Stonehenge: Celebration & Subversion

by Andy Worthington

Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion book coverPublished by Alternative Albion, an imprint of Heart of Albion Press, June 2004.

ISBN 1 872883 76 1.
245 x 175 mm, 300 pages,
147 photos and illustrations,
paperback, £14.95.

See bottom of page for details of how to order from the author — payment via PayPal or by cheque (UK orders only). Also available from Amazon (in the UK). Please send an email for information on how to order a copy from anywhere else in the world.

Also see my articles about Stonehenge and the summer solstice, from 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 (and here), 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018, the 2019 offering, This Summer Solstice, The Party’s Over; Now It’s Time to Save the Planet, bringing the story up to date with a focus on the new movements calling for urgent action to tackle the unfolding environmental crisis, 2020 and 2021, when gatherings were prevented because of COVID, 2022, when I revisited the urgency of the climate crisis, and 2024, when I marked the 40th anniversary of the last Stonehenge Free Festival.

About the book

This innovative social history looks in detail at how the celebrations at Stonehenge have brought together different aspects of British counter-culture to make the monument a ‘living temple’ and an icon of alternative Britain. The history of the celebrants and counter-cultural leaders is interwoven with the viewpoints of the land-owners, custodians and archaeologists who have generally attempted to impose order on the shifting patterns of these modern-day mythologies.

The story of the Stonehenge summer solstice celebrations begins with the Druid revival of the 18th century and the earliest public gatherings of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the social upheavals of the 1960s and early ’70s, these trailblazers were superseded by the Stonehenge Free Festival, which evolved from a small gathering to an anarchic free state the size of a small city, before its brutal suppression at the Battle of the Beanfield in 1985.

In the aftermath of the Beanfield, the author examines how the political and spiritual aspirations of the free festivals evolved into both the rave scene and the road protest movement, and how the prevailing trends in the counter-culture provided a fertile breeding ground for the development of new Druid groups, the growth of paganism in general, and the adoption of other sacred sites, in particular Stonehenge’s gargantuan neighbour Avebury.

The account is brought up to date with the reopening of Stonehenge on the summer solstice in 2000, the unprecedented crowds drawn by the new access arrangements, and the latest source of conflict, centred on a bitterly-contested road improvement scheme.

Reviews:

‘It’s by far the best bit of modern British social history I’ve seen.’
John Hodge, SchNEWS

‘This is a fine book in every way, well written, carefully researched and with a remarkable story to tell. It is about the great change in outlook that by-passed conventional politics and directed minds towards idealism and personal transcendence. This phenomenon has rarely been approached by sociologists: their training has not equipped them for it. Worthington’s book fills the gap and provides a unique record.’
John Michell, Fortean Times

Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion contains an extraordinary story. Anyone who imagines Stonehenge to be nothing but an old fossil should read this and worry… [This is] the most complete, well-illustrated analysis of Stonehenge’s mysterious world of Druids, travellers, pagans and partygoers.’
Mike Pitts, History Today

‘Andy Worthington has written what is likely to remain the definitive work on the subject, simply because of the depth of coverage and range of viewpoints that it incorporates. If it is impossible to write most political history in such a way that it will achieve universal acceptance, then to write ‘contemporary’ history about controversial events involving colourful and clashing personalities requires an exceptionally high degree of courage and dedication, and Andy has provided it.’
Ronald Hutton, author of The Triumph of the Moon

‘The strange events that swirled around Stonehenge in the last couple of decades — the Festival, the Convoy, the annual summer solstice ritual of confrontation between forces of order and disorder — were so bizarre there needs to be a record of them. In his wonderful and often funny book, Andy Worthington tells this, the oddest tale ever told about the most famous ancient place of them all.’
Christopher Chippindale, author of Stonehenge Complete

‘[A] readable and well researched cultural history.’
Antiquity

‘Worthington has produced a history of Stonehenge that puts it into a contemporary as well as archaeological context… The story told here is a fascinating one, and seems unlikely to be over.’
John Billingsly, Northern Earth

‘This is a well-written and well-researched study of a fascinating subject and is highly recommended.’
Mike Howard, The Cauldron

‘An essential read for anyone who wants a better understanding of how we got where we are.’
Andy Anderson, White Dragon

‘An honest, fastidious and heartfelt contribution… pointing towards a freer, glorious Albion’
Paul Screeton, Folklore Frontiers

Ordering Information

To order a copy for £14.95 plus £4.50 postage and packing (UK only), please order via PayPal (see below), or send a cheque (for £19.45 total) to:

A. Worthington
164A Tressillian Road
Brockley
London SE4 1XY.

Cheques payable to: ‘A. Worthington’.

If you’d like a signed copy and/or a dedication, let me know.

You can also buy Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield for £31.65 — £11.95 (Beanfield) plus £14.95 (Stonehenge) plus £4.75 postage and packing. Offer applies to UK only.

To order a copy from the author from anywhere else in the world, please send an email requesting current postage rates.

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My books are available via PayPal, for customers in the UK.



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Andy Worthington

Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker. Also, photo-journalist (The State of London), and singer and songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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