Thread by @OliSmithTravel

Tonight thousands will gather at Stonehenge in an ancient tradition... which isn't ancient at all. It's being going on for just 24 years. The modern story of Stonehenge involves sacramental LSD, police brutality and a young Keir Starmer. It is fascinating. A solstice thread/1

For a starting point, let's turn to the antiquary William Stukeley. In the 1740s he wrote the 'principal line of the whole work [orientates to] where abouts the sun rises, when the days are longest.'
In other words: he was the first to identify Stonehenge's solstice alignment./2

Stukeley also claimed Stonehenge was a Temple of the Druids. He got this bit wrong. Stonehenge has its origins ≈5,000 years ago – the Druids known to the Romans are actually closer in time to ourselves than they were to those first builders of Stonehenge. No matter because... /3

... Stukeley's writing became a self-fulfilling prophecy. By the start of the 20th century, the site had become a centre of neo-Druidic worship. Despite zero historical evidence linking Stonehenge to ancient druids, modern druids sought to reimagine 'ancient' rituals there 4/

This Guardian story from 1924 is fascinating reading – speaking of druids for whom Stonehenge became "the Mecca of their faith," & who were burying ashes of their deceased children by the monument. Misguided maybe – but by now, a shrine had been claimed 5/theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/s…

Through the first half of the 20th century summer solstice ticked along at Stonehenge, with fairly small crowds. There were druids, but also curious spectators & people dancing. There were jazz performances, coffee stands. Nearby pubs did a brisk trade. It was a fun day out. 6/

But then, in 1974, something seismic happened – because of this man. The ward of a BBC newsreader called Philip Russell – though he was pretty much known to everyone as 'Wally Hope.' 7/

Wally Hope had an vision of a "free festival" to take place at summer solstice – "free" because it lacked any central authority, cost nothing to enter and was essentially a great gathering – just like the ones he believed had taken place at the monument in prehistory... 8/

His 'HQ' for the Stonehenge Free Festival was Dial House: a cottage in Essex. His co-founder for the festival was Penny Rimbaud. Penny still lives in Dial House today, a full 50 years on. He told me "[Wally] was aware instinctively, intuitively, of the meaning of that place.’ 9/

The festival got off to a slow start, with a few hundred hippies attending in 1974. By the late 1970s it was in the thousands. And by 1984 there were between 70,000-100,000 attendees. An temporary city a little smaller than Exeter had suddenly sprung up on Salisbury Plain. 10/

Wally Hope wanted to make the festival a spiritual event –he invited the Pope and the Duke of Edinburgh to take part in sun worship with him at Stonehenge. LSD was his sacrament. But he never saw it flower. Wally Hope tragically died aged 28: the official verdict was suicide. /11

Penny Rimbaud believes Wally was 'taken out' by the authorities for unleashing such a revolutionary force. In any case at subsequent festivals Wally's ashes were paraded around the stones in this box revered like the relics of a saint. It is emblazoned 'a Victim of Ignorance' /12

The free festival did not end well. In 1985, English Heritage and National Trust announced they would not allow people to celebrate solstice on their land in future. But convoys of New Age travellers were still bound for Stonehenge regardless. A reckoning was coming... /13

The "Battle of the Beanfield" saw New Age Travellers intercepted by Wiltshire Constabulary, and brutally attacked, with their vehicles (their homes) destroyed. Oddly, the main witness to the bloodshed was David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan... /14 theguardian.com/artanddesign/2…

He was a figure of the establishment who bore witness to an attack on the pilgrims bound for Stonehenge. "Of course there was malice," he told me. "I can never see a policeman in the same light ever again. I’ve never seen the world the same way again.’ /15

The Battle of the Beanfield was part of the social upheavals of the 80s – e.g. Miners' Strike. But it was also about the magnetism of Stonehenge – a monument which for 10 years had drawn vast crowds of pilgrims, maybe for the first time since prehistory. The festival was over /16

Through the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s Stonehenge was off-limits during solstice. Barbed wire and road blocks were part of an 'exclusion zone' enforced to deter solstice pilgrims. The site was less like Wiltshire, more like Checkpoint Charlie. But new rebels emerged /17

Foremost among them this man: born John Timothy Rothwell, but better known as Arthur Uther Pendragon. He has stated he believes he is the reincarnation of the legendary king. Throughout the 90s, he maintained a vigil outside Stonehenge in protest at the exclusion zone /18

He chained the doors of English Heritage head office shut. He was involved in a long series of legal proceedings, related to his right to be at Stonehenge at solstice. In 1995 he was successfully defended by Keir Starmer against charges of trespassory assembly at Stonehenge. /19

It was, however, a separate ruling by the House of Lords that meant that, in the year 2000, the exclusion zone was finally lifted, and people could finally visit Stonehenge for summer solstice once again. The story here: /20 news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/374009…

For the past 24 years, English Heritage has pursued a policy of 'managed open access ' at summer solstice. Unlike ordinary visits, people are free to walk among the stones. Many touch them or (sadly) climb on them. For lots of people it is certainly a party. But for others... /21

...summer solstice remains a sacred & transcendent experience. A moment to meditate on the passage of time: on those things that are ephemeral and those that are everlasting, like the stones themselves. The ritual may be a new one, but it is still a valid one. /22

Old stones like Stonehenge retain a power. They ask nothing of you, have no written creed. You can see what you want to see in them. At midsummer, you can find comfort in crowds, and clarity in the first rays of a solstice dawn. /23

For more on the story of this modern pilgrimage (and others like it) - this is my book, On This Holy Island, published by Bloomsbury in the UK and shortly by Pegasus in the US. Thanks for reading the thread. Happy solstice. bloomsbury.com/uk/on-this-hol…

Images credits: Andrew Dunn, Simon King, the wonderful poster by Roger Hutchinson, Salix alba, Basil & Tracy Brooks on flickr, Richard Avery, Sanjay Nair, Chris Brown, Ann Wuyts, some images are my own.

If you want to read more, may I suggest Shibboleth by Penny Rimbaud, Andy Worthington's excellent Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion. And for the far bigger picture: Pagan Britain by the great Ronald Hutton.