What's happening at Silbury Hill?

Submitted by Nigel Swift on Friday, 27 September 2002 Page Views: 1645

**Silbury Hill Heli Lift** submitted by Andy B : A helicopter lifts chalk on to the top of Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, in preparation for a seismic survay. ©English Heritage and Skanska. Picture Richard Wintle. (Vote or comment on this photo)

There are huge numbers of archaeologists and ordinary people bemoaning the deterioration of Silbury Hill, the vandal damage, the lack of security, the fact that people still climb it in its dangerous state, the lack of information being provided and the apparent age it is taking to rectify or even stabilise it.

English Heritage, an unelected body charged with it’s care, have been inundated with protests. Demos have been held. Lots of press stories have been run.

I am quite content to believe that EH have marvellous technical employees and are commissioning the best possible technical and archaeological advice in order to come up with the best possible solution, within current knowledge, and I am certain that such people know infinitely more about it than me.

My quarrel is not with the scientists, but with the administrators. I am quite qualified to feel that the deterioration is progressive and that therefore every day of delay causes further damage. The situation has now been under investigation for several years. Personally, I think the sagging on one side has visibly worsened recently, but be that as it may it is documented fact that the interior cavities are worsening. Also, that there is a simple equation here: more technical resources, i.e. more money, would speed the investigation and reduce the damage.

So is money a problem? As with all else, EH don’t say (but their recent about-turn and support for a cut-and-cover road scheme very close to Stonehenge suggests that it is). In truth, they look after very large numbers of buildings and have a big budget. In truth, if they made a strong enough case to the government they’d get the money.

So what’s going on? This is what I’m forced to conclude:
that like so many administrators they lack imagination. They fail to grasp that this is so much more important than most of their other projects. On a national and world scale it rivals Stonehenge, yet self-evidently it doesn’t do so in the EH priorities or budget, nor in their submissions and grant applications to the government. It is a World Heritage site, and one of the most significant ones, that is deteriorating visibly, in the middle of a rich Western country, in the face of a torrent of complaints, all for lack of a sufficient sense of urgency by those who are in charge. What other body would dare to ignore such pressure?

So the solution? Well, if the unprecedented pressure that has been applied to EH hasn’t had any result whatsoever, then clearly it has been misdirected. This should, perhaps, have been anticipated, since they are unelected. In my opinion their record in this matter renders them irrelevant to it’s solution. In my opinion they should be by-passed and the solution should be initiated by all of us who view this as a matter of absolute urgency.

Please, if you care about this, even if you have previously expressed concern to EH, put pressure on the Government, all its relevant departments and your MP. Possibly the most significant acre of Britain’s heritage is in peril. Priceless archaeological evidence dating from four and a half thousand years ago is being eroded away each day. No-one can say with certainty that there will be no further catastrophic collapses, certainly not EH who have erected danger notices (the sum total of their actions to avoid a disaster). Urgent action is needed NOW and failure to provide them should not result in criticism of faceless officials in a Quango but real electoral damage to our elected representatives. If you receive this, please forward it many times, to the government (and not just the British one), to websites and to the media.

Nigel Swift

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