Viewing the "Letters" columns. Another opinion on burying the A303 in a tunnel at Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

The various arguments over burying the A303 in a tunnel at Stonehenge usually focus on cost, the effect on the landscape or the design and route of the tunnel.  However, putting the A303 out of sight of Stonehenge will deny travellers a glimpse of one of England's most, if not the most, ancient structures.  Is it right to deprive millions of such an historic view?

My favourite memory of  Stonehenge is of seeing it rising ghostlike above a low mist on an early summer's morning while driving east on the A303.  So, I have great sympathy with the opinions expressed in the letter below which appeared in the The Week on 17th February.


 Don't Hide the Henge.

To The Guardian.
    

One of the childhood experiences that vividly opened my mind to the narratives of British history, culture and geography was the view of Stonehenge from my parents’ traffic-jammed car on the A303.  It has imprinted itself and, in the poetic life of the subconscious, offers myriad insights, emotions and questions.  A tunnel will deny all future generations the opportunity to simply see Stonehenge, to “feel” it in the landscape of childhood and to allow it to seep into their thoughts.  The tunnel will give English Heritage a cash-cow monopoly, and turn history into a consumer product.

Bert Biscoe, Truro, Kernow.