# Stonehenge 2014: Summer Solstice!!?



## Nigel (Jun 10, 2014)

Saw On Motorway Sign That They Are Expecting Heavy Traffic Around Summer Solstice On Roads Near Stonehenge.
Anyone know what's occurring?
http://www.stonehengecampsite.co.uk/Home/stonehenge-summer-solstice
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/stonehenge/2013/
http://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/whats-on/stonehenge-summer-solstice-2014-p639853
http://stonehengecampaign.org.uk/ffsc2014.htm


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## wiskey (Jun 10, 2014)

umm, I would imagine the same as every year ... only bigger because it is a weekend.


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## sim667 (Jun 11, 2014)

Yeah loads of people herded from the car park up to the stones..... Police acting militantly........ Lots of people get trashed but pretend not to be........ Bemused cyclists stop and have a look at 6 am............ everyone goes home.........


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## Chilli.s (Jun 11, 2014)

LOTS of people going this year.


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## Quartz (Jun 11, 2014)

sim667 said:


> Bemused cyclists stop and have a look at 6 am............



They'll be over an hour late. Sunrise will be around 04:42.


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## sim667 (Jun 11, 2014)

Quartz said:


> They'll be over an hour late. Sunrise will be around 04:42.


 
They go to look at the munted, not the sunrise.


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## albionism (Jun 11, 2014)

sim667 said:


> They go to look at the munted, not the sunrise.


fucking


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## wiskey (Jun 11, 2014)

sim667 said:


> Yeah loads of people herded from the car park up to the stones..... Police acting militantly........ Lots of people get trashed but pretend not to be........ Bemused cyclists stop and have a look at 6 am............ everyone goes home.........


You forgot the pissed off druids trying to be serious


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## Thora (Jun 11, 2014)

It's always much, much colder than you expect it will be.


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## twentythreedom (Jun 11, 2014)

It's always much shitter than you expect it to be too


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## goldenecitrone (Jun 11, 2014)

Isn't it six months too late? Lazy bastards.


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## Bob_the_lost (Jun 11, 2014)

4:50? Bah, can't be arsed to get up that early.


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## Greebo (Jun 11, 2014)

Bob_the_lost said:


> 4:50? Bah, can't be arsed to get up that early.


You don't get up, you stay up all night.


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 11, 2014)

goldenecitrone said:


> Isn't it six months too late? Lazy bastards.




^^^This

Stone'enge is all about the winter solstice inn'it.


And Avebury kicks the cunt off Stonehenge.


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## Bob_the_lost (Jun 11, 2014)

Greebo said:


> You don't get up, you stay up all night.


Them pagans are crazy.


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 11, 2014)

Greebo said:


> You don't get up, you stay up all night.



Fucking lightweights, try doing that in Reykjavik in December, now that's fooking hardcore.


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## Greebo (Jun 11, 2014)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> ^^^This
> 
> Stone'enge is all about the winter solstice inn'it. <snip>


The winter solstice light show would've been better if not for cowboy builders skimping on the materials.


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## TopCat (Jun 11, 2014)

wiskey said:


> You forgot the pissed off druids trying to be serious


Whole fucking family's of them in purple warped my head once. The mushrooms did not help.


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## JTG (Jun 12, 2014)

I went the other year when it hosed down all night, so much so that we couldn't see sunrise anyway. I got searched by Plod on the way in cos their pooch showed an interest, we had to use the disabled bogs to skin up and do lines in and my mate was interviewed live on BBC Radio Wiltshire at 5am whilst on mushrooms
Only 15000 there that rainy midweek. Fuck going there with the weekend fairweather crowd


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## zenie (Jun 12, 2014)

I loved it  Don't think I'm able to go this year 

Agree with Thora it is very very cold!


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## Chilli.s (Jun 12, 2014)

I reckon everyone should go and see the midsummer sunrise at Stonehenge at least once.


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## Sirena (Jun 12, 2014)

Avebury will be the more beautiful choice and it won't be nearly so crowded or policed. 

Once the dawn ceremony is done, there's the village and there's countryside to wander in and there's a nice pub for afterwards....   You could make a day of it - not like Stonehenge...


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## TopCat (Jun 13, 2014)

I went once with 50grams of cubensis and no warm clothes.


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## Sirena (Jun 13, 2014)

Sirena said:


> Avebury will be the more beautiful choice and it won't be nearly so crowded or policed.
> 
> Once the dawn ceremony is done, there's the village and there's countryside to wander in and there's a nice pub for afterwards....   You could make a day of it - not like Stonehenge...


Avebury at dawn this morning....


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## wiskey (Jun 13, 2014)

zenie said:


> Agree with Thora it is very very cold!



This is what always catches people out at festivals, it gets bloody cold between 3-5am


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## blossie33 (Jun 13, 2014)

I went the first year they reopened it to the public, 1997 was it?
I happened to be staying with relatives in Bournemouth so I went up on the coach as it wasn't too far. it was very cloudy though so not much good for the sunrise. Glad I made the effort though.


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## scalyboy (Jun 13, 2014)

Sirena said:


> Avebury at dawn this morning....


Great photo. The stone looks very 'warm'


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## Sirena (Jun 13, 2014)

scalyboy said:


> Great photo. The stone looks very 'warm'


Compare it to the cold, grey stones at Stonehenge....


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## scalyboy (Jun 13, 2014)

Sirena said:


> Compare it to the cold, grey stones at Stonehenge....


Stonehenge as 'city of the dead'? IIRC it had been a cemetery at some point. Avebury I reckon is more celebratory of life - the alternating male and female stones. Wish I was there now


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## tufty79 (Jun 13, 2014)

i'd love to visit avebury (esp. for solstice). stonehenge less so.


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## Nigel (Jun 14, 2014)

Found this on Facebook. Appears minibus going from London charging £50.00 return.​Doesn't sound bad. 


https://m.facebook.com/index.php?sr...f=2&arefdashboardfilter=upcoming&ref=bookmark


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## Greebo (Jun 14, 2014)

Nigel said:


> Found this on Facebook. Appears minibus going from London charging £50.00 return.<snip>​



Sod that.​


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## Sirena (Jun 14, 2014)

The link gives me my FB information..  Nothing to do with minibuses.


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## DrRingDing (Jun 14, 2014)

Yea fuck the huge amounts of filth at Stonehenge. You get a more interesting crowd at Avebury anyhoo.


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## Sirena (Jun 19, 2014)

Someone has been posting on pagan forums that (because they work for a government organization) there is intelligence that there will be an Islamic protest at Stonehenge on Saturday.

She got roundly shouted down as a propagandist but she was adamant that she was just passing on information.

I dunno how you're going to make a protest in the dark and in the milling throng of 20,000 people, nor how you're going to make your escape if the protest goes pear-shaped on you and a ton of right-wing bikers descend on you and your placards....


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## TopCat (Jun 19, 2014)

Is there much searching of people at Avebury?


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## Sirena (Jun 19, 2014)

TopCat said:


> Is there much searching of people at Avebury?


Probably not but, because the 'Keeper of the Stones' (a Druid guy called Terry Dobney) is an ex-biker, Avebury is far more popular with bikers.

Bikers tend to be fans of the Britain First facebook page.  So I don't know how that would turn out.....


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## TopCat (Jun 19, 2014)

I am hoping my bike will squeeze into the car park. Lively discussions with Britain First types I can do without.


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## friedaweed (Jun 20, 2014)

DrRingDing said:


> Yea fuck the huge amounts of filth at Stonehenge. .


Totally agree. Some of them hippy folks haven't washed for months


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## malatesta32 (Jun 20, 2014)

beanfield:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27405147
'I suppose one would call them anarchists'


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## Sirena (Jun 29, 2014)




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## treelover (Jun 29, 2014)

malatesta32 said:


> beanfield:
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27405147
> 'I suppose one would call them anarchists'




one day there may be an enquiry, the images clearly show police numbers, etc.


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## Sweet FA (Jun 29, 2014)

Sirena said:


>


"Thor you little sod, get off that sacred stone!"


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## malatesta32 (Jun 30, 2014)

treelover said:


> one day there may be an enquiry, the images clearly show police numbers, etc.



hmmm... dont hold out much hope on that. if a group is as diffuse as those attacked by plod and lack any 'political' representation in the mainstream then these things will sink.


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## Sirena (Jun 30, 2014)

malatesta32 said:


> hmmm... dont hold out much hope on that. if a group is as diffuse as those attacked by plod and lack any 'political' representation in the mainstream then these things will sink.


I think I agree.  It was 30 years ago but there are enough people around to make sure it does not sink into oblivion.  It can still be used as an example of what can happen when authority goes out of control.

I know someone who was there but she has moved on with her life.


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## treelover (Jun 30, 2014)

Apparently Matthew Wright(The Wright Stuff/ex Sun journalist) was there, he has certainly moved on.


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## Sirena (Jun 30, 2014)

treelover said:


> Apparently Matthew Wright(The Wright Stuff/ex Sun journalist) was there, he has certainly moved on.


That surprises me a bit though I see it is mentioned on the netz.

I can imagine some people tell the story a few times and then begin to remember it as though they were actually there....


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## Chilli.s (Jun 30, 2014)

I was there, the next day.  Having been a Stonehenge Festival goer for about 5 or 6 years I had loads of friends who were arrested at the beanfield. That year I had a job that I liked and knew that a month long festival was not an option. So I went to find people the next day, they had been taken to various police stations under various charges.

All in all, a sad thing, flushing away something that I still remember as a great peoples cultural event. The kind of thing that other countries would be proud of. Violent police riot squads, fresh from fighting pickets for the miners strike were set on a bunch of defenceless hippies. All part of Margret Thatcher and the Tory establishments plan to prevent it.

There was a court case, years later. Both sides claimed victory.


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## Dr Nookie (Jul 2, 2014)

I went this year for the very first time. It was ace! Bloody freezing overnight though!


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## Sirena (Jul 2, 2014)

Chilli.s said:


> I was there, the next day.  Having been a Stonehenge Festival goer for about 5 or 6 years I had loads of friends who were arrested at the beanfield. That year I had a job that I liked and knew that a month long festival was not an option. So I went to find people the next day, they had been taken to various police stations under various charges.
> 
> All in all, a sad thing, flushing away something that I still remember as a great peoples cultural event. The kind of thing that other countries would be proud of. Violent police riot squads, fresh from fighting pickets for the miners strike were set on a bunch of defenceless hippies. All part of Margret Thatcher and the Tory establishments plan to prevent it.
> 
> There was a court case, years later. Both sides claimed victory.



Wasn't there a background to the story to the effect that the Festival had been held there for something like 9 years and, if a 10th year was allowed, then the festival could not then be stopped under common law....  Something like that??


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## Dr Nookie (Jul 2, 2014)

Sirena said:


> Wasn't there a background to the story to the effect that the Festival had been held there for something like 9 years and, if a 10th year was allowed, then the festival could not then be stopped under common law....  Something like that??



I've read a few books on the Beanfield/Stonehenge and not heard that before. Interesting...!


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## Sirena (Jul 2, 2014)

CJ Stone is a good writer on alternative movements and the fringes of the pagan subculture.  He has also written a biography of King Arthur.

This is a good piece by him

http://cjstone.hubpages.com/hub/The-Stonehenge-Free-Festival


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## Dr Nookie (Jul 2, 2014)

Funnily enough I'm reading 'Fierce Dancing' by him as we speak! Oh the good old days....!


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## Sirena (Jul 2, 2014)

Dr Nookie said:


> Funnily enough I'm reading 'Fierce Dancing' by him as we speak! Oh the good old days....!


spooky...


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## fogbat (Jul 3, 2014)

Pretty sure this is what hell is going to be like for me.


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## Chilli.s (Jul 10, 2014)

Sirena said:


> Wasn't there a background to the story to the effect that the Festival had been held there for something like 9 years and, if a 10th year was allowed, then the festival could not then be stopped under common law....  Something like that??


 Yeah I remember that, some of the people who were clued up about squatting law, common land, public access and all that claimed it was true.


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## Sirena (Jul 10, 2014)

Chilli.s said:


> Yeah I remember that, some of the people who were clued up about squatting law, common land, public access and all that claimed it was true.


Ah, you see.  I wasn't being daft then...


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## Sirena (Feb 4, 2016)

English Heritage are beginning to wave their power around again.

They have had reports about damage to the stones caused by, among other things, onions and chewing gum  and they are wanting to bring in restrictions for the Summer Solstice..

EXCLUSIVE: English Heritage to ban alcohol at Stonehenge summer solstice - and charge for parking

Onions, crayons, chewing gum and oil - how Stonehenge got damaged at solstice time


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## DrRingDing (Feb 6, 2016)

Sirena said:


> English Heritage are beginning to wave their power around again.
> 
> They have had reports about damage to the stones caused by, among other things, onions and chewing gum  and they are wanting to bring in restrictions for the Summer Solstice..
> 
> ...



They're not really interested in our heritage. E.g. Celebrating the passing of the seasons. Just tiresome little englanders spending too much time on mail online.


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