Submitted to PDNPA
4 March 2004

Comments on Stanton Moor with respect to Lees Cross and Endcliffe quarrying proposals
Landscape, spiritual meanings, and pagan objections to proposals

Sacred Sites, Contested Rights/Rites Project
Dr Jenny Blain, Sheffield Hallam University
Dr Robert J Wallis, Richmond University

Introduction:

The Sacred Sites, Contested Rights/Rites Project, established in 2000 and building on previous research (e.g. Chippindale et al 1990; Bender 1998; Wallis 1999), examines 'contemporary pagan' and wider 'alternative' interests in archaeology, particularly spiritual engagements with monuments ‚ so-called 'sacred sites'. Spiritual meaning of place is of course not restricted to paganisms, and the project includes ways in which meanings of place and sacredness are entwined for other groups, notably local people in areas under consideration. The project is directed by an anthropologist, Dr Jenny Blain (Sheffield Hallam University) and archaeologist, Dr Robert J Wallis (Richmond University, London), and has been funded by Sheffield Hallam Human Rights Fund and the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council, RES-000-22-0074). Since its inception, the project has focussed its attentions on three principal archaeological landscapes and alternative engagements with these: in the midlands of England, Stanton Moor, with particular analysis of the Nine Ladies stone circle and associated landscape which is under threat from proposed quarrying activity; and in the south, the honey-pot sites of Stonehenge and Avebury. The project has made its findings to date available in the form of journal articles (in Folklore and 3rd Stone, and forthcoming in Journal of Material Culture and British Archaeology), chapters (forthcoming in Tourism and Photography, edited by M. Robinson and D. Picard, and Landscapes and Seascapes edited by M. Parker-Pearson), online material at www.sacredsites.org.uk including a 10,000 word discussion document, various reports, statements and draft articles, and numerous conference contributions (to a range of academic, heritage and practitioner forums).

In submitting our comment to PDNPA about the spiritual value of Stanton Moor, we draw on our research to date and on our pilot work which we hope will result in considerably expanded ethnographic work on Stanton Moor and the Peak Park generally. We consider that the spiritual dimensions of the Park - the importance of this area, centrally located in England, for people in the surrounding cities - must not be undervalued. It is hard to quantify the meanings of land and landscape to those individuals and groups who find re-enchantment, restoration or re-creation of self and spirit through direct engagement with the land. Indeed, work done elsewhere among indigenous peoples suggests that quantification cannot adequately reflect these meanings. We consider that a detailed ethnographic study, including narratives of local people, tourists and other park users would greatly benefit knowledge of the park and its spiritual importance. In the meantime, however, we offer some comments from our pilot work. While this is principally concerned with paganisms, the landscape of Stanton Moor has spiritual meaning for many of those who visit.

Contemporary Paganisms

'Paganism' as a generic term encompasses several recognised and coherent sets of beliefs and practices (see, for example, Harvey 1997, Blain 2002). Loosely put, paganism (or the more correct but also more cumbersome 'paganisms') comprises a variety of allied or associated 'paths' or 'traditions' which focus on direct engagements with 'nature' as deified, 'sacred' or otherwise animated and containing 'spirits'. The four most well known pagan 'paths' or 'traditions' are Wicca, Druidry, Heathenry, and Goddess Spirituality. Not all pagans concern themselves with sacred sites: some Wiccans particularly tend to conduct their rites in private, often indoors, or otherwise away from the public eye; Druids, on the other hand, are stereotyped as classic 'Stonehenge worshippers' with many orders purposefully conducting rituals in the full gaze of the media . Not all people engaging with archaeological sites as 'sacred' places are pagans, since various adherents of the 'new age', Earth Mysteries researchers and so-called 'new age travellers', along with a variety of local people, other religions, more conventional 'tourists', and so on, may attend pagan gatherings at such sites, hold their own rituals, or of course visit for entirely different reasons including the spiritual tourism of 'new-age' and Goddess tours.

Pagans and Archaeological Sites

Arguably, pagans' engagements with archaeological monuments are both embedded in and constitutive of a 'new folklore': such places are consistently perceived as 'sacred', as places which are 'alive' today, where connections can be made with 'ancestors', where the Earth Goddess/God can be contacted, where the spirit/energy of the land can be felt most strongly. Specific narratives are forming around individual sites, or around more general pagan relationships with landscape: there are narratives of description or explanation, stories of events occurring to tellers or stones, ranging from appearances of supernatural beings to accounts of non-functioning electronic equipment. There are also statements of expected or appropriate practices at specific places and accounts of interactions with officialdom and contestations over knowledge or practices. Sites of interest are chiefly Neolithic and Bronze Age constructions, but also Iron-Age, Roman-British and Saxon remains (such as the Sutton Hoo mounds). There is no single pagan relationship with such places. Positions range from adopting the official 'preservation' ethic promulgated by English Heritage, the National Trust and other organisations, to claiming individual divine inspiration for whatever practices seem appropriate at the time.

At some sites, pagans have come forward as 'guardians' of sites: increasingly this seems to be happening at Stanton Moor, with information about the quarrying plans being transmitted through webpages and email lists. In all, pagan understandings of and engagements with these ancient places, and often with associated landscapes including natural features and wildlife, are diverse and complex. They may include elements of (often older) academic interpretations of site and symbol, literature and history, together with folkloric understandings of spirits and local deities, sometimes drawing on narratives from elsewhere (e.g. landvÊttir or 'Landwights' of Iceland), on pieces of earlier folklores (notably guardians and black dogs) or on names known from research (for example Verbeia in Yorkshire; see Gyrus 1997), re-enchanting these in line with how their paganisms understand people, deities and places. Some pagan discourses may focus on sites as places where deities can be approached, or that in some sense symbolise or embody deity: cup-marks as symbolic of 'The Goddess', or Glastonbury Tor and the nearby landscape constituting (or portraying?) her body and/or an astrological zodiac. Other pagan discourses of sacredness instead relate to use of a site by not only human-people, but other beings, possibly as a location where human and other people enter into negotiations and relationships. Animist views hold that rocks, trees, rivers and so forth all have spirit and may all create or inscribe meaning in place. Unlike 'rational' understandings, of archaeologists in particular, in which meaning ‚ scientific, spiritual or otherwise ‚ is seen solely as a process of human inscription on to sites, pagans who make offerings often see 'spirits' of place (such as wights, land sprites and goddesses) as present a priori, as, for want of a better phrase, actually there; sites, stones and spirits are all active contributors to stories of place (Wallis and Blain 2003).

Pagans and Stanton Moor

The Nine Ladies Stone circle is well known to many British pagans, especially those in the midlands. Some of those extend their interest to the entire landscape of Stanton Moor, considering the cairns, circles and bronze-age burials as part of a sacred landscape in which spirits of nature, deities and/or ancestors can be honoured. pagans are therefore concerned about the potential destruction of parts of this landscape, and the disruption to the remainder occasioned by the sounds of quarrying, the removal of material and destruction of wildlife habitat. Since autumn 1999 a protest camp of pagans and 'Eco-Warriors' has occupied land in the proposed quarrying area near the Nine Ladies circle. The protesters are not 'typical' of pagans more generally, but many pagans are expressing support for the protesters and for local action group opposition to the quarry, and look to the protest camp leaflets and website (http://www.stonehenge.ukf.net/nineladies.htm) for information. We therefore review some of this material relating to the earlier Stancliffe Stone application here.

Protestors listed the following problems with the proposals:

And, in their own words, they suggest:

[A]at the time of purchase there was an existing planning permission to re-open the two quarries at Endcliffe and Lees Cross, which had lain dormant since the early 1950's. This permission was granted before the Peak District National Park was founded, and would be entirely inappropriate for today. However, the planning authority seem content to accept the application. If this scheme goes ahead it will not only destroy a part of the world's second most popular National Park (the most popular is in Japan) including a Grade II Listed building (the Earl Grey Tower, a monument erected to commemorate the passing of the 1832 Reform Act) and threaten a sacred site, the Nine Ladies Stone Circle and the rich archaeological landscape of Stanton Moor (http://www.nineladies.uklinux.net/).

The protest website uses the image of an apple 'core' remaining of the moor, holding the Nine Ladies and a single birch tree 'stalk', but with little else remaining, the quarries having taken their 'bites'.

In this 'alternative' representation of Stanton Moor by the protest website, the circle becomes a metaphor for the moor, and pagans and others identify with the circle. However, this living landscape means different things to different groups of pagans: many treat the circle as a ritual focus, a place to meet spirits, deities or ancestors of the moor: others engage with spirit-lines or tracks, or leylines. Some perform ritual at the circle to give energy to stones and land. The Dragon Network, most notably, has suggested a ritual to awaken earth-energies of moor and stones - this being a ritual that people can perform elsewhere, imaging the landscape in order to strengthen the natural (or supernatural) defences of the moor. Other pagans adopt other means of calling on land spirits and/or deities to protect and guard the land.

Some ritual activity leaves traces - offerings, candles and so forth, but much leaves no traces other than those of steady erosion through site use by all 'visitors', pagan or otherwise. It should be mentioned that the protest camp people have been attempting to discourage other pagans from leaving visible offerings, while organisations such as ASLaN (Ancient Sacred Landscape Network) are attempting to provide education for pagan site users, urging that the best offering may be picking up others' litter, but that a song or a libation are offerings that do not disrupt others' enjoyment of the landscape.

In 2001, we photographed protest rituals by a busload of Birmingham pagans, King Arthur Pendragon, and a Dorset druid group, including an attempt to 'raise energy' to 'protect the stones', and an effort to pick up the scraps of litter and cigarette ends festooning the site.

In short, pagans across Britain are concerned about Stanton Moor and the situation of the Nine Ladies. When parts of the circle and its environs were excavated during 2000-1, to investigate extents of recent erosion, local archaeologists took pains to explain purposes of the excavation to protestors and visitors - some of whom then decorated the site with a pentacle, perhaps to protect the land or bless the excavation. Similarly, during the recent restorative work there were attempts to communicate between heritage management and pagan communities. This communication is, in our view, essential.

It is common to find pagans and other spiritual visitors meditating at the Nine Ladies. The peace of the circle is only marginally disturbed by audible beeps and sound from the Dale View Quarry. However, the proximity of the Lees Cross and Endcliffe planned quarries would mean that this peace would be disrupted for visitors. Comments expressed to us range through concern about sound disturbance to the ambience, concern about wildlife habitat destruction, and ideas of the landscape of the moor as a single unit and the relationship of cairns and burials to the circles (not only the Nine Ladies). A constant strand in comments is that going ahead with quarrying based on the 1952 permission makes mockery of all the focus on environment and landscape, and environmental science and legislation, that has arisen since. One comment was from a building product supplier was:

Stanton Moor, the Nine Ladies, other sacred sites, moorland and archaeological finds in the area are under threat by plans to quarry for building material. While we need such work to be done, there are appropriate and inappropriate places to conduct quarrying. No guesses required where this falls! (25/02/04)

With the December 2003 application from Marshalls plc, pagan concern about quarrying has intensified, especially with the increase in stone planned to be extracted, and hence the quarry company's apparent disregard of representations from heritage and scientific organisations. Indeed, pagans, reading new protest camp leaflets, are raising questions online and in person about 'who benefits' from the quarrying. According to the leaflet, the landowner, the Haddon Estates, under the direction of Lord Edward Manners, would allegedly gain a considerable sum (the protesters suggest £100 million) if the Endcliffe/Lees Cross quarries were activated and stone taken out as per the new application. The protesters argue, via their current leaflet, that the Duke of Rutland should be protecting the land not selling parts of it off for shipping overseas or for new housing developments. These ideas are now being discussed in wider forums.

Conclusion

Our focus in these comments has been on the undetermined (and probably undeterminable) number of pagan and spiritual users who frequent Stanton Moor and its archaeology, including the Nine Ladies and other circles. Our purpose is to point out that spiritual meanings of the moor are important to a number of constituencies outside the immediate local context of the surrounding Derbyshire villages. We have spoken with regular visitors from Sheffield, Doncaster, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham and Derby, and York, and occasional visitors from elsewhere in Britain and overseas, who come to the moor to engage with its spiritual meanings. We concur with the pagan visitor quoted above, to the effect that while there need to be some quarries, Stanton Moor is not the place for them.

References

Bender, Barbara (1998) Stonehenge: Making Space. Oxford:Berg.

Blain, Jenny (2002) Nine Worlds of Seidr-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-shamanism in North European Paganism. London:Routledge

Chippindale, C., Devereux, P., Fowler, P., Jones, R. and T. Sebastian. 1990. Who Owns Stonehenge? Manchester: Batsford.

Gyrus. 1997. The Goddess in Wharfedale. Available online: http://norlonto.net/index.cfm/action/articles.view/itemID/66

Harvey, Graham (1997) Listening People, Speaking Earth: Contemporary Paganism. London:Hurst and Co.

Wallis, Robert J. & Jenny Blain (2003) 'Sites, sacredness, and stories: interactions of archaeology and contemporary Paganism', Folklore 114: 307-321.

Wallis, R.J. 1999. Autoarchaeology and Neo-shamanism: The Socio-Politics of Ecstasy. PhD Thesis, Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton.

The Sacred Sites, Contested Rights/Rites project is directed by Dr Jenny Blain (Sheffield Hallam University) and Dr Robert J. Wallis (Richmond University).

The Sacred Sites Project welcomes enquiries from potential researchers or potential post-graduate students with an interest in this area.

The Sacred Sites Project welcomes enquiries from those with an interest in promoting or sponsoring research in this area.

Modified Sat, Mar 6, 2004

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