Vandals damage Stonehenge

I can't believe they did this. All for a chunk of rock the size of a 10p coin.

The practice of chipping off your own little piece of rock used to be a bit of a custom according to English Heritage. Would've thought the perimeter fence would've shown it wasn't allowed anymore.

Who DOES something like that?

People have been doing the same to the greatwall in china and other historical sites for years. I remember as I child I was thrilled when my dad returned from an overseas trip with a few peices of it.

Pathetic, although not as bad as the incident with the soccer hooligans.

if everybody in the world started taking a chip off the old block then there wouldn't be anything left to appreciate.

sooo sad.

Truly people should have the wherewithal to associate great reverence for an object with a will to preserve it for future generations, not to plunder it for themselves alone.

Seriously, historical monuments like these belong to everyone, and need to be preserved for future generations! Little bastards, I hope they get what's coming to them.

It's hard to say how I feel about this. I live near L.A. and I see vandalism all the time, but you wouldn't imagine people going to appreciate such an awesome structure would be able to so easily destruct it.

I've heard that in recent years there has been increased security around Stonehenge.

It's almost like a mathematical equation.

For every ONE person that participates in building something beautiful (like Stonehenge) there are at least 100 that will think it's "cool" to destroy it for fun or for a memento.

If there weren't armed guard surrounding the Mona Lisa -- you can bet there would be a small army of drunk assholes with scissors giggling to themselves, "Dude! This is gonna be soooo awesome! I'm gonna cut her smile off! Enigmatic my arse!"

Why isn't the government protecting this historical ancient monuments? Or are they gonna be like Egypt and pretend the pyramids aren't part of their history -_-

oh no, they took off a piece of stone hedge,

whatever, if it still looks the same and there was no real damage done, then everyone get over it. While they shouldn't allow this to happen, people getting upset over it is a little much, I mean, it's not like they're the ones who built it.

The criminals involved better get a damn sight more thrown at them than, "Defacing Public Property".
Unbelievable.

well , french school-kids used to draw all over the walls of Lascaux - i'm not too sure these vandals weren't actually a bit more patriotic in that they just took a tiny piece to put on the shelf or make a necklace out of - and i'm convinced the two involved were probably neo-druids , and are just as f--ing dumb as all neo-druids are .

It was most likely George Bush fuck him

ARG!!! Whenever I read about vandalism of historic places/objects, I can't believe it -- and yet it keeps happening. Maybe they wanted to sell a 'piece of Stonehenge' for some bucks -- after all, that's what happened to all the ancient pyramids, etc. Some people are so greedy and uncaring!!

That's rude.

this really upsets me, people should not be destroying ancient monumenrs, but preserving them

why would you bother to ruin something historic and ruin everyone else's enjoyment and the splendor of it.

Obviously they're not aware of the Old Druid Curse...Those little vandals are in for a little surprise.... Heheheheeeeee cough cough hehheeee cough......:) you can bet your arse it's gonna catch up with them...

I'll go ahead and address this to the morons who vandalized this incredible monument:

KARMA HAS A WAY OF CATCHING UP.

BELIEVE IT...
OR NOT!!!!

They most definitely did this for just a kick or a quick buck, but that stuff is sacred people! Im sure just taking one small pice will screw with the dynamic of the energy channeled through this sacred altar of our ancestors. We know that stonehenge was some sort of religious place, so you would think that these ignorant fools would have realized that any kind of defacing of this beautiful reminder of the past would be sacreligious, or at the very least immoral. Yes, they will get whats coming. Funny how we all know and agree with that! ;) one consciousness!!!!!

"Those kids are terrorists. Since they're from the UK and the UK is harboring terrorists, we need to invade. Everyone knows Stonehenge is a WMD..."

</sarcasm>

Now everyone's gonna chip away at everything. Is this a problem we should intervene with? The punishment should be steep because most people have enough sense and respect to simply not do this.

Hey clay,
mount rushmore is also a bunch of stones, would you feel upset if some went and i don't know say chipped off washingtons nose? Just because it is a "bunch of stones" to you as an american, does not give it any less significance to the people of the UK or people who believe in preserving monuments.

I agree wit Etosha_pent. Stonehenge is one of the oldest man made structures that is still standing. As a result they should be treated like a national monument and not a souvenir shop.

I think this has a lot to say about education. By this I don't mean teaching letters! It is about teaching a person to think in a useful way. These di**heads are quite capable of doing other bad things as well.
There have been much worser instances though, where the bastards blew up massive Buddha statues in Afghanistan.
Armed guards will do for now, but education will take us a longer way!

Some people have just way too much time on their hands. I hope they burn for this!

Rock on.

Yes, people...the two vandals are morons and deserve some type of public ridicule and psychologically damaging nude hazing, along with a few days in jail, but let's not forget that it's just an assemblage of rocks.

The ghosts of the ancient Druids are definitely coming to get them...it's been a while since they had someone to sacrifice...

The Pieta, sittting in St. Peters in Rome, was damaged in a similar way, by some maniac with a hammer, who broke off several of the delicate fingers, so cautiously carved by the great Michelangelo. When asked why he did it, his response was, "it was too perfect. Things aren't meant to be perfect."

After that, they put a plexiglass border around it, ruining the experience for everyone else... Michelangelo beat the pope over his head with his own cane just for peeking at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel before it was finished. So, imagine what he would do to this guy...

Go figure...

beyond lame

i was in paris at the DADA exhibit at the pompidou when this "neo-DADA" italian artist took a hammer to one of the 6 (7? ) "fountain" (urinals ) pieces by Duchamp - he had done the same thing before - his reason : DADA was about rebelling against the establishment , and no work represents the F-off attitude of DADA more than the "fountain" , and to have it on display in a museum , and for it to participate in the same "art" market Duchamp despised at the time he "made" it , was disgusting . he had a good point , and all of france spent a few months pondering how "artistic " a gesture taking a hammer to a "fountain" could possibly be , and what kind of punishment , if any , he should receive ( i don't know what sentence he got ) .
similarly , one has to wonder to what extent chipping up stonehenge might be considered a "gesture" of appreciation as opposed to true vandalism - i condemn it , of course , but it's a decent topic in the field of "aesthetics" , if no other .

Let someone go ahead and chip away Mount Rushmore I wouldn't mind, honestly.....

"but let's not forget that it's just an assemblage of rocks. "

Somebody obviously forgot their history as well as their common sense on rock formations.

just an assemblage of rocks? Well that's the understatement of the year. StoneHenge was assembled over 3000 years ago over a period of 1500 years. And they didn't JUST assemble it as rocks don't normally take on that smooth shape (check out Avebury for example).

The site was obviously very important to the people of that time and represents a major achievement of their culture.

Forget all the touristy British pride thing about it that made you dis it so offhandedly- it's very ancient, mysterious, and it's a ancient technological achievement and that alone makes it more than "just an assemblage of rocks."

Some jerks have no sense of respect; Stonehenge *means* something to some people!