Saturday, April 18, 1998

Druids set to return to Stonehenge

By JAMIE WILSON / The Guardian

LONDON -- The ancient white robed order of the Druids could make a return to the ancient Stonehenge monument for this year's summer solstice ceremony.

The Druids have been banished from the site during the summer solstice since 1986, when a four-mile exclusion zone was put in place.

The move -- once described by Rollo Maughfling, the Arch-Druid of Stonehenge and Glastonbury as "like closing (London's) Westminster Abbey at Christmas" -- came after years of confrontation with the police over attempts to hold solstice festivals. Matters came to a head in 1985 during the "Battle of the Beanfield" when hundreds were injured or arrested.

However, the Druids' impeccable behavior after being allowed on the site for last year's autumnal equinox and winter solstice and again at the spring equinox, has led local police and English Heritage to reconsider the ban. They have suggested that about 100 people should be allowed to witness the sun rise over the 5,000-year-old stones on June 21.

Alastair McWhirter, assistant chief constable of the local police at Wiltshire, said the move, which still has to be agreed by Salisbury district council, was a victory for common sense. "Hopefully, this can take the heat out of what was a very vexed question," he said.

"This will be a good step if it happens," Maughfling said. "Limited access is better than no access at all, but I hope I see the day when we are free to go on to the site unrestricted. But this is very encouraging and it would be good if this was sorted out in time for everyone to have a peaceful millennium."

However, Kevin Carlyon, high priest of British White Witches, said the decision could lead to trouble. "I have had 50-60 phone calls from pagan groups all over the country," he said. "Everyone is distressed that the Druids may be the only group allowed on to the site. If Stonehenge is to be open to one group, it should be open to all."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)