Welsh Nationalists Want Stonehenge Bluestones Returned to Wales

A group of Welsh nationalists and a tourism leader have stated that if Greece is able to actively reclaim the controversial Elgin Marbles , then Wales should consider reclaiming the Stonehenge bluestones. A farm park owner, Lyn Jenkins claims Welsh people should take back the ancient bluestones of Stonehenge after 5,000 years in situ to create a new tourist attraction in Wales. Jenkins told the Daily Mail that if U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not agree to move the stones, “Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford should send a bill for a few million pounds as compensation.”

A UCL study pinpointed the exact locations where 42 of the standing stones at Stonehenge, known as the Stonehenge bluestones, were quarried in the Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire 5,000 years ago. (UCL)

A UCL study pinpointed the exact locations where 42 of the standing stones at Stonehenge, known as the Stonehenge bluestones, were quarried in the Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire 5,000 years ago. ( UCL)

 “Extremely Lucrative” Proposal: Returning Stonehenge Bluestones to Wales?

Owner of the Cardigan Island Coastal Farm Park , Lyn Jenkins was reported by the Mirror as claiming that the historic, and currently controversial, stone circle should be transported stone by massive stone from Salisbury Plain in England “back” to Wales. Furthermore, the farmer thinks the world heritage monument should be rebuilt in Wales “so it can become an attraction for millions of visitors.”

The claim is based on the general consensus that some of the earliest stones used at the Stonehenge monument, the so-called bluestones, originated in Wales’ Preseli Hills of north Pembrokeshire at the famous Waun Mawn site. Sometime before the stones were rebuilt into the monument we see today, about 5,000 years ago they were transported 175-miles to their current location on Salisbury Plain .

Daring being accused of satisfying self-interest, Jenkins has announced that Welsh Heritage authorities needn’t be stuck for a location to rebuild Stonehenge as he is offering them a plot on his Cardigan Island Coastal Farm Park in Gwbert, with the Preseli Hills in the background from where the stones originated. And if Boris Johnson decides not to approve the rather audacious petition, Jenkins suggests that the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, send Boris Johnson “a bill for a few million pounds.” After all, Stonehenge is an extremely lucrative tourist attraction.

Research has revealed that the Stonehenge bluestones first stood at Waun Mawn in Wales, seen here. If Stonehenge really is a “second-hand” monument, should it be returned back to Wales from England? (A. Stanford / Antiquity Publications Ltd.)

Research has revealed that the Stonehenge bluestones first stood at Waun Mawn in Wales, seen here. If Stonehenge really is a “second-hand” monument, should it be returned back to Wales from England? (A. Stanford / Antiquity Publications Ltd. )

Opportunistic Proposition? Bananas? Or Is It?

In his statement which was reported in the Daily Mail , Jenkins pointed out that Boris Johnson “is a historian” and this means he knows that the 5,000-year-old Neolithic monolithic monument “was not received by the English, since they have only been in what is now England for a mere 1,500 years.” What’s more, he added: “The geological evidence proves that the bluestones at the center of Stonehenge are originally from the Preseli Hills.”

Now Welsh nationalists have set up a petition to return the stones to Preseli Hills in Wales. The spokesperson for the campaign, Iwan ap Dafydd, wrote that “the circumstances of the original removal event are impossible to determine, therefore, it would be prudent that they should be returned to their original location.” In support of his objective to repatriate the monolithic stones across the border, he explained that “the return of these stones will be an economic and social benefit to the people of Pembrokeshire and Wales.”

Let’s be honest here. When you first read about the petition and discover it is being backed by Welsh Nationalists its easy to conclude that this idea is just an attention seeking play and it is not hard to conclude that the entire concept is clean bonkers for more reasons than I need write here. Another way to describe it is “bananas.” However, if we consider how Stonehenge is being currently treated with the new Stonehenge tunnel project being build beneath it, you have to wonder if the stone circle would live longer, and serve a stronger social function, if it was indeed moved to Wales.

While we do have the technology to undertake such a task, it is not likely to happen anytime soon, for the simple reason that the grounds on which the petition have been made are almost comical. Just because a stone came from modern Wales, and today exists in modern England, when it was moved some 5,000 years ago a tribal leader perhaps only moved the monument from one corner of his estate to another.

Top image: Welsh nationalists claim that England should return the Stonehenge bluestones back to Wales. Source: anitalvdb / Adobe Stock

By Ashley Cowie

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