On June 1st 1985, a convoy of new age travellers, peace protestors, green activists and festival-goer set off from Savernake Forest to establish the 12th annual free festival at Stonehenge. They never reached their destination.
Eight miles from the Stones they were ambushed, assaulted and arrested (many brutally) by a quasi-military police force of over 1,300 officers drawn from six counties and the MOD. This event is known as the “Battle of the Beanfield”. I wasn’t there but the images shown on TV at the time (before they mysteriously disappeared) are shocking. The lies/misinformation concerning both the travellers and the events that went on that day are similar to other “events” which went on especially in the 1980s and 1990s. Let hope lessons have been learnt.
For more details look up the Important Things In Life/Festivals page on this website.