Visitor Centre Opens To “Return Dignity” To Stonehenge

The new Stonehenge visitor centre, a £27 million project that has been many years in the making has now opened. English Heritage, who have responsibility for the site have said that the new centre will “restore dignity” to the monument.

A significant part of the project was the closure of the A334 next to the actual stones themselves, something that was first mooted in 1927. Visitors will be transported about a mile-and-a-half (2km) from the venue to the stones via shuttle bus, and the new centre will include an exhibition of some 250 prehistoric artefacts, many of which are being seen for the first time.
Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said it was the "end of an incredibly long journey".

A visitor centre worthy of the name

"Stonehenge is almost certainly the most famous ancient monument in the world and up until now it hasn't really had adequate visitor facilities," he added. There's been no exhibition, no opportunities for people to even have a cup of tea.

"This is a radical change for the million people a year who come to Stonehenge. They can see the stones for the first time free from the clutter and rubbish that have accrued around them since the 1960s. We now have something that I think is worthy of one of the world's greatest archaeological sites."

Stonehenge is believed to have been built between 3,000 BC and 1,600 BC, and the view of experts is that it was likely to have been used for a variety of religious ceremonies. Plans have always included the closure of the nearby A334 when ideas were bandied around as far back as 1927, but it was not until June that it finally closed. The road has now been grassed over.

One of the real highlights of the new exhibition is a forensic reconstruction of an early Neolithic man, based on a 5,500-year-old skeleton buried in a long barrow burial site near Stonehenge. Also something new on display will be two rare 14th Century manuscripts, including some of the earliest drawings of the monument, Roman coins and jewellery, and early surveying equipment.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller said: "Stonehenge is one of the UK's most iconic sites, undeniably worthy of its UNESCO world heritage status, attracting one million tourists every year from the UK and all over the world. So it's only right that, after decades of indecision, we can now offer them a visitor exhibition centre and experience they deserve."

Attendance figures show that more than a million people visit the site each year, with the best part of two thirds of them coming from abroad.

In an important step, The Avenue, Stonehenge's ancient processional approach, has now been reconnected to the monument. Visitors familiar with the site will also notice that the landscape around the stones has been improved, with the road running past the Heel Stone closed and tall fences removed.

Work to decommission the existing outdated 1960s visitor centre and grass over a car park, will begin next month.

                           The new Stonehenge Visitor Centre really is something special