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(Redirected from Stonehenge free festival)
The 'Stonehenge Free Festival' was a British festival from 1972 to 1984 held at Stonehenge in England during the month of June, and culminating on the summer solstice on June 21st. The festival was a celebration of various alternative cultures, in particular neo-paganism. Sid Rawles' tepee people and the Wallys were notable counter culture attendees and bands such as Hawkwind, Gong, Doctor and the Medics, Crass, Selector, Dexys Midnight Runners, The Thompson Twins, The Raincoats, Brent Black Music Co-op, Amazulu, Wishbone Ash, Man, Benjamin Zephaniah, Inner City Unit, Here and Now, Cardiacs, The Enid and Roy Harper, all played for free.
There were drugs openly sold during the festivals. There was a self-policing ban on the selling of heroin, but cocaine, and amphetamines as well as LSD and cannabis were all openly sold on the festival site, with the only sign of policing being the stop and search imposed on some people on their way in or out of the site.
The festival attendees were viewed as hippies (and some were, in fact, self-described hippies) by the wider British public. This, along with the open drug use and sale, contributed to the increase in restrictions on access to Stonehenge, as fences were erected around the stones in 1977. The same year, police resurrected a moribund law against driving over grassland in order to levy fines against festival goers in motorised transport. Stonehenge's meaning has been historically contested, and that trend was dramatically continued in 1985 when English courts banned the Free Festival from being held at Stonehenge. The ruling came so late that some Free Festivallers did not know about it, and several hundred attempted to show up in defiance of the ruling.
The ensuing confrontation with police ended in the Battle of the Beanfield and no free festival has been held at Stonehenge since, though people have been allowed to gather at the stones again for the solstice since 1999.
★ Phil Russell, aka Wally Hope, co-founder of the Windsor and Stonehenge free festivals
★ McKay, George (1996) ''Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance since the Sixties'', chapter one 'The free festivals and fairs of Albion', chapter two 'O life unlike to ours! Go for it! New Age travellers'. London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-028-0
★ Stonehenge free festivals 1972-85 - An illustrated History
★ Tash's Stonehenge Festival and 'Exclusion Zone' photo galleries
★ BBC 2004 Stonehenge 'Festival History' article
★ 'Stonehenge Campaign'
★ 'Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion' by Andy Worthington (Alternative Albion, 2004)
★ JEZALAND - Original archive photos of UK Free Festivals and related Bands from Jeza
Dancing inside the stones, 1984 free festival.
The 'Stonehenge Free Festival' was a British festival from 1972 to 1984 held at Stonehenge in England during the month of June, and culminating on the summer solstice on June 21st. The festival was a celebration of various alternative cultures, in particular neo-paganism. Sid Rawles' tepee people and the Wallys were notable counter culture attendees and bands such as Hawkwind, Gong, Doctor and the Medics, Crass, Selector, Dexys Midnight Runners, The Thompson Twins, The Raincoats, Brent Black Music Co-op, Amazulu, Wishbone Ash, Man, Benjamin Zephaniah, Inner City Unit, Here and Now, Cardiacs, The Enid and Roy Harper, all played for free.
| Contents |
| Drug use |
| Conflict |
| Battle of the Beanfield |
| See also |
| Bibliography |
| External links |
Drug use
There were drugs openly sold during the festivals. There was a self-policing ban on the selling of heroin, but cocaine, and amphetamines as well as LSD and cannabis were all openly sold on the festival site, with the only sign of policing being the stop and search imposed on some people on their way in or out of the site.
Conflict
The festival attendees were viewed as hippies (and some were, in fact, self-described hippies) by the wider British public. This, along with the open drug use and sale, contributed to the increase in restrictions on access to Stonehenge, as fences were erected around the stones in 1977. The same year, police resurrected a moribund law against driving over grassland in order to levy fines against festival goers in motorised transport. Stonehenge's meaning has been historically contested, and that trend was dramatically continued in 1985 when English courts banned the Free Festival from being held at Stonehenge. The ruling came so late that some Free Festivallers did not know about it, and several hundred attempted to show up in defiance of the ruling.
Battle of the Beanfield
The ensuing confrontation with police ended in the Battle of the Beanfield and no free festival has been held at Stonehenge since, though people have been allowed to gather at the stones again for the solstice since 1999.
See also
★ Phil Russell, aka Wally Hope, co-founder of the Windsor and Stonehenge free festivals
Bibliography
★ McKay, George (1996) ''Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance since the Sixties'', chapter one 'The free festivals and fairs of Albion', chapter two 'O life unlike to ours! Go for it! New Age travellers'. London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-028-0
External links
★ Stonehenge free festivals 1972-85 - An illustrated History
★ Tash's Stonehenge Festival and 'Exclusion Zone' photo galleries
★ BBC 2004 Stonehenge 'Festival History' article
★ 'Stonehenge Campaign'
★ 'Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion' by Andy Worthington (Alternative Albion, 2004)
★ JEZALAND - Original archive photos of UK Free Festivals and related Bands from Jeza
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