Editing Stonehenge (section)

====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}}