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Trethevy Quoit in danger
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Re: Trethevy Quoit in danger
Mar 02, 2013, 19:44
VBB wrote:
nigelswift wrote:
I must say,it's hard to think there isn't a danger of the capstone sliding off when you see this picture from 11 years ago http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/11/trethevy_quoit.html#images
(the last one in the last line but one, posted by phil).
I can only presume the EH engineers have calculated that friction will keep it in place.

So far as the other movement is concerned, have you been able to replicate any of the early pictures on TMA in order to show a change?


A word of caution - a desk based assessment of historic images by people that actually knew the Avebury stones very well suggested the Cove stones might fall, but when they spent a packet on engineering kit and scaffolding and excavated below, the stone giving rise to concern was found to be roughly 7x4.5x1.5m with 3m of it under the ground and estimated at 100 tonnes - one of the largest in Britain and it wasn’t likely going anywhere…


I don't know if that is strictly true VBB as leaning massively heavy stones do continue to move albeit very slowly. If it wasn't going to then that further suggests it was always like that...which it wasn't was it?

Anyway, that apart, we could have got a couple of spades out and dug down the side of one of the ends without putting the stone at risk at all of falling and told them how deep it was. We could have made a few bob out of that while saving them a few grand as well :-)
Mind you it would have taken us an age with the RL just over the road!!
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