Editing Stonehenge (section)

===Sixteenth century to present===
Stonehenge has changed ownership several times since [[King Henry VIII]] acquired [[Amesbury Abbey]] and its surrounding lands. In 1540 Henry gave the estate to the [[Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset|Earl of Hertford]]. It subsequently passed to [[Lord Carleton]] and then the [[Marquess of Queensberry]]. The [[Antrobus baronets|Antrobus family]] of Cheshire bought the estate in 1824.

====Acquisition for the nation====
Stonehenge was one of several lots put up for auction in 1915 by [[Antrobus baronets|Sir Cosmo Gordon Antrobus]], after he inherited the estate from his brother.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barber |first=Martyn |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/7994/RestoringStonehenge1881-1939 |title='Restoring' Stonehenge 1881-1939 |date=2014-06-15 |publisher=Historic England Publishing |isbn=9781848023475 |pages=85 |issn=2046-9802}}</ref> The auction by [[Knight Frank & Rutley]] estate agents in Salisbury was held on 21 September 1915 and included "Lot 15. Stonehenge with about 30 acres, 2 rods, 37 perches [12.44&nbsp;ha] of adjoining downland."<ref name=Amesbury>{{cite web |url=http://www.this-is-amesbury.co.uk/stonehenge.html |title=The man who bought Stonehenge |last=Heffernan |first=T.H.J. |website=This is Amesbury |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625160447/http://www.this-is-amesbury.co.uk/stonehenge.html |archive-date=25 June 2009}}</ref>

[[Cecil Chubb]] bought the site for £6,600 (£{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|6600|1915|r=-2}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}) and gave it to the nation three years later, with certain conditions attached. Although it has been speculated that he purchased it at the suggestion of – or even as a present for – his wife, in fact he bought it on a whim, as he believed a local man should be the new owner.<ref name=Amesbury/>

====Saving the skyline====
[[File:Stonehenge and Aerodrome 1928.jpg|thumb|right|1928 image of Stonehenge with the remains of the aerodrome site in the background]]
The plot bought by Chubb and gifted to the nation was only {{Convert | 30 | acre}} in size, and various buildings stood within clear sight of the monument, the most prominent being [[Stonehenge Aerodrome]]. Some {{convert|300|m|ft}} from the stones, the aerodrome was built during the First World War for the [[Royal Flying Corps]]<ref>Francis Stewart Briggs, S. H. Harris, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KyNXNQAACAAJ "Joysticks and Fiddlesticks: (the Unofficial History of a Flying Kangaroo) Or, The Flying Kangaroo"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101133622/https://books.google.com/books/about/Joysticks_and_Fiddlesticks.html?id=KyNXNQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y|date=1 January 2016 }}, ''Hutchinson & Company Limited'', 1938. Retrieved 11 June 2014.</ref> and its large stone and brick hangars dominated the skyline.<ref>{{cite book|title=Stonehenge and its environs: monuments and land use|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|author=Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England)|year=1979|isbn=978-0-85224-379-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/stonehengeitsenv0000roya/page/n5/mode/2up?q=%22stonehenge+aerodrome%22}}</ref><ref name=aero>{{cite book|last=Barber|first=Martyn|title=Stonehenge Aerodrome and the Stonehenge landscape|publisher=English Heritage|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/redirect/15239|year=2015}}</ref>

In the dry valley at Stonehenge Bottom, a main road junction was built between what would later be designated as the [[A303 road|A303]] and [[A344 road (England)|A344]] roads, along with several cottages and a cafe.

[[File:Stonehenge development plots.png|thumb|left|Map showing the three proposed development plots around Stonehenge in 1927]]
In 1927 the land around Stonehenge was put up for auction in three plots. Plot A lay immediately west of the monument and included the (by now disused) Stonehenge Aerodrome, Plot B was to the south on the other side of the main road, and Plot C on the north side included part of the [[Stonehenge Cursus]].<ref name=plots>{{Cite news |date=23 March 1929 |title=Save Stonehenge! The "Frontispiece to English history" in peril |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001578/19290323/052/0014 |work=The Illustrated London News |pages=481}}</ref><ref>The London Mercury Vol. XVII No. 98 1927</ref>

There was interest from developers, and in August 1927 a subscription fund was launched in order to "save the skyline" of the monument.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 September 1934 |title=Donor of Stonehenge |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000407/19340928/129/0016 |work=The Western Gazette |pages=16}}</ref> The subscription made rapid progress, with [[George V]] as the lead subscriber, and by October 1927 £8,000 had been raised, which was enough to purchase Plot A and start the demolition of the aerodrome.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 November 1927 |title=Funds wanted to save Stonehenge |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000563/19271109/084/0005 |work=The Dundee Evening Telegraph |pages=5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=5 August 1927 |title=Stonehenge – Fund to save the skyline |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000337/19270805/015/0001 |work=The Midland Daily Telegraph |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=JC |first=Squire |date=8 October 1927 |title=Stonehenge |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001557/19271008/167/0008 |work=The Wiltshire Times |pages=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=10 November 1927 |title=To Save Stonehenge |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005049/19271110/109/0008 |work=The Daily Chronicle |pages=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Preservation of Stonehenge |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000527/19271116/124/0011 |work=Taunton Courier |pages=11}}</ref> The fund continued for a number of years to secure the remaining land around the henge for the nation, with fundraising for Plot C continuing through 1929.<ref name=plots/>

The land was taken into the management of the [[National Trust]] to preserve. The last large aircraft hangar was removed in 1930,<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 August 1930 |title=Preservation of Stonehenge – Progress towards isolation |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001557/19300809/163/0008 |work=The Wiltshire Times |pages=8}}</ref> and by the middle of the 1930s the aerodrome site was cleared.<ref name="vch">{{Cite book |author-last1=Baggs |author-first1=A. P. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol15/pp13-55 |title=A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 15 |author-last2=Freeman |author-first2=Jane |author-last3=Stevenson |author-first3=Janet H. |date=1995 |publisher=University of London |editor-last=Crowley |editor-first=D. A. |series=[[Victoria County History]] |pages=13–55 |chapter=Amesbury |access-date=29 May 2024 |via=British History Online}}</ref>

More recently the land has been part of a grassland reversion scheme, returning the surrounding fields to native [[chalk grassland]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stonehengeconsultation.org/Stonehenge_Consultation_Booklet.pdf |title=The Future of Stonehenge: Public consultation |year=2008 |publisher=English Heritage |page=2 |access-date=18 July 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111202210539/http://www.stonehengeconsultation.org/Stonehenge_Consultation_Booklet.pdf |archive-date= 2 December 2011}}</ref> This process continued in 2022 when the National Heritage Lottery Fund (NHLF) gave a grant to the National Trust to acquire another 170 hectares of the Stonehenge Landscape.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Trust acquires land of exceptional archaeological importance around Stonehenge {{!}} National Heritage Memorial Fund |url=https://www.nhmf.org.uk/news/national-trust-acquires-land-exceptional-archaeological-importance-around-stonehenge |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=www.nhmf.org.uk}}</ref>

====Neopaganism====
[[File:Summer Solstice Sunrise over Stonehenge 2005.jpg|thumb|Sunrise at Stonehenge on the [[summer solstice]], 21 June 2005]]

During the twentieth century, Stonehenge began to revive as a place of religious significance, this time by adherents of [[Neopagan]]ism and [[New Age]] beliefs, particularly the [[Neo-druidism|Neo-druids]]. The historian [[Ronald Hutton]] would later remark that "it was a great, and potentially uncomfortable, irony that modern Druids had arrived at Stonehenge just as archaeologists were evicting the ancient Druids from it."<ref>[[#Hut09|Hutton 2009]]. p. 323.</ref> The first such Neo-druidic group to make use of the megalithic monument was the [[Ancient Order of Druids]], who performed a mass initiation ceremony there in August 1905, in which they admitted 259 new members into their organisation. This assembly was largely ridiculed in the press, who mocked the fact that the Neo-druids were dressed up in costumes consisting of white robes and fake beards.<ref>[[#Hut09|Hutton 2009]]. pp. 321–322.</ref>

[[File:Stonehenge84.jpg|thumb|Dancing inside the stones, 1984 [[Stonehenge Free Festival]]]]

The earlier rituals were complemented by the [[Stonehenge Free Festival]], loosely organised by the [[Polytantric Circle]], held between 1972 and 1984, during which time the number of midsummer visitors had risen to around 30,000.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rivers |first1=Julian |title=The Law of Organized Religions: Between Establishment and Secularism |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=231}}</ref> However, in 1985, the site was closed to festivalgoers by a [[High Court of Justice|High Court]] injunction.<ref name="Hallett 2014">{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27405147 |title=The battle scars of Stonehenge |last=Hallett |first=Emma |date=2014-06-20 |work=BBC News |access-date=2018-08-02 |language=en-GB |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721151620/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27405147 |archive-date=21 July 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> A consequence of the end of the festival in 1985 was the violent confrontation between the police and [[New Age travellers]] that became known as the [[Battle of the Beanfield]], when police blockaded a convoy of travellers to prevent them from approaching Stonehenge. Beginning in 1985, the year of the confrontation, no access was allowed into the stones at Stonehenge for any religious reason. This "exclusion-zone" policy continued for almost fifteen years: until just before the arrival of the twenty-first century, visitors were not allowed to go into the stones at times of religious significance, the [[Winter solstice|winter]] and [[Summer solstice|summer]] [[solstice]]s, and the vernal and autumnal [[equinox]]es.<ref name="bbc-faded">{{cite news |last=Hallett |first=Emma |title=Summer solstice: How the Stonehenge battles faded |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27405147 |access-date=19 January 2015 |work=BBC News |date=20 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150228101804/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27405147 |archive-date=28 February 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Following a [[European Court of Human Rights]] ruling obtained by campaigners such as [[Arthur Uther Pendragon]], the restrictions were lifted.<ref name="Hallett 2014" /> The ruling recognized that members of any genuine religion have a right to worship in their own church, and Stonehenge is a place of worship to Neo-Druids, [[paganism|Pagans]] and other "Earth based' or 'old' religions.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Guide_Art_9_ENG.pdf |title=Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion |access-date=25 June 2020 |archive-date=30 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630132911/https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Guide_Art_9_ENG.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Meetings were organised by the [[National Trust]] and others to discuss the arrangements.{{r|English}} In 1998, a party of 100 people was allowed access and these included astronomers, archaeologists, Druids, locals, pagans and travellers.{{r|English}} In 2000, an open summer solstice event was held and about seven thousand people attended.{{r|English}} In 2001, the numbers increased to about 10,000.<ref name="English">{{Cite journal |last=English |first=Penny |date=2002-06-01 |title=Disputing stonehenge: Law and access to a national symbol  |journal=Entertainment Law |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1080/14730980210001730401  }}</ref> {{See also|Summer Solstice at Stonehenge}}

====Setting and access====
[[File:Stonehenge cloudy sunset.jpg|thumb|Stonehenge at sunset]]

When Stonehenge was first opened to the public it was possible to walk among and even climb on the stones, but the stones were roped off in 1977 as a result of serious erosion.<ref>[http://www.worldarchaeologicalcongress.org/site/news_rece_ston.php ''Proposals for a tunnel at Stonehenge: an assessment of the alternatives''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515200510/https://www.worldarchaeologicalcongress.org/site/news_rece_ston.php|date=15 May 2008 }}. ''The World Archaeological Congress''</ref> Visitors are no longer permitted to touch the stones but are able to walk around the monument from a short distance away. [[English Heritage]] does, however, permit access during the summer and winter solstice, and the spring and autumn equinox. Additionally, visitors can make special bookings to access the stones throughout the year.<ref>[http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.877 "Planning Your Visit to Stonehenge"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210044652/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.877|date=10 February 2008 }}. English Heritage</ref> Approximately 30,000 local residents are entitled to free admission to Stonehenge under an agreement made in 1921.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/plan-your-visit/stonehenge-local-residents-pass/ |title=Local Residents Pass |website=English Heritage |access-date=14 February 2021 |archive-date=27 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427082831/https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/plan-your-visit/stonehenge-local-residents-pass/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

As motorised traffic increased, the setting of the monument began to be affected by the proximity of the two roads – on the north side the [[A344 road (England)|A344]] to [[Shrewton]] and Devizes which passed within three metres of the [[Heel Stone]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Chippindale |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Chippindale |date=June 1985 |title=Notes & News |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/notes-news/63D346B5BA81592C3BF72E8C5EF4E98F |journal=[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity]] |language=en |volume=59 |issue=226 |pages=113–137 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00056933 |issn=0003-598X |url-access=registration}}</ref> and to the south the [[A303 road|A303]], a trunk route connecting London with Devon and Cornwall. In 1979, the [[Department of the Environment (United Kingdom)|Department of the Environment]] proposed moving visitor facilities into the dip of Stonehenge Bottom. In 1985, a commission set up by English Heritage led to an unimplemented decision to close the A344 and build a visitor centre on Army land north of the monument, to replace the "woefully inadequate" facilities and cater for an expected one million visitors per year.<ref name=":0" />

The access situation and the proximity of the two roads continued to draw criticism, highlighted by a 2006 [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] survey. In the survey of conditions at 94 leading World Heritage Sites, 400 conservation and tourism experts ranked Stonehenge 75th in the list of destinations, declaring it to be "in moderate trouble".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/troubled-stonehenge-lacks-magic-422736.html |title=Troubled Stonehenge 'lacks magic' |work=The Independent |location=UK |access-date=11 April 2009 |first=Cahal |last=Milmo |date=3 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220094235/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/troubled-stonehenge-lacks-magic-422736.html |archive-date=20 December 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> The controversy surrounding re-routing of the roads led to the scheme being cancelled on multiple occasions. In December 2007, the government announced that plans to build a [[Stonehenge road tunnel]] under the landscape and create a permanent visitors' centre had been cancelled on cost grounds.<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm071206/debtext/71206-0003.htm#07120645000002 ''A303 Stonehenge Road Scheme''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171120093753/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm071206/debtext/71206-0003.htm#07120645000002|date=20 November 2017 }} [[Hansard]] report of proceedings in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] 6 December 2007</ref>

[[File:Stonehenge visitors centre.png|thumb|upright=1.2|The visitor centre at Stonehenge]]

In 2009, the government gave approval for a £25&nbsp;million scheme to create a smaller visitors' centre and close the A344, although this was dependent on funding and local authority planning consent.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/8047968.stm |title=Stonehenge Centre gets Go-Ahead |date=13 May 2009 |work=BBC News |access-date=19 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090518021733/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/8047968.stm |archive-date=18 May 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2010, Wiltshire Council granted planning permission for a centre {{convert|1.5|mi|km|abbr=in}} to the west, and English Heritage confirmed that funds to build it would be available, supported by a £10m grant from the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Stonehenge development saved by lottery's £10m |last=Morris |first=Steven |date=19 November 2010 |work=The Guardian |location=UK |page=14}}</ref> In June 2013, the A344 was closed to begin the work of removing the section of road and replacing it with grass.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=BBC |date=24 June 2013 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-23026522 |title=Stonehenge permanent road closure work begins |location=UK |access-date=24 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130628045725/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-23026522 |archive-date=28 June 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |title=End in sight after 'decades of dithering' as Government steps in to help secure future for Stonehenge |publisher=[[Department of Culture, Media and Sport]] |date=4 April 2011 |url=http://www.dcms.gov.uk/news/media_releases/8019.aspx |access-date=5 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006090552/http://www.dcms.gov.uk/news/media_releases/8019.aspx |archive-date=6 October 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> The centre, designed by [[Denton Corker Marshall]], opened to the public in December 2013.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stonehenge Visitor Centre by Denton Corker Marshall opens tomorrow |url=http://www.dezeen.com/2013/12/17/stonehenge-visitor-centre-by-denton-corker-marshall-opens-tomorrow/ |work=dezeen |date=17 December 2013 |access-date=18 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217173447/http://www.dezeen.com/2013/12/17/stonehenge-visitor-centre-by-denton-corker-marshall-opens-tomorrow/ |archive-date=17 December 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

An announcement in November 2020 stated that a plan to construct a four-lane tunnel to take traffic below the site had been approved. This was intended to eliminate the section of the A303 that runs close to the circle. The plan had received opposition from a group of "archaeologists, environmentalists and modern-day druids" according to ''[[National Geographic]]'' but was supported by others who wanted to "restore the landscape to its original setting and improve the experience for visitors". Opponents of the plan were concerned that artifacts that are underground in the area would be lost, or that excavation in the area could de-stabilize the stones, leading to their sinking, shifting or perhaps falling.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/11/controversial-tunnel-under-stonehenge-approved-over-archaeologists-objections/ |title=Controversial tunnel under Stonehenge approved over archaeologists' objections |date=12 November 2020 |work=National Geographic |access-date=1 December 2020 |quote=Supporters say the highway tunnel will relieve traffic congestion ... Opponents fear the loss of ancient artifacts still hidden underground. |archive-date=12 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212172109/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/controversial-tunnel-under-stonehenge-approved-over-archaeologists-objections?cmpid=org%253Dngp%253A%253Amc%253Dcrm-email%253A%253Asrc%253Dngp%253A%253Acmp%253Deditorial%253A%253Aadd%253DHistory_20201130&rid=D3C472AF93F8A8BCEE95284AEEFA77AA |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Art News">{{cite web |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/highway-tunnel-stonehenge-new-discoveries-1942259/amp-page |title=Archaeological Excavations Near Stonehenge Have Turned Up Ancient Graves and Scores of Other Fascinating Discoveries |date=8 February 2021 |work=Art News |access-date=10 February 2021 |quote= |archive-date=9 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209020457/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/highway-tunnel-stonehenge-new-discoveries-1942259/amp-page |url-status=live }}</ref> In July 2023, the [[Department for Transport]] announced that, despite the original planning application having been overturned by the High Court in 2021, the Transport Secretary, [[Mark Harper]], had approved plans for a {{Convert|2|mile|adj=on}} road tunnel.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jenkins |first= Sammy |title=Stonehenge tunnel is approved by government |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-66201424 |date=14 July 2023 |website=BBC News |access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> In February 2024, the High Court in London rejected a fresh bid by campaigners to stop construction of the road tunnel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stonehenge: Campaigners lose court challenge to tunnel plans – DW – 02/20/2024 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/stonehenge-campaigners-lose-court-challenge-to-tunnel-plans/a-68302773 |access-date=2024-02-20 |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref> A further legal challenge was made in the High Court in July 2024.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Topham |first1=Gwyn |title=Ministers 'inadequately briefed' on alternatives to Stonehenge tunnel plan, lawyers argue|date=15 July 2024 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/15/stonehenge-tunnel-plan-alternatives-high-court |website=theguardian.com |publisher=Guardian |access-date=17 July 2024}}</ref> Although this action was dismissed by the High Court in October 2024,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-17 |title=Campaigners 'would have lost Stonehenge legal challenge' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjwd5z9ppxno |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> the [[Starmer ministry|incoming Labour government]] had already announced in July that the tunnel would 'not move forward'.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-29 |title=Stonehenge tunnel scheme cancelled by government |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0jq8pxg0weo |access-date=2024-10-26 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Hakimian |first=Rob |date=2024-07-29 |title=Stonehenge Tunnel among infrastructure projects axed by government in budget overhaul |url=https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/stonehenge-tunnel-among-infrastructure-projects-axed-by-government-in-budget-overhaul-29-07-2024/ |access-date=2024-10-26 |magazine=New Civil Engineer |language=en}}</ref>

In March 2025, English Heritage announced that planning permission had been granted for two buildings to be constructed near the visitor facilities: a 'Learning Centre' to the east of the shuttle bus turning circle and a 'Neolithic classroom' near the existing recreated Neolithic village. These are due to open in the autumn of 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-20 |title=Two new buildings to be built near Stonehenge by English Heritage |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlxw9d25jwo |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Stonehenge Education Project |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/school-visits/stonehenge-education-project/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=English Heritage}}</ref>

====Vandalism====

The site has suffered vandalism intermittently for centuries. Until the 17th century, stones disappeared from the site, to be employed at building sites.<ref>{{cite journal |access-date=3 July 2024 |archive-date=7 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707013904/http://www.worldarchaeologicalcongress.org/site/news_rece_ston.php |author1=Robert Layton |author2=Julian Thomas |date=1999 |language=en |periodical=[[World Archaeological Congress]] |quote=Up until the 17th century stones occasionally went missing to help build bridges or houses |title=Proposals for a tunnel at Stonehenge: an assessment of the alternatives |url=http://www.worldarchaeologicalcongress.org/site/news_rece_ston.php}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>  In the 19th century, tourists employed chisels to cut rock chips off the megaliths as souvenirs.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news |access-date=3 July 2024 |date=22 May 2008 |language=en |quote=At one time, chisels would be handed to people visiting Stonehenge, so they could chip away at the ancient monument to get their own souvenirs. But the practice has been outlawed since 1900 |title=Chisels once given at Stonehenge |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/7414750.stm |work=[[BBC]]}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

Although the first years of the ''Free Festival'' (annual, from 1975 onwards) saw "very little vandalism", Stonehenge had to be fenced off from 1978 onwards.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Barbara Bender |author2=Mark Edmonds |date=December 1992 |title=Stonehenge: whose past? What past? |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/026151779290001N |language=en |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |volume=13 |pages=356–357 |doi=10.1016/0261-5177(92)90001-N |issn=0261-5177 |access-date=3 July 2024 |quote=In the early years of the Free Festival the authorities remained tolerant.  After 1978 they roped off the stones inner sanctum towards the Heel […] There was very little vandalism |number=4 |periodical=Tourism Management}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>  Later, repeated vandalism in the 1980s and 1990s led the authorities to deploy up to hundreds of police, erect barriers around Stonehenge, and impose exclusion zones up to six kilometres from the archaeological monument.<ref name="TCR">{{cite journal |author1=Humphrys, Geoffrey |date=June 1994 |title=Stonehenge – June's flashpoint |language=en |volume=264 |page=309 |issn=0010-7565 |quote=Repeated vandalism has led to a barrier being erected around the stones, and during the past four years a four-mile exclusion zone has been enforced from June 11 to June 24 |number=1541 |periodical=[[The Contemporary Review]]}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref name="Numen">{{cite journal |author1=Carole M. Cusack |date=2012 |title=Charmed Circle: Stonehenge, Contemporary Paganism, and Alternative Archaeology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23244956 |language=en |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=59 |pages=148–149 |issn=0029-5973 |access-date=2 July 2024 |quote=in 1984 […] Vandalism occurred |number=2 y 3 |periodical=[[Numen (journal)|Numen]]|jstor=23244956 }}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>  The vandalism of 1984 included defacing the monument with purple spray paint.<ref>{{cite magazine |author1=LAURA MILLER |date=21 April 2014 |title=Romancing The Stones |language=en |volume=90 |page=48 |issn=0028-792X |quote=archeologists tolerated Druid rituals at Stonehenge […] By 1984 […]  vandalism: "People were climbing all over the stones and spray-painting them purple." |number=9 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The government went so far as to close Stonehenge to protect it from vandalism, but in the face of public outcry the government opted to re-open it.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Patricia Monaghan |date=1 November 2008 |title=Stonehenge by Rosemary Hill |publisher=[[American Library Association]] |volume=105 |page=13 |issn=0006-7385 |quote=it was built several millennia before the Celts with their druid priests arrived on British shores? For several hundred years, people have believed that Stonehenge is connected to the druids, so ardently that public outcry eventually drove the government, which had closed the monument to keep it from vandalism and other deterioration, reopened it |number=5 |periodical=[[Booklist]]}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

In 2008, two men used a hammer and a screwdriver to take a small chip the size of a [[10p coin]] from the side of the Heel Stone, in what authorities described as "the first vandalism in decades".<ref>{{cite news |date=22 May 2008 |title=Souvenir hunters vandalise Stonehenge |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/may/22/conservation.archaeology |access-date=3 July 2024 |work=[[The Guardian]] |language=en |agency=Press Association}}</ref>

In 2020, the British transport minister was accused of vandalism when he decided that the road through the Stonehenge area would be converted into a tunnel that would pass in the immediate vicinity.<ref>{{cite news |title=Stonehenge tunnel: Campaigners raise funds for legal challenge |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-55485482 |access-date=3 July 2024 |work=[[BBC]] |date=31 December 2020 |language=en |quote=«wanton vandalism of one of the world's most iconic heritage sites»}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=13 November 2020 |language=en |page=19 |quote=The road past Stonehenge will be put in a tunnel, the Transport Secretary has decreed, enraging those who declare it vandalism |title=Under Stonehenge |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The project was decades old, but had repeatedly been delayed because of its cost or the effects on archaeological remains.<ref>{{cite news |author1=PHILIP JOHNSTON |date=19 July 2023 |language=en |page=16 |quote=the Government gave the go-ahead for a project that has been talked about for decades but has been rejected as archaeological vandalism or just too costly |title=The scandalous Stonehenge tunnel is a very British waste of taxpayer money |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The historian [[Tom Holland (author)|Tom Holland]] opined that "To inflict this act of vandalism on this landscape seems unbelievable."<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Craig Simpson |date=18 February 2021 |language=en |page=10 |periodical=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |quote=Tom Holland, the historian and president of the alliance, told The Daily Telegraph: "To inflict this act of vandalism on this landscape seems unbelievable |title=Stonehenge campaigners to take tunnel project to court}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>  Tunnel opponents considered it "state-sponsored vandalism" even as their case was defeated in court in 2024.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Mark Hallam |title=Stonehenge: Campaigners lose court challenge to tunnel plans |url=https://www.dw.com/en/stonehenge-campaigners-lose-court-challenge-to-tunnel-plans/a-68302773 |access-date=3 July 2024 |work=[[Deutsche Welle]] |date=2024-02-20 |language=en |quote=this judgement is a huge blow and exposes the site to National Highway's state-sponsored vandalism}}</ref>

[[File:Vlcsnap at 0010-VIDEO 19062024 JustStopOil Stonehenge.png|thumb|[[Just Stop Oil]] protestors vandalising Stonehenge]]
On 19 June 2024, [[Climate movement|climate protesters]] from [[Just Stop Oil]] vandalised three of the [[standing stones]] by spraying orange cornflour powder paint onto them. [[English Heritage]] called the defacement "extremely upsetting" and began an investigation to assess the damage caused by the paint,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ott |first=Haley |date=2024-06-19 |title=Stonehenge sprayed with orange paint by Just Stop Oil activists demanding U.K. "phase out fossil fuels" |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stonehenge-just-stop-oil-protest-activists-spray-orange-paint-demand-uk-stop-fossil-fuel/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240619135458/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stonehenge-just-stop-oil-protest-activists-spray-orange-paint-demand-uk-stop-fossil-fuel/ |archive-date=2024-06-19 |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}}</ref> before removing it with blown air and reporting that there was "no visible damage" to the stones.<ref name="bbcstone">{{cite news |last1=Boobyer |first1=Leigh |date=19 June 2024 |title=Stonehenge covered in powder paint by Just Stop Oil protesters |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw44mdee0zzo |access-date=22 June 2024 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Stonehenge – Just Stop Oil protest |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about-us/search-news/pr-stonehenge--just-stop-oil-protest/ |access-date=2024-08-16 |website=English Heritage}}</ref> The English Heritage webpage for Stonehenge calls for visitors to respect the stones since they form a [[World Heritage Site]], a [[Scheduled Ancient Monument]], and a place sacred to many.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Please respect the stones |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/things-to-do/solstice/respect-the-stones/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620001804/https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/things-to-do/solstice/respect-the-stones/ |archive-date=2024-06-20 |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=English Heritage}}</ref> Conversely, [[Sarah Kerr]], a lecturer in archaeology at [[University College Cork]], noted that the [[effects of climate change]] pose a much greater threat to Stonehenge and other British heritage sites than Just Stop Oil's protest, which was washed away without causing damage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kerr |first=Sarah |date=2024-06-21 |title=Stonehenge protest: if you worry about damage to British heritage you should listen to Just Stop Oil |url=http://theconversation.com/stonehenge-protest-if-you-worry-about-damage-to-british-heritage-you-should-listen-to-just-stop-oil-232934 |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref>
{{See also|Just Stop Oil#Stonehenge}}