ancient monument its illegal for you to remove anything, but I wonder if taking a small shard to the local FLO may be the only way someone will listen to you. You could try contacting the county archaeologist or the EH person in charge of that region, but sadly they will probably be too busy to help. Cheers...have tried another society...awaiting their reply now......
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postman 848 posts |
Edited Jan 16, 2012, 20:11
Jan 16, 2012, 17:03
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At the risk of sounding like a clueless bufoon, can I ask why exactly it is frowned upon to climb on stones, is it a respect thing, or are we seriously saying that a barely 11 stone bloke will break or wear down a several tonne capstone or standing stone, when I first saw a dolmen I couldnt help climbing on to it, I dont anymore, but not because i'm scared of knocking it off but just because ive been there done that. Ive tried a bit of restoration on an upland cairn and nearly crushed a finger in the process, are we presuming that there is an army of cairn abusers there single mindedly destroying them, in the time it takes to rearrange a cairn you could simply walk off the hill/mountain, I for one dont understand the process of cairn rearranging.
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hedgedruid 87 posts |
Jan 16, 2012, 17:10
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postman wrote: At the risk of sounding like a clueless bufoon, can I ask why exactly it is frouned upon to climb on stones, is it a respect thing, or are we seriously saying that a barely 11 stone bloke will break or wear down a several tonne capstone or standing stone, when I first saw a dolmen I couldnt help climbing on to it, I dont anymore, but not because i'm scared of knocking it off but just because ive been there done that. Ive tried a bit restoration on an upland cairn and nearly crushed a finger in the process, are we presuming that there is an army of cairn abusers there single mindedly destroying them, in the time it takes to rearrange a cairn you could simply walk off the hill/mountain, I for one dont understand the process of cairn rearranging. No its a respect thing . These are our sacred places - if you visit a church you wouldn't climb on the altar for a better view .
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thesweetcheat 6209 posts |
Jan 16, 2012, 18:47
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The cautionary tale for me would be Carwynnen Quoit, which fell down cos too many people climbed on it (I think). To make a windshelter out of an upland cairns, you probably need a gang of strapping squaddies. It would take me a month to create a wind shelter out of one, by which time I would have died (of hypothermia, hunger, thirst or being carried off and eaten by an angry yeti).
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