Abstract
WE are glad to learn that Mr. Jowett, First Commissioner of Works, has now definitely refused to permit the sect of Latter-Day Druids, or “Church of the Universal Bond,” to make use of Stonehenge for the burial of the ashes of their dead. In a letter to Lord Crawford, Mr. Jowett says, “I have decided that under no circumstances can any burials be permitted within the precincts of Stonehenge in the future.” When the proposed desecration of the national monument became known, strong protests were raised against it, and in our issue of September 6, p. 364, we expressed the resentment generally felt in regard to the claims and intentions of the sect which contemplated such action. It would probably be difficult to prevent members of the sect from scattering ashes of certain of their dead members within Stonehenge, but we assume that no formal assembly for this purpose will be authorised. In his reply to a question in the House of Commons in July, Mr. Jowett said that no objection would be raised to the use of the national monument for the proposed burial of such ashes, provided that there was “no serious disturbance of the ground,” and the sect announced that no such disturbance was intended, as there would be “nothing in the nature of an interment.” It is not yet clear whether the sect may hold a service within the precincts of Stonehenge and formally scatter the ashes of their dead upon the ground.
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Current Topics and Events. Nature 114, 441–444 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/114441a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/114441a0