Does Nature Conservation Justify Quarrying?
It is only by studying in detail the landscape in which henges are set, as is being done at Stonehenge, that archaeologists can gain an understanding of why these prehistoric cathedrals were built and how the early Britons used them. Yet more than 50% of the setting of the Thornborough Henges has already been lost to open-cast quarrying and the remainder is under threat of similar destruction. The Friends of Thornborough Henges are dedicated to stopping this wanton despoliation of our beautiful landscapes heritage, but are confronted by powerful vested interests. The mining companies, in partnership with the Environment Agency, English Nature and the county council, are promoting the Washlands concept for the gravel-bearing areas of the lower Swale and Ure valleys. This strategy is based on the model of the post-quarrying Nosterfield Nature Reserve and involves restoring future redundant quarries, not to agriculture, but to water-filled pits with reedbeds, wet grassland and trees that
