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Seahenge may star in town museum

Submitted by Vicky on Wednesday, 19 November 2003  Page Views: 5757

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Seahenge
Seahenge submitted by Andy B : The original 'Seahenge', now removed to safety, but much remains on Holme beach. Photo copyright English Heritage, used with permission (Vote or comment on this photo)
Norfolk's famous Bronze Age timber circle finally looks set to find a home in the west of the county. There are plans to make Seahenge the centre point of a £800,000 redevelopment of the Lynn Museum in King's Lynn.

Norfolk museum's and archaeological service is bidding for Lottery cash to fund the scheme, and approached the Holme Timber Circle Working Group (HTCWG) with their idea to house Seahenge. The group has representatives from organisations such as Holme Parish Council, King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council and the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and acts as an advisory group on the future of the timbers.

After discussion at a meeting on Thursday night, they welcomed the proposals and backed the plan. The plan was publicly announced for the first time at a meeting of the Norfolk joint museums committee yesterday.

Dr Robin Handley, area museums officer for West Norfolk, said if the plan comes off it would "really put Lynn museum on the map".

"Redisplay in the museum gives us a wonderful opportunity to produce a setting for the Holme timbers here in Norfolk," he said.

"Local people and visitors will be able to get close to the timbers while also seeing some of the many objects of the period already housed in the museum.

"This would really put Lynn museum on the map and we'd get the best of the internationally-significant find and meet the desire of local people to see archaeology in their local museum."

Dr Handley added that only a third, or about 20 of the smaller timber posts could be housed in the museum as well as the large centre post, on the ground floor.

More: Norfolk Now

Note: Update: decisions have been made as to how the timbers will displayed - see comment below.
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"Seahenge may star in town museum" | Login/Create an Account | 13 News and Comments
  
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Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Anonymous on Friday, 06 January 2012
have they actually discovered anything by removing the tree from the earth? I was appalled when they dug it up and since then have often wondered...why? Has it been worth such an act of desecration?
[ Reply to This ]

marking Seahenge by Anonymous on Monday, 05 December 2011
If the timbers re not to be replaced, is their original location going to be marked by concrete posts, etc, for the future? Okay, it's going under water now, but who's to say where the tideline will be in 500 or a thousand years' time. It would be nice to have the place marked as permenantly as possible.
[ Reply to This ]

Lynn Museum close to unveiling Seahenge timbers by Anonymous on Friday, 15 February 2008
Lynn Museum has closed temporarily while its new Seahenge gallery is completed to tell the story of Bronze Age Lynn and showcase the 4,000-year-old timbers found at nearby Holme.

The timbers have been on quite a journey since they were excavated from the shoreline in 1999. The preserved circle of oak posts was lifted and initially taken to Flag Fen Bronze Age Centre in Cambridgeshire for preliminary preservation and studying, before the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth received them for conservation work in 2003.

The new gallery at Lynn Museum will display half of the 55 timbers as they were found and also a reconstruction of what they might have looked like when built. The central up-turned tree stump is still at Portsmouth – its size means conservation work on it is taking longer.

“The museum has all of them, but after thorough public consultation we decided to display just half of them so that we also had the space to tell the story behind them,” said Hannah Jackson, Project Manager for the museum’s £1.2million redevelopment.

“On one side we’ve got a 22-metre long mural of a Bronze Age landscape. We’re trying to show people that Seahenge wasn’t on the coast when it was built – it was actually slightly inland on salt marsh.”

The timbers themselves are shown with a backdrop of the modern beach setting as they were found. They’re set within plinths so that visitors can see both the cut side of the lengths and the bark.

The new gallery offers various theories as to what the timber circle, made of trees felled in 2049BC, could have been used for.

“The main theory supported by archaeologists is that it was to do with excarnation,” said Hannah. “That is, bodies would have been laid out there for birds and animals to pick the bones clean. This theory is supported by finds at other sites, but the fact is we don’t know what Seahenge was for because there were no accompanying finds.”

Excarnation has been suggested because of jumbles of bones discovered at other sites that suggest they had been transported there rather than coming from a buried whole body.

The upturned stump that was situated at the centre of the Seahenge circle could have held a body for this purpose. Such an inversion could have been symbolic, too, suggested Hannah, referring to the world of the dead rather than the living. The use of the wood and leaving the bark on might even suggest the henge was related to the worship of a woodland deity.

The conservation process has taken a long time. At Flag Fen, the timbers were sprayed and salt water drawn out, before conservators at the Mary Rose Trust began to apply the same processes to them as have been used on the famous Tudor warship.

“The timbers were immersed in a synthetic wax, polyethylene glycol, or PEG,” said Hannah. “Then they were vacuum freeze-dried. That is, they were taken down to a temperature of –20C and placed in a vacuum, where the ice turns to vapour straight from its solid state, so that the liquid has less opportunity to damage the timber.”

Now visitors will be able to see the wooden henge in the well-preserved state in which it was found.

“They’ve survived very well after 4,000 years!” added Hannah.

The Bronze Age gallery is the second part of Lynn Museum’s Heritage Lottery funded redevelopment, which has already seen the museum’s Chapel gallery refurbished. The Chapel gallery tells the story of the area from the Iron Age onwards with archaeological finds and other exhibits.

The museum will reopen in the spring.

Source:
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART54178.html
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Anonymous on Saturday, 22 November 2003
HELLO. I am new to THIS site..as beautiful as it is; my first visit, actually. I'm in awe of the work..the effort..the strife and skills of the persons submitting the photos and articles. And, I find it hard to believe there aren't more comments, etc. So..I'm adding one (comment) if for no other reason than to confer MY THANKS. This is also my FIRST view of Seahenge, and all thanks to all of you. Dennis
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Anonymous on Saturday, 22 November 2003
    Thank you Dennis. It is good to receive comments - good or bad. Sometimes a new photographer just needs a little encouragement from others to go out and takes more pics. Come on you voyeurs - what do you think about our site and our photos?
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Vicky on Wednesday, 19 November 2003
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From Norfolk Now 19/11/20003

An artist’s impression has given the first glimpse of how Seahenge could look when it finally goes on show to the public in Norfolk.

A display of part of the remarkable Bronze Age timber circle, which was excavated from the shoreline at Holme, near Hunstanton, in 1999, forms the focal point of a £1.2m redevelopment plan for Lynn Museum at King's Lynn.

The outcome of grant applications for £900,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £85,000 from Norfolk County Council's capital fund will not be known until spring, but the new-look museum could open in autumn 2005.

The fate of the 4000-year-old monument, hailed as one of the most important discoveries for British archaeology in recent years, was finally resolved in 2001 when English Heritage announced that it would be preserved for future generations.

Yesterday, West Norfolk area museums officer Robin Handley explained that about half the original circle would be displayed – and gave an...

Read the rest of this post...
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    Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Anonymous on Monday, 24 November 2003
    Usual official bull, treat the circle respectfully my arse, how when only half of it will be there? Where will the rest be, in storage so that the vandals of english heritage etc can take samples until its all gone? What 'stories' are they going to tell, how it was ripped out of its rightful place to lose all significance? The timbers should have been left to naturally decay in the place our ancesters chose! With other monuments possibly coming to light are they to destroy those as well?
    Dave67
    [ Reply to This ]
      Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Anonymous on Saturday, 06 December 2003
      i saw the 'extraction' on tv and can only say i was horrified, not only that it was being moved/destroyed at all, but the complete amateurism of the idiots involved in this soul-less act. 'Museum?', more like Mauseleum! Whatever reason for being it's creators had intended, has now, in my opinion, been lost...shame on all!
      [ Reply to This ]

Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Thorgrim on Wednesday, 06 August 2003
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"Only a third (or even a half) of the timbers can be housed in the museum." What is to happen to the rest? How can it be reformed as a circle then? Will the rest of the timbers languish in some dark basement out of sight? Sheer unforgiveable vandalism in destroying the monument in the first place. This gesture is just that - a pathetic gesture. Location is all important - the site of Seahenge at Holme marked the beginning of the Peddars Way track which links up to the Icknield Way which in turn links up to the Ridgeway. A continuous path from the North Sea to the Sanctuary, Silbury and Stonehenge! Maybe English Heritage should uproot Stonehenge as well just in case the stones get damaged by the weather. I was there when they tore it up and I'm still furious!!!
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    Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Anonymous on Wednesday, 01 October 2003
    TG,
    Can we see you on the unofficial Seahenge Webcam Archive then?

    Gallery Home >> England >> Seahenge Webcam
    Cheers,
    Andy
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Vicky on Wednesday, 06 August 2003
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From Norfolk Now 05/08/2003

Seahenge could go on display in 2005

Seahenge could go on public display for the first time in the summer of 2005, it emerged last night.

The future of the 4000-year-old Bronze Age timber circle has been the subject of fierce debate since its controversial excavation from the beach at Holme, near Hunstanton, in 1999.

County councillors have now decided the internationally-important find should form the focal point of a £800,000 redevelopment of Lynn Museum at King's Lynn.

Norfolk's museums and archaeology service is making a bid for Lottery cash towards the scheme and, if all goes to plan, work could start towards the end of next year.

English Heritage is in the process of choosing a specialist firm to carry out the conservation of the structure, which is being kept at the Flag Fen Bronze Age site near Peterborough.

Originally, it was thought that only a third or about 20 of the timber posts could be included in the display, but there...

Read the rest of this post...
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Vicky on Wednesday, 01 October 2003
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    From: Norfolk Now 30/09/2003

    Cash bid could put Seahenge on show

    Museum chiefs are awaiting the outcome of a funding bid which could pave the way for Seahenge to go on public display in West Norfolk.

    Norfolk's museums and archaeology service has submitted a £900,000 bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the redevelopment of Lynn Museum at King's Lynn.

    Earlier this year county councillors decided that the Bronze Age timber circle, which was discovered on the Le Strange estate at Holme near Hunstanton in 1998, should form the focal point of the £1.2m project.

    Organisations including West Norfolk council have already agreed to make financial contributions towards the revamp.

    A bid for £85,000 capital funding from Norfolk County Council has also been submitted.

    Area museums officer for West Norfolk, Robin Handley, said that they should know the outcome of both bids in the spring.

    "We have obviously put in as strong a bid as we can. We have had support from...

    Read the rest of this post...
    [ Reply to This ]
      Re: Seahenge may star in town museum by Vicky on Tuesday, 07 October 2003
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      An Update from Lynn Today 07/10/2003:

      Holme Henge pushes up museum costs

      PLANS to display half the Holme Henge timber circle in Lynn Museum have pushed up the cost of the museum's development scheme to £1.2 million.

      Originally, it was expected to cost between £800,000 and £1 million to re-display the Market Street museum's collections, which include a lot of West Norfolk Bronze Age material.

      But now it has been agreed that all the timbers, which are currently being stored at Flag Fen Bronze Age site, near Peterborough, in chemically-treated water, can be housed at Lynn – half of them on permanent display.

      An application for £940,000 is being made to the Heritage Lottery Fund and a bid sought for £80,000 from Norfolk County Council towards the cost of the expanded project.
      Area museums officer Dr Robin Hanley said: "Including Holme Henge has increased the display costs quite significantly. We are planning to display it well and the plans are exciting and expensive.

      "B...

      Read the rest of this post...
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