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That Sometimes Fence Around Stonehenge

Hmm; note that there are clearly people on the other side of the fence in that image. Stonehenge was refurbished in 2013, when the new visitor centre was opened. We went there before that as well, and it was slightly less open, but not much.

There is, as Ringo noted, a low rope fence by the side of the path, that you must not step over - but there are no 'security guards' as such, just a lot of Stonehenge guides ready to shout at you if you so much as approach the fence. Here's a photo we took in 2014 - no visible fence at all, but this is about as close as you could get.
 

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This is a poor-quality 'feature phone' photo I snapped on 10/07/2011 (the barbed wire fence is at the side of the A303). I'd expected to see a fence closer to the stones but can't make one out. Perhaps it's just not visible from that angle?

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This image (not one of mine) shows the low rope fence as well as the more distant chain link fence. The path goes between the two.
 

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Ah right, I see - that makes it much clearer, thanks.

I can remember when I was very young being able to walk amongst the stones and I think there was a little bit of graffiti. Memory can be unreliable but I think I also recall the car park being maybe on the other side of the road and there being a short underpass to get to the site. Does that ring a bell with anyone? I could be mistaken of course.

I'm sure there was a dodgy-looking hot dog van as well.
 
Andy X said:
I can remember when I was very young being able to walk amongst the stones and I think there was a little bit of graffiti. Memory can be unreliable but I think I also recall the car park being maybe on the other side of the road and there being a short underpass to get to the site. Does that ring a bell with anyone? I could be mistaken of course.

I'm sure there was a dodgy-looking hot dog van as well.
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I first visited Stonehenge circa 1980 and I too remember going from the car park through an underpass to reach the site. I also remember being able to walk amongst the stones. My most recent visit was around 2006 and the site was roped off.

I don't remember that dodgy-looking hot dog van but it wouldn't surprise me if there was one. They seem to be everywhere, including at the end of my street.
 
GingerTabby said:
I first visited Stonehenge circa 1980 and I too remember going from the car park through an underpass to reach the site. I also remember being able to walk amongst the stones. My most recent visit was around 2006 and the site was roped off.

I don't remember that dodgy-looking hot dog van but it wouldn't surprise me if there was one. They seem to be everywhere, including at the end of my street.
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Thanks, it's good to know my memory isn't completely to be distrusted! I'm amazed there isn't a permanent cafe at Stonehenge by now selling druidburgers with monolith chips to the captive sightseers.

Ulalume said:
Just realized that for 'dodgy-looking hot dog van' I was imagining the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. Which would be quite a sight outside Stonehenge. :rollingw:
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Ha! I'd not heard of the Weinermobile so I looked it up. It looks like an exotic spin-off from the space programme compared to the insanitary object I'm thinking of (I do know the Oscar Mayer song though, possibly from The Simpsons or another US TV show).

(I'm not a food snob and have nothing against our British hot dog/burger/fish and chips/kebab vans. And nor apparently has Nicole Kidman, seen here patronising a typical example, which I must say looks pretty clean).

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I've got some pictures somewhere of some of us at the Summer solstice fence around Stonehenge sometime in the mid 90's so the original poster isn't imagining things ... it was definitely a tall reinforced stronger than chicken wire type fence, I even remember considering which angle to climb over it so I could make a run for the stones only because I thought it was ridiculous I couldn't just walk up to them anyway .. there were security guards watching as well so I didn't.
 
Stonehenge was closed at 4pm the day I arrived at 3:55pm - which I thought was ridiculous.

And how can you be underwhelmed by Niagara Falls? Wouldn’t bother going to the Grand Canyon, it’s just a crack in the pavement.
 
eburacum said:
These days there is no fence, but you have to stay on the path that doesn't actually go near the stones. The henge is at least a mile from the museum, and you have to walk, or catch a land-train affair.
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The land train
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We walked, because we wanted to look at the Cursus and some of the barrows.
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Ugh, that path is ugly.
 
i don't find the fence to intrusive at all, better without it but i suppose it's a sign of the times.
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Somewhere, I have photos of us at Stonehenge in the early 1970s, and I have one of me doing a cartwheel right next to the stones, others of us standing on the flat bits, am fairly sure... I last went in the early 2000s when the stones felt a bit too distant...
 
MrRING said:
When I visited England circa 1990, there was an annoying fence around Stonehenge. Most of the time when I see coverage of the famed megalithic site, the fence is still there. However, when watching a recent special called Ghosts of Stonehenge there were tons of aerial shots where there wasn't signs of fenceposts, much less the fence! The fence did reappear in a few far-off shots where it was way in the background, so obviously it is still there.

So my question is: do they sometimes take the fence entirely down for events or just for filming of overhead shots? If they do so, how to they not leave signs of where the fence once was? Or do they CGI it away?
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I'll edit this post in a moment, I've just found pics of me (yellow jacket) and my mate Mick standing at the roadside fence one Winter solstice from some time in the early to mid 90's .. I think we'd just arrived there from an all night rave :) ... these are pictures photographed from pictures so sorry for the lens flare ...

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The blokes you can see standing next to the stones in the first pic were security guards watching us, I remember wanting Mick to give me a leg up onto the stone so I could make a run for it and get inside the circle but we decided against it in the end ..
 
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Co incidentally, the other week I was sorting out my late mother's effects and found a photograph of myself scrambling among the fallen stones at Stonehenge, circa 1968. I'd post it here only...I can't.
 
Swifty said:
I'll edit this post in a moment, I've just found pics of me (yellow jacket) and my mate Mick standing at the roadside fence one Winter solstice from some time in the early to mid 90's .. .
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That's how I remember it - proof!!!!
 
MrRING said:
That's how I remember it - proof!!!!
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I'm 6ft so that would have been the height of it. Did you go into the barrow on the opposite side of the road halfway up the hill ? ... I also remember a crop circle being there one year and kicking myself for not taking some of the flattened corn to make some alien corn dollies.
 
Swifty said:
I'm 6ft so that would have been the height of it. Did you go into the barrow on the opposite side of the road halfway up the hill ? ... I also remember a crop circle being there one year and kicking myself for not taking some of the flattened corn to make some alien corn dollies.
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We didn’t go into the barrow but it was there for the viewing. We did meet a fellow selling maps to Woodhenge as well as a map to all the local pubs out of the back of his car.
 
MrRING said:
We didn’t go into the barrow but it was there for the viewing. We did meet a fellow selling maps to Woodhenge as well as a map to all the local pubs out of the back of his car.
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Sounds about right lol ... myself and a different mate crashed for a couple of nights at the house of a bloke called Andy at Hatfield Court, Leominster when the building was owned by Jeremy Sandford, Andy was in charge of the Free Stonehenge Campaign (to get that fence taken down). That was also the time we met the Raelians before they changed their name to the Iraelians. The grounds were full of hippys, naked kids running around, dogs screwing, that sort of thing. It was a bit like Charles Manson's Spahn Ranch commune except without the murdering .. everyone was perpetually stoned and Jeremy would play his accordion for us all. :rasta:. You could stay there for free but you had to do chores, cleaning, washing up, fixing caravans and stuff ..

http://hatfieldcourt.com

Jeremy Sandford .. he was a fascinating bloke R.I.P:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Sandford
 
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A friend's posted this pic on his facebook page, I'll have to remember to ask him if he took the pic .. I love it .. *edit* .. he took this pic ..

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