Representation by Pete Glastonbury
- Date submitted
- 11 January 2019
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I have been visiting stonehenge since I was a teenager in the 1970's. I attended the festivals in the summer over the solstice period. I am worried that I will no longer be able to see the stones from A303 when I journey back home to the westcountry and that it is a a view my children and grandchildren will no longer have. I am also annoyed that the fee's for visiting are going up at a frightening rate. I have been photographing the moon rising and setting from inside and around the stones since 2001 when the renound author and astronomer Prof [redacted] hired me to take photograohs of the moonrising over the heelstone at it's stand still point. Prof [redacted] also asked [redacted] and [redacted] to accompany me along with UK archaeologist [redacted] . Since then I have been visiting on a regular basic to moniter the moons relationship with the stones. I helped the BBC's Sky at Night program record a show titled Solstice inside Stonehenge on the summer solstice of 2013. We were helped by Prof [redacted] and English Heritage staff member [redacted]. Since then I have taken groups of astronomers inside to witness the lunar events. The total lunar eclipse of september 2015 was a huge success that included astronomers from NASA and ESA and guests from China and Australia. If the tunnel is allowed to go ahead and the public lose a free sight of the stones and access to the surrounding land to view such events this research will end unless a huge price is payed to English Heritage for access to the site. Some lunar events are best viewed from outside the stones. I am also alarmed that the tunnel will cause a huge amount of damage to unknown archaeology below ground that has not yet been discovered such as the shafts found in the center of barrows at sites like Wilsford. This damage would be unforgivable to future generations of archaologists. Finaly the site is a WHS and I understand UNESCO are against the tunnel and I fully support them. Mr Pete Glastonbury