Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion book on the Free Festival

Submitted by andy_h on Wednesday, 03 November 2004 Page Views: 9784

Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion by Andy Worthington. The first detailed history of the Stonehenge summer solstice festivals, from the eighteenth century Druids through the twentieth century counter-culture to the present day. A major new book that recounts all the stories overlooked in most books on Stonehenge.

Published by Heart of Albion Press in large format paperback.

Review by Roger Hutchinson: I’ll be honest from the start in this preamble and say that I am a contributor to this book and it features my photos and graphics. I had really wanted to write a book like this but life in the past thirty years has taken me in other directions. So when Andy W contacted me through the website Festival Archive, I eventually gave him all of my material that I had collected, in the hope that he would do a good job. It is a book that has needed writing for many years but a huge task to pull all the threads together so I was steeling myself for disappointment when I finally received my review copy. Any aspirations of my own writings on the subject melted away as I looked through the densely illustrated book. It wasn’t just good, it’s brilliant, far better than anything I could have conceived and I’ve read it with great enjoyment and with some shame at my ignorance at much that lies within the covers. I can see this book being used constructively in many different contexts – from university libraries and police colleges to being read by the light of a candle in a tepee by the umpteenth person!

Here’s the review….

Andy Worthington's new book ‘Stonehenge - Celebration and Subversion’ is a serious work that examines society's relationship with the stones and is a timely and welcome addition to the continuing debate over the future of this world heritage site. He details the dubious origins of the Druid movement in the 17th century and the splinter sects that exist today. The chapter on the history of the stones themselves is concise and reflects the changing interpretations that historians, antiquarians and archaeologists gave to the mysterious monument. He relates the growth of the free festivals in the 70’s and the establishment of the Stonehenge Free Festival due to Wally Hope’s vision of a new society evolving around the stones. For eleven years the annual festival, grew from a few hundred to 30,000 celebrants but with Margaret Thatcher in power, it all ended in tears when she unleashed her police, that resulted in the terrible and bitter Battle of the Beanfield when the Peace Convoy was brutally smashed. Andy’s account of this event, pieced together from dozens of sources and interviews is even enough to make a Tory peer’s blood boil at the injustice of the system – and it did!

The subsequent exclusion zone to stop any unauthorised person approaching the stones at the summer solstice stood for many years and it was only in 2000 when sense prevailed and people were at last allow in again. Now the plans to bury the motorway in a cutting/short-long/tunnel is still ongoing and this book should be required reading for anyone involved in the debate as protestors, planners and English Heritage. It would go along way to getting everyone to sing from the same hymn sheet! The comprehensive research and Andy’s personal experience of the festivals and solstices meld together to give a satisfying informative read. All the characters, shakers, movers, visionaries and officials are described in conjunction with their involvement with the stones and their interactions with each other.

This is a serious book on the subject but it is also a good read with plenty to satisfy anyone’s interest. Hundreds of illustrations and photo’s - many never published before, leaven the text and carry the reader forward. Andy Worthington has gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure that everyone who has contributed is credited and all sources identified and there is a lengthy bibliography to allow further reading and finishes with a comprehensive index. Now do him (and yourself) a favour and buy the book!

Order now from our Online shop or amazon.co.uk

Note: Review, book signings and London talk

Contributor Bio for andy_h: Based in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, contributing since 2003. Favourite site: IlkleyMoor. Occupation: Graphic Artist.

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