Vandles damage Stonehenge

[Garp]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/2008052...e-a7ad41d.html

LONDON (AFP) - Vandals used a hammer and screwdriver to vandalise the Stonehenge ancient monument, the first such incident for decades, officials said Thursday.

The night-time attack by two men last week involved the central megalith in the 5,000-year-old ring of standing stones, with English Heritage saying the vandals could have been looking for a souvenir.

A chip of stone about the size of a large coin was removed, while a 2.5-inch long scratch was left on the Heel Stone, at the centre of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, near Salisbury.

"Thanks to the vigilance and quick action of the security team at Stonehenge, very minimal damage was caused," said a spokeswoman for English Heritage.

"A tiny chip was taken from the north side of the Heel Stone with a screwdriver and hammer, but as soon as the two men were spotted by security guards they escaped over the fence and drove off.

"This is now a matter for the police," she added.

A spokeswoman for Wiltshire Police said: "Two male offenders were seen disturbing the monument with a hammer and screwdriver... It is believed they could be two men seen acting suspiciously on a previous occasion."

Stonehenge is one of the world's best preserved prehistic monuments. In around 2,600 BC, 80 giant standing stones were arranged on Salisbury Plain, where there was already a 400-year-old stone circle.

Around two centuries later, even bigger stones were brought to the plain.

Today, only 40 percent of the originals remain. But around 850,000 visitors per year come to marvel at the 17 stones which are still intact.

The biggest stones came from a quarry some 18 miles away, while some of the others come from a range of hills in south-west Wales -- a 150 mile journey.

Nothing is sacred these days :-/

edit: Just realised they're obviously the children of career criminals.

They're chips off the old block.

*badum tish*

[Belmit]

****s.

[Lana]

What idiots.

[Pheebs]

I saw stoneyhenge the other day enroute to London. Marvelous it is.

I don't get why people would go out of their way to do that though?



Horrible, immoral planks.

[Tak]

Originally Posted by Garp thread title

Vandles damage Stonehenge

I think they are little sh*ts but what on earth is a vandle? Similar to a handle mebbe?

[Garp]

Originally Posted by Takhisis

I think they are little sh*ts but what on earth is a vandle? Similar to a handle mebbe?

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Rich_L]

On a slightly unrelated note, when I was in California went back into the mountains and saw various cave paintings and suchlike on the rocks there, made me chuckle cos if someone went up and sprayed stuff on some rocks now they'd be slapped in jail or fined or similar

How times change

[Lana]

probably just fines...
Some of the "artists" who have stuff in the Tate modern should be fined or arrested.

I mean....
yeah i meant it.

[Blackstar]

Why would someone do that? What does it achieve? They'd have gotten better results with a tin of spray paint and a building not a historical monument. I'm so angry, i just don't know what people are thinking about these days when they do such things.

[Lana]

i've never even seen stonehenge and it isn't something i feel posessive of because it isn't my country, but i still find that upsetting. it's the total disregard for history and wonder and other people that irks me.