A sentimental & practical guide to Amesbury and Stonehenge

by Lady Florence Caroline Mathilde Sartoris Antrobus

(3) That stones 6 and 7 with their lintel, and stone 56 (according to the numbering on Mr. Petrie’s plan) be first examined, with a view of maintaining them in a position of safety.

(4) That, in the opinion of this Committee, stone 22 should be replaced, stone 21 be made safe, and the lintel of 21 and 22 be replaced in the most safe and conservative manner. The Committee also recommends the re-erection of stones 57 and 58, and their lintel 158.

(5) That the instructions to custodians already in force be approved with a few suggested alterations.

(6) That this Committee feels that it is impossible to overstate the value of the assistance which the County Council of Amesbury can give to the efforts made to preserve this unique monument.

(7) That these resolutions be sent to Sir Edmund Antrobus with the earnest thanks of the Committee, for the part he is proposing to take in the preservation of Stonehenge, also that it be left to him to communicate with the Press.

The fence was erected by Whitsuntide, and is 1700 yards in circumference, and composed of lightest barbed wire of a neutral tint, and absolutely invisible at a distance, so that the traveller gets the whole effect of Stonehenge in its full grandeur instead of, as in former days, the view of the stones mingled with two or three flys, a cart, an old waggonette, and photographer’s van, &c., to say nothing of picnic luncheons, spread out within the sacred circle. This fence encloses as large an area as possible, being well outside the vallum, except on the west side, where a right of way interferes with the true circle. The next work undertaken—the most difficult and important of the whole—was the raising of the “leaning stone”—the largest monolith in England except Cleopatra’s needle—to an upright position. This stone formed one of the uprights of the trilithon, the fall of which was said to have been caused by the digging and researches of the Duke of Buckingham in 1620. The horizontal and the other upright (the latter broken in two pieces) now lie prostrate across the altar stone.

The great stone leaned considerably towards the N.E. and appeared to rest upon (actually touching at one point) a beautiful little pillar stone of syenite, the danger being that in some storm, especially after a heavy fall of snow and sudden thaw, the great stone would break in three pieces (having three veins) in falling, and also crush the smaller stone beneath it.

That a forward movement was continually taking place is shown by observations taken by Mr. Flinders Petrie some years ago. It then leaned at an angle of 66, which has been increased to one of 60.5 degrees lately. The work of the raising of the stone was begun on August 18th and finished September 25th, and was under the direct supervision of Mr. Gowland, Mr. Detmar Blow, architect, and his assistant Mr. Stallybrass, and Mr. Carruthers, engineer. The first thing done was to make a fitting to the stone of a strong timber cradle, so as to protect it from injury by the immense iron chains and ropes placed round it, these being attached to winches worked by men, so that the stone was actually “wound up,” so to speak, into an upright position. Hydraulic jacks were also used. The whole thing was most carefully and slowly done, and devotedly watched over by the workers. A rectangular excavation was made in front of the stone, a square excavation at the back. A frame of wood with numbers at equal distances apart was placed over the ground, which was excavated in sections, and the earth was most carefully sifted in layers through four grades of sieves in such a manner that the position of every object found could be recorded. The excavations round the base of the stone are now filled with concrete, and the large struts which uphold it will remain in their positions for six months, until the concrete be thoroughly set.

The objects found were one Roman coin and one George III. penny at a shallow depth, and many chippings of both the blue and sarsen stones. Numerous flint axe-heads and large stone hammers were also found at a depth of from two feet to four feet six inches underground; all tending to prove the great antiquity of Stonehenge—at least Neolithic. But all this will be discussed scientifically later on.