New £27m Stonehenge visitor centre is revealed

[Blackleaf]

Stonehenge's new £27 million visitor attraction has been unveiled to the world.​

Scaffolding surrounding the new structure has been removed to reveal a single-storey building which is hidden out of sight of Stonehenge in a natural hollow 1.5 miles away from what is probably the world's most famous prehistoric monument.​

The long-awaited centre promises to give visitors a 360 degree virtual experience of 'standing in the stones' and is the largest capital project ever undertaken by English Heritage.​

It also promises a gallery and museum in which theories about Stonehenge will be presented alongside prehistoric artefacts found near the ancient monument.​

Set to open on December 18, the attraction will welcome visitors and pilgrims who make the journey to Amesbury (the Wiltshire village, where Henry III's wife Eleanor of Provence died in 1291, within whose parish Stonehenge lies) for the winter solstice. Contary to the beliefs of those revellers, including druids, who gather at Stonehenge to welcome the sun rise on the summer solstice, it is believed by experts that Stonehenge was used to catch the rays of the SETTING sun on WINTER solstice, the shortest day of the year.​

The nearby A344 road, which carried cars, juggernauts and other traffic right past Stonehenge, has also been grassed over as part of the project.​

The new face of Stonehenge: New visitor centre and a return to nature revealed​

The visitor centre will be open by December this year
It is the biggest ever building project undertaken by English Heritage
The site is strategically placed to be out of sight from the famous stones

By Aaron Sharp

30 September 2013 ​

Daily Mail

A new £27m visitor centre at Stonehenge, three decades in the making, has finally been unveiled to the world after scaffolding surrounding the sleek structure was taken down.​

The attraction has been plagued with years of planning rows, funding problems and a number of projects were scrapped following government cost-cutting. ​

But yesterday the steel frames masking the project were finally removed to reveal a single-storey building which is hidden out of sight of the ancient monument in a natural hollow.​

Grand unveiling: The £27m single storey building is finally due to open in December​

Final touches: The building, in Wiltshire, has been carefully designed to blend in with the famous local landscape​

Sleek: The centre promises to give visitors a 360 degree 'virtual view' of standing inside the stones​

The long-awaited centre promises to give visitors a 360 degree virtual experience of 'standing in the stones' and is the largest capital project ever undertaken by English Heritage.​

It also promises a gallery in which theories about Stonehenge will be presented alongside prehistoric artefacts.​

The visitor centre is a major part of the redevelopment of the World Heritage Site and is carefully situated out of sight of the stones.

Set to open on December 18, the attraction will welcome visitors and pilgrims who make the journey to Amesbury for the winter solstice.​

Hidden: Despite the size of the new building it will remain out of site from Stonehenge due its position in a natural hollow​

Room with a view: The interior of the building will feature a virtual 360 degree view from inside the neolithic circle​

Almost 300 archaeological finds from the site, which have been loaned from a number of museums, will also go on public display, many for the first time.​

The first exhibition will examine 800 years of theories and debate about who constructed Stonehenge and when, from 12th century legends to radiocarbon dating reports in the 1950s.​

Down the road: An aerial view of the site shows how developers have managed to place the site nearby, without spoiling the immediate surroundings of Stonhenge​

Reclaimed: Grass is beginning to reclaim the now covered A344 which was closed as part of the redevelopment​

Out of sight: The building is placed strategically 1.5 miles away from the famous site so that it can't be seen from the stones​

Imposing: The frame of the building takes inspiration from the looming nature of the giant and mysterious neolithic structure​

​

How it will look upon completion​

Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said: 'This world famous monument, perpetually described as a mystery, finally has a place in which to tell its story.​

'The exhibition will change the way people experience and think about Stonehenge forever - beyond the cliches and towards a meaningful inquiry into an extraordinary human achievement in the distant past.​

'It will put at its centre the individuals associated with its creation and use and I am very proud with what we have to unveil to the world in December.'​

Before and after: The new site, shown above, drastically changed the original landscape around Stonehenge, below, but is designed in such a way that visitors at the actual site will not notice​

Read more: Stonehenge visitor centre: scaffolding comes down to unveil sleek structure | Mail Online ​

 

[Blackleaf]

A team of volunteers is recreating a piece of Neolithic history at the new Stonehenge visitor centre.

They are building five houses to give visitors an authentic glimpse of life at the time the World Heritage Site was constructed.

The 60-strong team - which includes a lawyer, teachers and a tour guide - are weaving hundreds of hazel rods through the main supporting stakes and thatching the roofs with hand-knotted wheat straw. Later, the walls will be covered with a daub of chalk, straw and water.

When completed in April, the three-month project will have used 20 tonnes of chalk as well as 5,000 rods of hazel and three tonnes of wheat straw.

The houses, which are being constructed outside the newly-opened visitor centre, are closely based on the remains of Neolithic houses discovered in 2006 and 2007 just a mile from Stonehenge at Durrington Walls.

Neolithic homes built at Stonehenge

By Press Association
20 Mar 2014

A team of volunteers is recreating a piece of Neolithic history at Stonehenge.

They are building five houses to give an authentic glimpse of life at the time the World Heritage Site was constructed.

The 60-strong team - which includes a lawyer, teachers and a tour guide - are weaving hundreds of hazel rods through the main supporting stakes and thatching the roofs with hand-knotted wheat straw. Later, the walls will be covered with a daub of chalk, straw and water.

When completed in April, the three-month project will have used 20 tonnes of chalk as well as 5,000 rods of hazel and three tonnes of wheat straw.

The volunteers have also helped in the collection of the coppiced hazel, in some cases using prehistoric-style tools such as flint axes.

The houses, which are being constructed outside the newly-opened visitor centre, are closely based on the remains of Neolithic houses discovered in 2006 and 2007 just a mile from Stonehenge at Durrington Walls.

Radiocarbon dates have shown that these buildings dated from around the same time the large sarsen stones were being put up at Stonehenge, in approximately 2,500 BC.

Experts believe the original occupants might have been involved with the construction of, and celebrations at, Stonehenge.

Remains of houses from the late Neolithic period are extremely rare in the British Isles, with others known only from Orkney and at a handful of other locations.

Those found at Durrington were remarkably well preserved and the excavation uncovered the floors of the houses and the stakeholes where the walls once stood, and provided valuable archaeological evidence for the size and layout of the re-created huts.

Each house contained a hearth, puddled chalk was used to make the floor and the spacing of the upright stakes suggests that hazel of about seven year growth was used to weave the walls.

The rare survival of the base of a possible wall may also provide evidence of the earliest use of chalk cob as building material in Britain.

Susan Greaney, senior properties historian at English Heritage, said: "One of the things we're trying to do at Stonehenge is to re-connect the ancient stones with the people that lived and worked in the surrounding landscape.

"We hope these houses will give visitors a real insight into what life was like at the time Stonehenge was built.

"They are the product of archaeological evidence, educated guess work, and a lot of hard physical work."

English Heritage is currently looking for volunteers to work inside the completed houses which will be furnished with replica Neolithic artefacts and lit with fires.

The volunteers will be on hand to talk to visitors about the project and to demonstrate the daily activities of our ancestors.

Neolithic homes built at Stonehenge - Weird World / News / Evening Express

 

[bill barilko]

This Just In-No One Cares.

 

[PoliticalNick]

I care. I'm going to be there in October and will be visiting the site. Looking forward to seeing it up close.

 

[DaSleeper]

Just as interesting as visiting Stomping Tom's old house in P.E.I.:roll:


Just a really, really old tourist trap........




Just so you know.......B.L. works for U.K Tourism.....:wink:

 

[PoliticalNick]

Just as interesting as visiting Stomping Tom's old house in P.E.I.:roll:


Just a really, really old tourist trap........




Just so you know.......B.L. works for U.K Tourism.....:wink:

You never know....I might be there just in time for the aliens return then I can offer up Blackie as sacrifice to save the rest of humanity. ;-)

 

[darkbeaver]

They are building five houses to give an authentic glimpse of life at the time the World Heritage Site was constructed.

Maybe they'll even discover when it was built someday.

 

[bill barilko]

Maybe they'll even discover when it was built someday.

Pigs might fly first-this is the Briddish you're talking about here.

 

[darkbeaver]

The British hadn't gotten down out of the trees till about eight thousand years after it was built.

 

[Locutus]

Sounds like a cool place. Does it have one of them muslim floor toilets and a transgender-dedicated washroom too?

 

[spaminator]

I wonder if they are going to spend any money rebuilding Stonehenge?

 

[Locutus]

Do they have the little model that Spinal Tap commissioned?

 

[Blackleaf]

The British hadn't gotten down out of the trees till about eight thousand years after it was built.

We were inventing the modern rule - and starting to RULE the world - when you lot in North America were still chucking spears about and worshipping animal spirits.