0:00:02 > 0:00:06Mysterious, strange, impenetrable.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10Every summer on the solstice,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14Stonehenge becomes a magnet attracting thousands of revellers.
0:00:16 > 0:00:21But, after centuries of speculation and hundreds of documentaries,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24we're still no more certain of what it is.
0:00:26 > 0:00:27No-one knows who they were...
0:00:30 > 0:00:33..or what they were doing...
0:00:36 > 0:00:39..but their legacy remains,
0:00:39 > 0:00:45hewn into the living rock of Stonehenge.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54We've fought over the stones...
0:00:56 > 0:00:59Are you still here, boy?!
0:00:59 > 0:01:01..danced around them.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07We've even dug them up.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12But this year we're finally going to set them free.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Stonehenge has stood here for more than 4,000 years.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29It's unique.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32And its mystery is as enduring as the stones themselves.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40NEWSREEL: No oral traditions now survive to explain the true origin
0:01:40 > 0:01:44or purpose of this circle of giant stones on Salisbury Plain.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Perhaps this explains why Stonehenge
0:01:48 > 0:01:51has never lost its hold on our imagination.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Stonehenge, an eclipse predictor.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59Stonehenge was built to point to the sunrise.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Our ancestors built Stonehenge to make contact through ceremony.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07An important feature of every druid ritual was human sacrifice,
0:02:07 > 0:02:10and many people think that humans were once sacrificed
0:02:10 > 0:02:11on this altar stone.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17The truth is we'll never really know why they were built,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20and I'm not entirely sure I'd like to find out.
0:02:20 > 0:02:21It might ruin the magic.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29There's something we should get straight right from the beginning.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31I've never actually visited Stonehenge.
0:02:31 > 0:02:32I feel like I have - loads of times.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35I think we all do, in a sense, because it's so familiar -
0:02:35 > 0:02:37this ancient, timeless monument
0:02:37 > 0:02:40which is synonymous with British identity.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43But, now that I'm approaching it for the first time,
0:02:43 > 0:02:45I'm not actually sure what to expect.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53This part of England is an ancient, spiritual landscape
0:02:53 > 0:02:57and Stonehenge has been a place of pilgrimage across the millennia.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02It still is today.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10'You're about to explore the world-famous Stonehenge.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13'Stonehenge is a unique prehistoric temple,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15'aligned with the movements of the sun.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19'Its architecture reveals the sophisticated minds
0:03:19 > 0:03:22'and engineering ability of those who built it.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Right. Thank you.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28'On this tour, we'll not only find out about Stonehenge,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31'but also the history of the landscape around it.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34'While our visit will take you close to the stones,
0:03:34 > 0:03:36'we won't be entering the circle itself.'
0:03:38 > 0:03:40This is the entrance way
0:03:40 > 0:03:43to the nation's premier, world-famous,
0:03:43 > 0:03:45ancient, prehistoric monument.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50And you approach it through this subterranean tunnel beneath a road.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54It doesn't quite smell of urine, but it feels like it should do.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56I've been trying to think of a word to sum this up,
0:03:56 > 0:03:58and the word that I've come up with,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02which I think sums up this experience, is "wretched."
0:04:02 > 0:04:08AUDIO GUIDES IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Stonehenge gets a million visitors a year.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24A World Heritage Site, it's heavily marketed as a tourist destination
0:04:24 > 0:04:26around the world.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29But the monument is in crisis.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36'Decades of disputes and temporary measures have left their mark.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40'Chain-link fences and a distinctly unmystical A road
0:04:40 > 0:04:44'feature almost as prominently as the stones themselves.'
0:04:44 > 0:04:46There are some people who say this is a national disgrace
0:04:46 > 0:04:49and, coming here, I feel they're right.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Everything about this place -
0:04:51 > 0:04:53the shuffling approach through that stricken tunnel,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55the proximity of these main roads,
0:04:55 > 0:05:01the general tourist mayhem - it all serves to limit the majesty,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05the mystery of Stonehenge, when it should be trying to enhance it.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07I feel a bit like I'm in a zoo
0:05:07 > 0:05:11and I'm looking at this caged and weary tiger,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13sick of all these gawpers.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15It's quite a sad spectacle, really.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26But there is another side to Stonehenge.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30As the sun drops behind the stones and the tourists leave the site,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33preparations begin for the autumn equinox.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41Four times a year, the Pagan communities of Britain gather
0:05:41 > 0:05:44and, in the hours before dawn,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Stonehenge once again becomes a living temple.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55I've come to join in the celebrations
0:05:55 > 0:05:59in the hope that I can get closer to the stones
0:05:59 > 0:06:03and find out what draws all these people here.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06There's about 20 minutes to go until dawn
0:06:06 > 0:06:09and everyone seems to be massing in the circle,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11which is quite exciting. There's access.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13And there's this curious mixture
0:06:13 > 0:06:18of the modern, the mundane and the spiritual.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Oh, the ceremony's beginning.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22- Happy equinox! - ALL: Happy equinox!
0:06:22 > 0:06:25'The ceremony is led by the druids.'
0:06:25 > 0:06:29Farewell, oh sun, ever-returning light.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Farewell, oh sun, ever returning light.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36THEY CHANT
0:06:40 > 0:06:42May there be peace in the south.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45ALL: May there be peace in the south.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47May there be peace in the north.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50ALL: May there be peace in the north.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55'Rollo Maughfling is the Archdruid of Glastonbury and Stonehenge.'
0:06:55 > 0:06:59Thee, we invoke, oh, light of life.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01ALL: Thee, we invoke, oh, light of life.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06When he isn't leading ceremonies,
0:07:06 > 0:07:10he lives with his wife, Donna, just outside Swansea.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14The first time I ever went to Stonehenge,
0:07:14 > 0:07:16I'd just been made a druid
0:07:16 > 0:07:20and I was in my 20s and I had a drum with me, I seem to remember.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23And we're sitting down in the middle of Stonehenge,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26playing this drum and I suddenly noticed that the stones
0:07:26 > 0:07:30were responding and they seemed to be vibrating and shaking
0:07:30 > 0:07:34and so I upped it a little bit, gave it more welly,
0:07:34 > 0:07:39and it started to actually become pretty powerful in there and
0:07:39 > 0:07:43the stones themselves had the extraordinary appearance of moving
0:07:43 > 0:07:45in time to the music and I think
0:07:45 > 0:07:50this is where the old folklore name for Stonehenge, Giants' Dance,
0:07:50 > 0:07:51must come from.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Once the sun has risen and the ceremony is over,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04it becomes clear just how varied the crowd are.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11For a few hours, everyone is free
0:08:11 > 0:08:15to make their own connection with Stonehenge
0:08:15 > 0:08:17and, well, express themselves.
0:08:20 > 0:08:25We live in an age which tends to try and suggest that anything
0:08:25 > 0:08:30that isn't tied down into some type of scientific explanation
0:08:30 > 0:08:32therefore doesn't exist.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37Now this would obviously be a very silly way of trying to deal
0:08:37 > 0:08:43with poetry or the arts or music or theatre or anything of the things...
0:08:43 > 0:08:45We wouldn't have much of a life
0:08:45 > 0:08:48if we were all expected to live by rote and by number.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52So, you know, it has to be experienced, really,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54and, if you get yourself involved in it,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56you will find these things working.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58If you don't involve yourself in it,
0:08:58 > 0:09:03well, then, it's up to you if you want to be dismissive.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07CHANTING
0:09:20 > 0:09:23CHEERING AND CHANTING
0:09:29 > 0:09:31I think one of the things that struck me,
0:09:31 > 0:09:35coming here this morning, is the sincerity of the people
0:09:35 > 0:09:38who are within the stones at the moment
0:09:38 > 0:09:40and there's something a little bit sad...
0:09:40 > 0:09:43I can see from their point of view about the fact that
0:09:43 > 0:09:47in about five minutes they're going to get chucked off the site
0:09:47 > 0:09:51and it returns to the usual tourist thing where it's fenced off.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Because this site wouldn't mean anything
0:09:54 > 0:09:57if it wasn't for people coming to it
0:09:57 > 0:10:01and bringing their sense of what it means along with them.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04And you can feel that, coming on the equinox,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06which I've really relished.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08It's been quite a privilege to be here with them,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12because suddenly it works.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15The stones are animated by the people.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19- Hip hip...- ALL: Hooray! - Hip hip...- ALL: Hooray!
0:10:19 > 0:10:22- Hip hip...- ALL: Hooray! - Yes, thank you!
0:10:22 > 0:10:25The druids may seem quite unusual,
0:10:25 > 0:10:28but they've become such a fundamental part of our image
0:10:28 > 0:10:33of Stonehenge and that's had some unexpected side effects.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36We believe that English Heritage's revenue
0:10:36 > 0:10:39has gone up by some considerable percentage
0:10:39 > 0:10:42since we've been worshipping there regularly,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46and apparently the most frequently asked question they get is,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49- "Will there be any druids there? - Seriously?!
0:10:49 > 0:10:52- Seriously.- And do you have any sort of financial arrangement
0:10:52 > 0:10:55- with English Heritage at all? - None whatsoever.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57It sounds like you'd have a legitimate case for saying,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00"Well, can we have a percentage of the profits you make?"
0:11:00 > 0:11:05Well, we believe that, as druids, that original inspiration,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07back if you like to the first Christians,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10is something that should be done because people love doing it
0:11:10 > 0:11:12and because they give their heart and soul to it
0:11:12 > 0:11:15and not because they expect to be paid for it.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Someone who does expect to be paid is English Heritage.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23NEWSREEL: Stonehenge is English Heritage's leading money-spinner.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25But there's a price to be paid.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28The trappings of the tourist industry have sprung up around it,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31hemming in the stones amidst car parks, coaches
0:11:31 > 0:11:33and convoys of the curious.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Now, it's official.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37The Government have branded the facilities
0:11:37 > 0:11:40for tourists visiting Stonehenge as a national disgrace.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45The problems at Stonehenge have preoccupied English Heritage
0:11:45 > 0:11:47since its formation back in the '80s.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50At the moment, the conditions are, quite frankly, deplorable
0:11:50 > 0:11:52and we are ashamed of them
0:11:52 > 0:11:55and I think the nation, as a whole, really, has a responsibility
0:11:55 > 0:11:57to do something better and that's what we're determined to do.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59Just driving up to it now,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02I think it's spoilt by the fact the car park is here.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05It looks a bit too built up as you drive towards it, yeah.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07The removal of the road, the removal of the car park,
0:12:07 > 0:12:12the removal of the awful facilities that are here is a laudable aim.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14I think the sooner they go, the better.
0:12:17 > 0:12:2130 years on, and nothing has changed.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24The saga of Stonehenge is starting to feel as ancient
0:12:24 > 0:12:26as the monument itself.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32But this year will be different.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38We need to build something here that, if necessary in the future,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41can simply be taken off and shifted away.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45The Chief Executive of English Heritage, Simon Thurley, has a plan.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49And, for once, it seems like it's actually going to happen.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52It sits more like a leaf on the landscape.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55In fact, it's already begun.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59What's actually going to change?
0:12:59 > 0:13:04I think the most important change is getting rid of one of the two roads.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07It's only one of the two roads, because there are two roads,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10there's the A303, but getting rid of the A344
0:13:10 > 0:13:14and reuniting the stones with the landscape which they were
0:13:14 > 0:13:17always associated with is totally and utterly fundamental.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Getting rid of the car park,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23getting rid of the blot that is our encampment of portacabins.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27It is a national embarrassment and a national humiliation.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30I think what we're trying to do is we're trying to present the stones
0:13:30 > 0:13:33in the most, sort of, sympathetic way possible.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37English Heritage have laid out the plan for the year ahead
0:13:37 > 0:13:40and much of is about taking things away.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44No more road. No more car park.
0:13:44 > 0:13:51A new hi-tech visitor centre replacing the old portacabins,
0:13:51 > 0:13:53well out of sight of the stones.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58So far out of sight, in fact,
0:13:58 > 0:14:03that visitors will be transported almost a mile by land train.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07But the most exciting part of the plan for me is this bit -
0:14:07 > 0:14:10no more fences!
0:14:10 > 0:14:15After a century of enclosure, Stonehenge is being set free.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20The big question, I guess, when it comes to Stonehenge,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24is why has it taken eight decades to find a working plan?
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Well, of course, the great thing about Stonehenge is it belongs
0:14:27 > 0:14:30to everybody and everybody feels it belongs to them.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33And so everybody has an opinion about Stonehenge.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37Since 1984, there have been, I think, seven or eight schemes.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40Some schemes were disliked by local residents,
0:14:40 > 0:14:41some by the Ministry of Defence,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44some by the National Trust, some by the archaeologists
0:14:44 > 0:14:49and, over the decades, when people have been struggling to sort it out,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52there have been an awful lot of different views.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Perhaps the most passionate views of all are those of the druids.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10English Heritage's plans to exhibit bones and cremated remains
0:15:10 > 0:15:13from the site in the new visitor centre
0:15:13 > 0:15:16have come up against some fierce opposition.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19This ground is hallowed to us.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Taking away the ancestors is bad enough.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Putting them on display in bloody cabinets to make money
0:15:27 > 0:15:31at their visitor centre is not going to happen.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Cos when they open that new visitor centre,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37the biggest capital project English Heretics have done,
0:15:37 > 0:15:3920 years in the planning...
0:15:39 > 0:15:44Ah, who knew that..? I mean, all this stuff about English Heretics,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48this is all news to me. I wasn't really aware of this whole issue.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53Because we believe that those who are laid to rest
0:15:53 > 0:15:55should stay to rest.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58But he really feels it very strongly.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00I mean, it's quite tempting, when you turn up,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03to see these guys wearing what they're wearing,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06and sort of dismiss them as being these crackpots.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08There is obviously something eccentric about
0:16:08 > 0:16:10this group of people,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13but he really passionately believes in what he's talking about.
0:16:13 > 0:16:14Erm, it's a matter of belief
0:16:14 > 0:16:17and belief's an important thing that we should respect,
0:16:17 > 0:16:21even if he's carrying a shield with a dragon on it!
0:16:21 > 0:16:27I intend to take non-violent, direct action against them
0:16:27 > 0:16:30and any means of my disposal...
0:16:30 > 0:16:34This issue with the bones seems to be where the beliefs of the druids
0:16:34 > 0:16:38come up against the business of the Heritage industry.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40The landscape surrounding Stonehenge
0:16:40 > 0:16:42is where some of the remains were found.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47Pat Shelley, 'henge enthusiast and tour guide, is showing me around.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52- So we are heading towards a burial mound?- Yeah, a burial mound.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55There's hundreds and hundreds in this landscape.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Have a look over to your right there.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01- Can you see some on the ridge in amongst the trees?- Yeah.- Loads there.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03There's more in the trees to the left.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Most of them, not all, but most of them, have been dug.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09- What they were after were the grave goods.- The gold.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12The gold, in some cases, yeah.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14In all the digging that's taken place in and around Stonehenge,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18what you don't have is any evidence of day-to-day life.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21No houses, hearths, quern stones for grinding grain.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24It's as if Stonehenge was built in isolation of people
0:17:24 > 0:17:28and what we do have around here are hundreds and hundreds
0:17:28 > 0:17:30of these barrows, these burial mounds.
0:17:30 > 0:17:36At Stonehenge itself, 150 plus sets of cremated remains.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39So we're talking about a huge necropolis,
0:17:39 > 0:17:44the largest Neolithic, bronze-age cemetery in the country by far.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47I mean, is there any sort of pattern to the way they're arranged here?
0:17:47 > 0:17:48They're all in little ridges
0:17:48 > 0:17:53and they all have this kind of sightline over to Stonehenge itself.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55The barrows are integral to Stonehenge
0:17:55 > 0:17:57and Stonehenge to the barrows.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00People that come on a tour or bother to come out into the landscape,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03what you have to remember is that for most people
0:18:03 > 0:18:07who have their ancestry in Western Europe,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11they will be genetically linked to the people that built Stonehenge.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19The visitor centre is only a few months from being finished
0:18:19 > 0:18:25and the exhibition will be key to the success of the redevelopment,
0:18:25 > 0:18:27but for Arthur Pendragon,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30the bones are more than just archaeological finds.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33That was a very rousing speech I heard you deliver earlier.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35How do you feel it went?
0:18:35 > 0:18:37I think it went well and I think we're going to have
0:18:37 > 0:18:43quite a few people here to basically rain on English Heretics' parade
0:18:43 > 0:18:46when they decide to open this brand-new visitor centre.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50I mean, for the past 14 years, I've supported them,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53and I'm still supporting the idea of the visitor centre,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56but putting ancient, cremated, human remains and bones
0:18:56 > 0:19:00from these burial mounds, from the environs of Stonehenge,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02on display as some kind of Victorian peep show,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04it's just not happening.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06Why do you feel so strongly about it?
0:19:06 > 0:19:08Because they're the ancestors and, to my mind,
0:19:08 > 0:19:14it doesn't matter whether you died three months ago or 3,000 years ago,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17dead is still dead. I mean, one of the archaeologists said to me,
0:19:17 > 0:19:19"You don't know if they wanted to be buried here."
0:19:19 > 0:19:22And I said, "No, and you don't know your gran wants
0:19:22 > 0:19:24"to be in that church yard, but we're not digging her up!"
0:19:24 > 0:19:25How would they feel?
0:19:25 > 0:19:29It's interesting you use this analogy of a grandparent.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Do you feel a sense of personal connection in some way
0:19:32 > 0:19:34- with the people who are buried here?- Yes.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38They were the founding fathers of our nation
0:19:38 > 0:19:44and to end up in a display case in a visitor centre...
0:19:44 > 0:19:46It's not very respectful, is it?
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Well, it's very well-established museum practice
0:19:50 > 0:19:52to show human remains.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55It's always something that is done with reverence and respect
0:19:55 > 0:19:59and we believe it's a perfectly legitimate thing to do.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Of course, we respect the views of the...
0:20:02 > 0:20:06the Grand Order Of Druids, led by Arthur Pendragon.
0:20:06 > 0:20:07We respect his views
0:20:07 > 0:20:11and he's entitled to feel uncomfortable about it.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15But he does not represent a very large proportion of society.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18The vast majority of people feel quite comfortable
0:20:18 > 0:20:20with the dignified display of human remains.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25Would it make your life easier if this minority of people, the druids,
0:20:25 > 0:20:29if they didn't really have such a vested interest in the stones?
0:20:29 > 0:20:33It would make all of our lives less colourful.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36- That's a very political answer. - It isn't, it's just true.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43As dawn throws into shadowy relief the giant pillars of Stonehenge,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45the successors of the ancient druids await
0:20:45 > 0:20:47the first rays of midsummer sun.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54The druids are such an essential part of our perception
0:20:54 > 0:20:57of Stonehenge, but the fact that they're there at all
0:20:57 > 0:20:59is down to one man.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04In 1740 the antiquarian, William Stukeley,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07published a book that would revolutionise
0:21:07 > 0:21:09our understanding of Stonehenge.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14This is very special.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18This is a first edition of William Stukeley's Stonehenge.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22What I love about the title page is that it almost seems to enact
0:21:22 > 0:21:25the tension that's at the heart of this book.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Because you have the very rational script which says,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30"Stonehenge. A Temple Restored." And then the words
0:21:30 > 0:21:34"British druids" are in this gothic, much more seemingly irrational font.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41'This book is Stukeley's masterpiece
0:21:41 > 0:21:44'and it took him more than 20 years to write.'
0:21:44 > 0:21:48This is a work of rational analysis.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51It's trying to classify and codify the stones,
0:21:51 > 0:21:55which is something that hadn't properly been done, even though
0:21:55 > 0:21:57they had been standing for thousands of years.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01It strikes us now as so simple as an idea -
0:22:01 > 0:22:04that you might actually work out specifically the distances,
0:22:04 > 0:22:09the dimensions of Stonehenge to help understand what it was used for,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12its significance, but Stukeley was the first one to do that.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17But it's here that Stukeley departs from his meticulous measurements
0:22:17 > 0:22:20and wanders into the fertile world of his imagination.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Now here he's getting into the druids.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28"They carried a sharp brass instrument, which we often find,
0:22:28 > 0:22:32"which they used to cut mistletoe at their great festival in midwinter.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38"The manner of sacrificing."
0:22:38 > 0:22:43There's clearly a real, profound engagement on Stukeley's part
0:22:43 > 0:22:46with this kind of, almost romantic history of the druids.
0:22:46 > 0:22:51It's quite a dark sense of what they used this temple of Stonehenge for.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55And it's a curious thing, this, because, in a sense,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58his fascination with druids was just a piece of fantasy and,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01as a result, for subsequent generations of scholars,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05it did slightly undermine the overall achievement of this book.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12William Stukeley died in 1765 -
0:23:12 > 0:23:17a figure of ridicule among his fellow antiquarians,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20but his ideas about the druids lived on.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Good morning. Actually, I'm not a practising druid
0:23:27 > 0:23:30and, as I've missed the summer solstice,
0:23:30 > 0:23:32I'm unlikely to bump into any.
0:23:32 > 0:23:33Which is probably a good job,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36because I don't think they'd take kindly to a stranger in their midst.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40They might even have decided to have sacrificed me
0:23:40 > 0:23:41and I am too young to die!
0:23:44 > 0:23:47How do you feel about archaeologists who sort of..?
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Well, they dismiss the idea that druids built Stonehenge.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52To us, they were the proto-druids.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Whoever built that, built it as a solar clock to map
0:23:55 > 0:24:00out the time of year, the longest, the shortest and the equal days.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05They didn't call themselves druids, cos nobody was druids then.
0:24:05 > 0:24:06But they were proto-druids,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09they were still following the same belief structure
0:24:09 > 0:24:11that modern druids, to this day...
0:24:11 > 0:24:15You've just seen us in there celebrating the equal day.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Well, it was obviously part of the belief structure
0:24:18 > 0:24:20of the people that built Stonehenge.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23So, it doesn't matter whether they were druids,
0:24:23 > 0:24:27it doesn't matter if they were Irish navvies who built it.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31Whoever built it built it to honour the longest and the shortest days.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Whoever buried the people in and around here
0:24:34 > 0:24:37and in these burial mounds that encircle it,
0:24:37 > 0:24:42buried them in what was and is, to us, a sacred landscape.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50The building of Stonehenge was just the beginning.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58And our cities are now full of modern megaliths.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05We're looking out here across London.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08What do you think archaeologists of the future would make of this scene?
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Well, I think they'll get it all wrong, as usual.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17But I think if you believe that what a culture puts its greatest energies
0:25:17 > 0:25:21into is what means most to it, then, I'm afraid,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23I think that it will be a landscape
0:25:23 > 0:25:28that reveals an extraordinary obsession with money.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33Stukeley was obsessed with uncovering what Stonehenge
0:25:33 > 0:25:37meant to the people who built it, but he had very little to go on.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Do you think it's unfair that some people seem to write Stukeley off
0:25:43 > 0:25:45as a bit of a nutter?
0:25:45 > 0:25:46Yes, I do.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Because he was first person to realise that the thing was oriented
0:25:49 > 0:25:53in some way with the solstice.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Now, once you do that, you are no longer in the business of just
0:25:56 > 0:25:58measuring things and digging things.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00You are now involved with something
0:26:00 > 0:26:03that has purpose and motive and meaning,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06so you have to begin to try and work out what that might be.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Of course, as he went on, he filled in more and more of the details,
0:26:10 > 0:26:12and I think people were less and less persuaded.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17On the other hand, if one looks at Stukeley's legacy,
0:26:17 > 0:26:19people still use his measurements.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22He measured features at Stonehenge that have since disappeared,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24so the archaeologists are indebted to him,
0:26:24 > 0:26:28but his legacy to our present experience of Stonehenge
0:26:28 > 0:26:29is also huge.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31Stukeley said there were druids at Stonehenge.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34OK, when he said it, there weren't, there are now.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41There is a third prong to Stukeley's legacy at Stonehenge,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44one that's possibly the most influential of all.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49It was one of Stukeley's many interventions in the history
0:26:49 > 0:26:52of Stonehenge that he did turn it into a tourist site.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54He was the first person to make other people
0:26:54 > 0:26:56want to go there just to see it.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59I think he would have been astonished
0:26:59 > 0:27:02and dismayed by what's happened since,
0:27:02 > 0:27:04in terms of its exploitation as a tourist site -
0:27:04 > 0:27:07when it was just referred to as a toilet stop
0:27:07 > 0:27:09on the Bath to London road.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13I think it says a lot about us that we could have reduced
0:27:13 > 0:27:16such an extraordinary monument to that.
0:27:30 > 0:27:31Back on site,
0:27:31 > 0:27:35the road is being dug up and the fences are finally coming down.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44The old facilities are being consigned to history.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01The landscape is starting to regain some of its old magic.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07A magic that's inspired some of our greatest minds.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15By the early 19th century, the Romantics had embraced the stones,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18adding their own layer of mystery and intrigue.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22The poet, William Blake,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26depicts Stonehenge as a terrifying scene of human sacrifice.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32A building of eternal death:
0:28:32 > 0:28:36whose proportions are eternal despair
0:28:36 > 0:28:40Here Vala stood turning the iron spindle of destruction
0:28:40 > 0:28:42From heaven to earth.
0:28:54 > 0:28:5811 miles away in Salisbury hangs one of the most famous images
0:28:58 > 0:29:01of Stonehenge from the Romantic period,
0:29:01 > 0:29:03or from any period, really.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12This is the watercolour of Stonehenge that Turner created
0:29:12 > 0:29:16in the 1820s and it's become probably
0:29:16 > 0:29:20the best-known visual artwork of Stonehenge.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24Don't be fooled by the brightness of it which seems, initially,
0:29:24 > 0:29:26to be quite picturesque and alluring,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29because actually Turner saw in Stonehenge
0:29:29 > 0:29:31something quite menacing, sinister.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33It was a place of foreboding.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36In the foreground, you have a shepherd with his flock,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39but this shepherd has been killed.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42He's been struck by a bolt of lightning. The storm's passing,
0:29:42 > 0:29:45you can see another bolt of lightning in the background
0:29:45 > 0:29:46and next to him, his faithful dog
0:29:46 > 0:29:49is howling, because his master won't respond.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52Some of the sheep have been struck down, as well,
0:29:52 > 0:29:54but now they're milling.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57There's a sense of, well, clearly unease.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04This is all about the artist's imagination.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07Turner here is interested in the great drama,
0:30:07 > 0:30:10not just of the story of the shepherd being killed,
0:30:10 > 0:30:11but of nature itself.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15With this huge, vast roiling sky with all of these clouds,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18beams of sunlight coming in in dramatic diagonals,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21which illuminate the best part of the composition.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25The reason I think it's so interesting is because,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28when you look at Stonehenge, it's not realistic at all.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32If you went and stood at this point, you would not see a stone circle
0:30:32 > 0:30:36resembling this. Turner has played fast and loose with the stones.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38He's taken artistic licence,
0:30:38 > 0:30:40he's thinned out some of the uprights,
0:30:40 > 0:30:42he's changed the tone and colour.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44And that's partly what Romanticism was all about -
0:30:44 > 0:30:46it's about the artist
0:30:46 > 0:30:49imprinting their own vision of what they see in front of them.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55Turner's painting was reproduced countless times
0:30:55 > 0:30:56and it became hugely popular.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09By the end of the 19th century, a new kind of image was to become
0:31:09 > 0:31:14the fashionable souvenir of the monument - a photograph.
0:31:20 > 0:31:25And no Victorian day trip was complete without a picnic.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33By the end of the century, the situation was dire.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36There were so many 19th-century day trippers having lunch
0:31:36 > 0:31:37in the middle of Stonehenge
0:31:37 > 0:31:40that there was a national outcry in the press.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42And I've got a cutting here of this wonderful article
0:31:42 > 0:31:46that appeared in The Sketch on the 30th of September, 1896,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49and the journalist writes, "A picnic at Stonehenge
0:31:49 > 0:31:53"is one of those incongruities which ought to be put down by law.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57"Under these everlasting stones assembles a noisy band of cyclists
0:31:57 > 0:32:00"who profane the spot with the popping of corks
0:32:00 > 0:32:03"and the cracking of 19th-century jests.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05"I wonder the ancient druids do not arise,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08"armed with something stronger than mistletoe,
0:32:08 > 0:32:12"and whip these intruders out of the solemn precincts."
0:32:18 > 0:32:19In an added affront,
0:32:19 > 0:32:24litter led to the site becoming infested with rats.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26Their burrowing was destabilising the stones.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32Something had to be done,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35but Stonehenge was still privately-owned.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41It took the First World War to change the monument's fate.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Its owner, Sir Edmund Antrobus,
0:32:44 > 0:32:48had been killed in action and his entire estate was put up for sale.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Lot 15 was Stonehenge.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58This is a genuinely amazing document,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01dated the 31st December, 1915.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04It's an agreement, conveyance,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08between Cosmo Gordon Antrobus and two people -
0:33:08 > 0:33:13Mrs Mary Bella Alice Chubb and Cecil Herbert Edward Chubb Esq.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16This man, Cecil Chubb, went along to the auction,
0:33:16 > 0:33:20wasn't particularly planning to buy anything at all,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23got quite concerned that perhaps Stonehenge might be snapped up
0:33:23 > 0:33:27by some very wealthy American who would even, perhaps,
0:33:27 > 0:33:30take it away and dismantle it and erect it over in the States.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33So he decided to bid and he bought the thing.
0:33:33 > 0:33:40And we can see that he paid the sum of £6,600.
0:33:40 > 0:33:41That was it!
0:33:41 > 0:33:45The story goes that Cecil bought Stonehenge as a wedding present
0:33:45 > 0:33:47for his wife, and we can only assume
0:33:47 > 0:33:50that she was quite hard to please because, apparently,
0:33:50 > 0:33:55she wasn't best impressed and despite having shelled out £6,600,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58three years after he paid for Stonehenge, in 1915,
0:33:58 > 0:34:00he gave it to the nation.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03And he was rewarded for that - he was given a knighthood
0:34:03 > 0:34:06and became known locally as Viscount Stonehenge.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12With the monument now safely in public ownership,
0:34:12 > 0:34:15the important work of restoration could begin,
0:34:15 > 0:34:20all overseen by the outstanding men from the Ministry Of Works.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23Now this model shows us a part of the
0:34:23 > 0:34:26south west corner of Stonehenge as it looks today.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29Here you see a great heap of fallen stones.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35Well, the first operation is to clear up the mess,
0:34:35 > 0:34:40to remove the stones which now lie clumsily on top of each other,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43and clear the decks for action.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47Of course, it will be done with the utmost care and skill
0:34:47 > 0:34:49by the engineers of the Ministry Of Works.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57Here, we're not really restoring, erm, what is missing,
0:34:57 > 0:35:01we are simply putting back into position certain stones
0:35:01 > 0:35:04which have fallen in recent times
0:35:04 > 0:35:08and in the original position, which is exactly known.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11And here is the lintel stone that will fit across the top.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17They may be back in their original position,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20but they definitely aren't in their original setting.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25Right up until 1964, the stones were being hoisted aloft,
0:35:25 > 0:35:28straightened and set in concrete.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33But it wasn't just the conservationists
0:35:33 > 0:35:35who left their mark.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38NEWSREEL: Visitors have done their share of damage, too.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41There was a time when they could hire a hammer from the nearby town
0:35:41 > 0:35:44of Amesbury for the purpose of chipping off souvenirs.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51The stones were roped off in 1977.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57But come the winter solstice, people clamber all over them.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01There's obviously something special
0:36:01 > 0:36:03about being able to touch the stones,
0:36:03 > 0:36:07but I wonder how damaging these quarter days really are.
0:36:12 > 0:36:17'I've met up with archaeologist Julian Richards to talk about
0:36:17 > 0:36:19'the impact we've had on the stones.'
0:36:19 > 0:36:21There are lots of sort of marks and divots and,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23I guess, bits of graffiti and..?
0:36:23 > 0:36:27Yeah. Lots of what you can see on the surface is just erosion.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30It's the way the stones have worn and bits have fallen off.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33But there is some graffiti over here.
0:36:33 > 0:36:34"Equinox rocks."
0:36:34 > 0:36:37How do you feel about everyone being able to touch the stones these days?
0:36:37 > 0:36:40I mean, this is quite gentle, really, isn't it?
0:36:40 > 0:36:42- And I know you're not supposed... - It's not ideal.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45No. I mean, they don't like the stones being touched,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48but I think this is... This is quite respectful.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50I don't like people standing on the stones.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52I'll tell people off when they do that, but...
0:36:52 > 0:36:53It must happen all the time.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58Well, it's quite difficult to police, really, but today's...today's nice.
0:36:58 > 0:36:59But, look,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03there's all this 19th-century and 18th-century graffiti,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06people came and actually carved their names on these stones.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08They must have done that with a metal hammer and chisel,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10because it's hard stuff,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12but, when this was being photographed in the '50s,
0:37:12 > 0:37:15it was realised that there were some shallower carvings
0:37:15 > 0:37:17and this is a dagger.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21- You see, here's the blade and here's the hilt of the dagger.- Yeah!
0:37:21 > 0:37:24And then this is slightly more difficult to see,
0:37:24 > 0:37:28but there's a curved blade here and this is an axe.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30And these are ancient?
0:37:30 > 0:37:32You can't date a carving,
0:37:32 > 0:37:34but if you look at the shape of these
0:37:34 > 0:37:38they fit perfectly well with early bronze-age examples.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40So it could be almost like the workman has signed
0:37:40 > 0:37:45- it with his tools?- No. Because these went up in about 2,500 BC...- Right.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50..these date to somewhere around 1,800 BC.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54These stones have been standing here for maybe 700, you know, 800 years.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56It's old by that time.
0:37:56 > 0:38:01You know, this is as old as Salisbury Cathedral is to us now,
0:38:01 > 0:38:05but people are still coming back and putting their mark on it.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07It's a similar impulse to this, which is 19th century.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10There's one bit over here that really intrigues me.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16Can you make out what these letters are on here?
0:38:16 > 0:38:18Is this like an 'I'?
0:38:18 > 0:38:20It's an 'I' with a little bit through it.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24- That's definitely a 'W'.- 'W'. - And an 'R', is it?
0:38:24 > 0:38:26- This is clearly an 'E'.- Yeah, OK.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28And then that at the end, that's a bit faint,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30but that is an 'N'.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Right. Wren.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35That is the abbreviation for Christopher.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38What? Sorry, as in this is Mr St Paul's..?
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Well, he was born about 12 miles down the road at a little village...
0:38:41 > 0:38:46- Was he?!- ..called East Knoyle so we can't prove this is the same Wren,
0:38:46 > 0:38:48but isn't it intriguing?
0:38:48 > 0:38:50The idea that, you know, one of our greatest artists was a vandal
0:38:50 > 0:38:52who came and carved his name on Stonehenge?
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Who knew? This isn't very respectful of Wren, is it?
0:38:55 > 0:38:57Perhaps this is where he got his inspiration from -
0:38:57 > 0:39:00a great piece of prehistoric architecture.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05Well, nowadays people don't chip off souvenir pieces any more,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09but some people still seem to thing it's a very funny idea to go along
0:39:09 > 0:39:11and spoil the stones by painting slogans all over them.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13It's a very silly idea,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15because the paint is going to take several hundred years
0:39:15 > 0:39:17before it can wear off.
0:39:22 > 0:39:28By the late '60s, Stonehenge had once more become a canvas on which
0:39:28 > 0:39:31a new generation could express their anxieties about the future.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34ARCHIVE AUDIO: 'How do you see Britain?
0:39:34 > 0:39:38'As a garden? A quiet, private place where people are left alone?
0:39:38 > 0:39:41'And where disaster, tragedy and violence are rare?
0:39:41 > 0:39:44'A place of friends? Of ceremony? Of memory?
0:39:44 > 0:39:46'Many young people in Britain,
0:39:46 > 0:39:48'expressing themselves through new forms of music,
0:39:48 > 0:39:50'agree with these traditional ideas.'
0:39:51 > 0:39:55Lots of bands made the pilgrimage out to Stonehenge,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58but there was one person who embraced the mystical vibes
0:39:58 > 0:40:00more than any other.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05Marc Bolan.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09'He sings Dragon's Ear
0:40:09 > 0:40:12'and The Children Of Rarn thinking of Stonehenge,
0:40:12 > 0:40:16'of the giant figures of horses and men carved in the chalk hills.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19'He's no scholar - rather, using electricity,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23'he's trying to feel the meaning of the legend of Britain.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26'He travels into his future by travelling into his past.'
0:40:29 > 0:40:33Through the use of a guitar, which is like a piece of wood
0:40:33 > 0:40:37with string on it, really, when you relate to it like that, made by man,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41that certain things can stir your emotions out of a piece of carpentry
0:40:41 > 0:40:45or blowing a piece of steel pipe and making you cry.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47It's the spirit coming through.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50It's when people deny their spiritual factors,
0:40:50 > 0:40:52it's very sad, because it's everywhere around us.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02The free festival movement of the '70s was a reaction
0:41:02 > 0:41:04to our increasingly urbanised lives.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10An experiment in communal living.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18It was only a matter of time before a festival arrived at Stonehenge,
0:41:18 > 0:41:20an ancient gathering place.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Only around 500 people attended the first Stonehenge Free Festival
0:41:26 > 0:41:29in 1974, but by the following year
0:41:29 > 0:41:33the numbers were up to 3,000 and they kept on growing.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40What had started as a small gathering had turned
0:41:40 > 0:41:43into a month-long festival the size of a town.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47There were, in fairness,
0:41:47 > 0:41:49all sorts of legitimate concerns about the festival.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52Things like toilets being dug into the ancient landscape.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55Supposedly, someone carved a kind of bread oven
0:41:55 > 0:41:57into one of these burial mounds.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59There were even reports that motorbikes were being ridden
0:41:59 > 0:42:01right through the centre of the stones.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04So, once again, Stonehenge felt like it was in jeopardy.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07And the press, they were vociferous.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09They really came out against these hippies
0:42:09 > 0:42:11who came here for the festival and, as a result,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14the Government was called upon to take some decisive action.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18But it wasn't really until the mid '80s when the idealism
0:42:18 > 0:42:21of the free festival came to a really bloody and abrupt end.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Across the country, tension was mounting.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35The miners were out on strike,
0:42:35 > 0:42:40and by 1984 unemployment had reached a record high.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42To all the British people,
0:42:42 > 0:42:45howsoever they have voted, may I say this?
0:42:45 > 0:42:49May we get together and strive to serve and strengthen
0:42:49 > 0:42:53the country of which we are so proud to be a part?
0:42:57 > 0:42:59People did come together,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02but not in the way that Margaret Thatcher had imagined.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06As communities broke down, thousands left our cities
0:43:06 > 0:43:09and looked for a better life out on the open road.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12The New Age travellers who had started the free festival
0:43:12 > 0:43:14at Stonehenge were now
0:43:14 > 0:43:18joined by a younger generation inspired by their example.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21Helen Hatt was one of them.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25Well, I think there was a huge amount of dissatisfaction
0:43:25 > 0:43:29with the way society was going and people were looking for a new path.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32It seemed like a much better option than what I was presently living.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36I was living in a cold, damp flat with no job prospects
0:43:36 > 0:43:37and what I could see on the festivals
0:43:37 > 0:43:40was the possibility of having a travelling business.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43I went to the Stonehenge Festival as a children's clown.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47- This was when you were in your... - Yes, I was 18, 19 years old, yeah.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53The Stonehenge Festival was really important to us,
0:43:53 > 0:43:55because it was the gathering point of the year.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57It was when most of all of the travellers in Britain
0:43:57 > 0:44:00would come together at Stonehenge Festival,
0:44:00 > 0:44:04so it was an iconic image of going back to connect with the ancestors.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11But public opinion was turning against the travellers.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16ARCHIVE: By now, the Peace Convoy is used to the unpopularity
0:44:16 > 0:44:18which follows them practically everywhere they go.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21They have no regard for law and order.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24It seems, in my view, to diminish each year.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28We represent everything they hate.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30People who are free and they want to stop it,
0:44:30 > 0:44:33because they don't want more people joining it.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35You can't have 100,000 people
0:44:35 > 0:44:39turning up at an archaeological site and causing havoc at the place.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41It's all resolvable. You can pick litter.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44You can clean up after people have gone away.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46It's a field, it's organic, it carries on growing.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48But you're talking about digging trenches,
0:44:48 > 0:44:49that sort of thing, surely..?
0:44:49 > 0:44:52People knew where to dig on the edge of the chalk,
0:44:52 > 0:44:53it wasn't near the burial mounds.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57There was a huge respect for the sacred archaeology of Stonehenge,
0:44:57 > 0:44:59that was one of the reasons that people were there.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03The authorities didn't agree.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07In June 1985, a four-mile exclusion zone was enforced
0:45:07 > 0:45:10to stop the Stonehenge Free Festival.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18I actually got a vehicle together that year.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21That was the... You know, I had to save up a certain amount of money
0:45:21 > 0:45:24and get my vehicle on the road and I'd done that.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28So I had my home and I had my little magic box and my clown costume
0:45:28 > 0:45:31and I had bookings at the different festivals.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35So I hit the road properly in 1985.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38Friends said to me, "Do you want to travel in convoy with us?"
0:45:38 > 0:45:42It was safer to travel in convoy, it was pleasant and, erm...
0:45:42 > 0:45:44I said, "Yes."
0:45:44 > 0:45:48I was fully taxed, MOT'd, insured, I wasn't breaking any laws.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52I didn't have any fear, cos I wasn't breaking any laws.
0:45:52 > 0:45:57And then we got to a point where the front of the convoy was blocked.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00This is the front of the convoy.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03There are 150 vehicles behind me.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05They are all heading for Stonehenge.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10And they started to smash the windows of the front vehicles.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13Wait, wait!
0:46:13 > 0:46:15They came in at us like we were
0:46:15 > 0:46:18a bunch of dangerous, hardcore soldiers.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22I could just see policemen coming down the line of the vehicles,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25just smashing all the windows down the side of the vehicles
0:46:25 > 0:46:28and pulling people out throwing them to the tarmac.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31- Were they doing that to women and children, as well?- Yes, they were.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33That was what was scary for somebody like me.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35I was only 19 years old,
0:46:35 > 0:46:37so as soon as the police arrived at my vehicle,
0:46:37 > 0:46:39I threw my hands in the air and I went,
0:46:39 > 0:46:43"OK. Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it."
0:46:45 > 0:46:46Nobody talked to me as they arrived.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49And then a policeman jumped on the bonnet of the vehicle
0:46:49 > 0:46:53and started hitting the windscreen and I was just instinctively putting
0:46:53 > 0:46:57my hand up against the windscreen to stop the window smashing in my face.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01And then the side window smashed in and then the copper on this side
0:47:01 > 0:47:04reached in and grabbed hold of my hair and pulled me over
0:47:04 > 0:47:07and my foot jumped off the clutch
0:47:07 > 0:47:11and the vehicle jumped backwards just a little bit and then stalled.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13And then the engine was stopped
0:47:13 > 0:47:16and he had the keys and I thought that was going to be the end of it.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19But they carried on smashing up the windows around me.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22I was a well-known, peaceful hippy
0:47:22 > 0:47:25and I was brutally beaten in front of my friends.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27So my friends ran.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33Hemmed in by police barricades, the travellers began to panic.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35You have no escape.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37They'd broke through the fences
0:47:37 > 0:47:40and drove their vehicles into the bean fields next to the road.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44There was a standoff for a few hours where our people
0:47:44 > 0:47:47tried to negotiate to leave the field.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49I'm not here to bargain with you.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52I'm here to say something to you for you to consider.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55We want to go to Stonehenge.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58Well, the Stonehenge Festival, as you know, has been cancelled.
0:47:58 > 0:48:00We haven't done anything, have we?
0:48:00 > 0:48:03We're genuine people, just like yourselves,
0:48:03 > 0:48:06and we need help right now.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10Please. Help us. All of you.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12The police waited until 7 o'clock in the evening,
0:48:12 > 0:48:15when they'd amassed enough forces,
0:48:15 > 0:48:19which turned out to be soldiers, co-opted as special constables,
0:48:19 > 0:48:21put in boiler suits and looking like police.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24But they weren't, a lot of them were solders.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28And they were sent in to basically stop the convoy.
0:48:32 > 0:48:34- Get out! - WOMAN SCREAMS
0:48:36 > 0:48:40Very few outsiders witnessed the events in the bean field that day.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Most of the media obeyed police instructions
0:48:43 > 0:48:45and stayed behind the barricades.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47Are you still here, boy?!
0:48:47 > 0:48:49On the deck! On the deck!
0:48:51 > 0:48:53This footage was shot an ITN news crew
0:48:53 > 0:49:00and it records the violence meted out against the travellers.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02SHE SCREAMS
0:49:02 > 0:49:04No!
0:49:14 > 0:49:17Someone help me! Help me!
0:49:19 > 0:49:20I didn't do anything, mate.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23They smashed me windows, they hit me over the head with truncheons!
0:49:23 > 0:49:26Then they hit me when I was on the floor.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31The number of people who've been hit by policemen,
0:49:31 > 0:49:33who've been clubbed whilst holding babies in their arms
0:49:33 > 0:49:37and in coaches around this field are still to be counted.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39What the end result will be we don't know,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42but there must surely be an inquiry after what's happened here today.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47In the end, there was no inquiry.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52When the very laws and the powers that be of your country betray you
0:49:52 > 0:49:56and beat you up for no reason and you genuinely know that
0:49:56 > 0:49:58there's no reason that that should happen to you.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00Yeah, you know, it wobbles your faith,
0:50:00 > 0:50:03it wobbles you, it imbalances you.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10Once a symbol of freedom, Stonehenge had become a warzone
0:50:10 > 0:50:13and the battle went on for years.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24But the new millennium marked a new beginning at the stones.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27NEWSREEL: This was the product of months of negotiation
0:50:27 > 0:50:30between English Heritage, druids and pagans.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33It was in sharp contrast to the violence of the mid '80s
0:50:33 > 0:50:35when Stonehenge was closed to all.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42This has been a much brighter decade for the custodians of Stonehenge.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44I and my colleagues now are much luckier.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47We have a situation which is much more harmonious,
0:50:47 > 0:50:49is much more understanding.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51There are always odd difficulties
0:50:51 > 0:50:53and there are odd protests about things that happen,
0:50:53 > 0:50:56but, essentially, there is harmony and agreement that we want
0:50:56 > 0:51:00to get people access to these stones at the important times for them.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05The new visitor centre opened a few months ago,
0:51:05 > 0:51:08but it immediately faced problems.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Long queues and broken-down land trains
0:51:10 > 0:51:14led to it being branded Moanhenge by the press.
0:51:14 > 0:51:20NEWSREEL: Up to 5,000 people a day head to the new visitor centre.
0:51:20 > 0:51:21The weekend result -
0:51:21 > 0:51:26an overflowing car park and a very long wait to get in.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29The system here of transporting people to Stonehenge
0:51:29 > 0:51:30is extremely inefficient.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32We spent exactly seven minutes,
0:51:32 > 0:51:35out of an hour and a half that we were here,
0:51:35 > 0:51:37on the site at Stonehenge.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42But the curse of Stonehenge finally seems to be lifting.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45The land trains are back on the road.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48How are you finding these land trains?
0:51:48 > 0:51:50I think they add to the experience, actually.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53They're disguised as Land Rovers, which we felt were appropriate.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56They're meant to look like a little convoy of Land Rovers.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01Simon's going to show me the new exhibition.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04I'm not sure what the builders of Stonehenge would make
0:52:04 > 0:52:09of all these whizzy CGI displays, but, of course, one of them is here.
0:52:09 > 0:52:15- This is obviously the skeleton, the human remains.- Yes.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18They're here. Arthur obviously didn't win out.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21What do you think when you look at this chap here?
0:52:21 > 0:52:24I think what it shows is that Neolithic man
0:52:24 > 0:52:27was a man just like us, you know.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30These are people who, if you met him on a street today,
0:52:30 > 0:52:35he's a recognisable person and I think that we want people
0:52:35 > 0:52:39to understand that we're not dealing with some sort of alien species.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42We're dealing with sophisticated, intelligent people.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44This is not the age of the dinosaurs.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51The museum is full of artefacts and panels
0:52:51 > 0:52:53that show the evolution of Stonehenge.
0:52:53 > 0:52:58All worthwhile stuff and a definite improvement,
0:52:58 > 0:53:01but Simon tells me no day out is complete
0:53:01 > 0:53:03without a trip to the gift shop.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07Apparently, there are more than 700 items
0:53:07 > 0:53:10of Stonehenge merchandising on sale.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13Britain's national monument - made in China!
0:53:16 > 0:53:18- This is the bestseller of all time. - Is it?
0:53:18 > 0:53:21The Stonehenge snow globe. People really, really like them.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23Do you have a favourite?
0:53:23 > 0:53:26I mean do you have any of..? Do you wear this at home?
0:53:26 > 0:53:29I don't, but I think that's kind of all right, actually.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32That one, I think I'd prefer to wear that one than the one that says,
0:53:32 > 0:53:35"Stonehenge Rocks" which is another massive seller.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38Does it risk slightly commercially exploiting the site? I mean...
0:53:38 > 0:53:41Well, obviously, we want to make a profit but, equally,
0:53:41 > 0:53:45an integral part of going to a monument or going out for the day
0:53:45 > 0:53:46is buying a souvenir.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49Look at how many people are in here now. It is pretty full.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57After all, the tourists are as much as part of the story as the druids.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00And that's the challenge.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04English Heritage have a tough job trying to keep everybody happy.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12And, despite all the teething problems and the disagreements,
0:54:12 > 0:54:16the redevelopment is definitely making things better.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22It's the evening before the spring equinox
0:54:22 > 0:54:24and I've come to a few of these things now
0:54:24 > 0:54:26and I can sense the site changing.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28The road has been grassed over
0:54:28 > 0:54:32and I feel like I'm getting much less distracted by the main road.
0:54:32 > 0:54:37There's clearly a case for this place working its magic.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39I think I'm falling for it.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48# We are the seekers of space
0:54:48 > 0:54:50# We've seen our master's face
0:54:50 > 0:54:55# It's young and gold And silvery old
0:54:55 > 0:54:57# We are the seekers of space. #
0:55:06 > 0:55:11Morning, stones. Anyway, here we go. Gather in close, everyone.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14Get yourselves all the way round in the circle, if you can.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17This quarter could do with a few more.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21'You know what? I'm really starting to enjoy this.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24'So what if William Stukeley made the druids up?
0:55:24 > 0:55:28'They're really at the heart of what Stonehenge has come to mean.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31'It's a place where you can hope for a better future.'
0:55:31 > 0:55:36I think the best we can do next then is welcome in the quarters.
0:55:36 > 0:55:42- May there be peace in the east. - ALL:- May there be peace in the east.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45Lovely. Ladies and gentlemen, most importantly of all,
0:55:45 > 0:55:48may there be peace throughout the whole world.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51ALL: May there be peace throughout the whole world.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54- To live in peace. - To live in peace.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58But because we're also an ancient fertility religion,
0:55:58 > 0:56:02to us the 'I' is a phallus, of the soul of god,
0:56:02 > 0:56:05the 'A', the legs of the beautiful earth goddess
0:56:05 > 0:56:08and the 'O' is the sound of a gorgeous cosmic lovemaking,
0:56:08 > 0:56:10from whence we all proceed.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14Cosmic lovemaking?
0:56:14 > 0:56:18Well, I guess spring is a time for rebirth.
0:56:18 > 0:56:23Speaking of which, Arthur is here with his loyal Arthurian war band,
0:56:23 > 0:56:26leading the celebrations by the heel stone.
0:56:26 > 0:56:28I wonder if he's feeling any more hopeful
0:56:28 > 0:56:30for the relaunch of the site?
0:56:32 > 0:56:35- How are you?- I'm all right.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39I mean, the main campaigns at the moment are to get the ancestors
0:56:39 > 0:56:42- reburied here at Stonehenge. - How's that going?
0:56:42 > 0:56:44Erm...slowly.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49And we're still in disagreement with English Heritage over that.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52Well, they're still exhibiting the cremated, the remains, aren't they?
0:56:52 > 0:56:55Yeah. So I'm here most days, up at the visitor centre,
0:56:55 > 0:56:57picketing, gathering signatures.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01I'm a regular pain in the neck, but I'll carry on doing it.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04This is what I remember, when I met you last time.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06It feels like there's a kind of streak to your character
0:57:06 > 0:57:08- that relishes the challenge. - Oh, yeah.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10You want to take these people on.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13I always say that I will fight for peace,
0:57:13 > 0:57:15but if we ever get it, I'm out of here.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18A real warrior.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20I love the challenge, yeah.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22I love the David and Goliath style.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25I don't care how many they array against me.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29- And you know what?- Do they?- Oh, yeah. I'll win in the end, I always do.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33I wouldn't bet against him.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36Arthur's even running for Parliament next year
0:57:36 > 0:57:39as an independent candidate for Salisbury.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46It's so tempting to think of Stonehenge as part of the landscape.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48Almost like a natural feature
0:57:48 > 0:57:51that feels like it's been here forever.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54But the whole point of Stonehenge is that it's a man-made structure,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57it was built with a purpose and, as a result, its meaning
0:57:57 > 0:58:01derives from what we project onto it and have done for millennia.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04I don't know what the future holds for Stonehenge but,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07whatever it does, we all have a role to play,
0:58:07 > 0:58:10because it's the people who keep coming here
0:58:10 > 0:58:12who keep this place alive.
0:58:17 > 0:58:23# I'm-a gonna talk with the elders
0:58:23 > 0:58:28# And tell all of our hearts that she's good
0:58:28 > 0:58:32# I love every dance with my baby
0:58:34 > 0:58:38# By the light of a magical moon
0:58:40 > 0:58:45# As I go along my way I say hey-hey
0:58:47 > 0:58:52# As I go along my way I say hey-hey... #