Morons at English Heritage

[Marc Joan]

EH are supposed to preserve our heritage -- not vandalise it. Morons.
Tintagel Castle Merlin carving sparks 'Disneyfication' row - BBC News
Rant over. For now.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

This makes me think of the line from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, when a newspaper editor is forced to choose between reporting the truth or jumping onto the bandwagon of popular opinion:

Ransom Stoddard: You're not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?

Maxwell Scott: No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

I find myself torn in what to think about this—yes, it's crass and pandering to tourism—but Cornwall is the poorest county in the U.K. and depends for a large part of its income on tourism. I've lived here 26 years, and have known many people who work two or three jobs in the summer connected to the holiday industry, who try to save enough to get through the quiet winter months.

How many people would visit Loch Ness, if it weren't for the monster?

English Heritage have a commercial agenda too, and are not just guardians of our history. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that they'll soon be organising Knights of The Round Table jousts, with grateful locals clanking around in suits of armour. Such tourist traps are huge business around the world, with Renaissance Fairs being sold on a franchise basis. I visited one myself in Georgia, and it was a well thought out bit of hokum, mixing historical eras and selling lots of 'authentic' merchandise and food (turkey legs!) through concession stands.

The rise and rise of dumbing down continues....

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story! That's what my dad always says, anyway.

As a heritage interpreter, myself, though, I think perhaps a carving in the rock itself might be a bit...invasive. But interpretation is meant to provoke visitors emotions. To do that, you need to tap into the common experiences of your visitors, and link a site's history to what a visitor is already familiar with. We interpret the indigenous myths and legends of historic sites, along with the actual history of the site, why not the popular myths and legends of a site?

 

[KG Christopher]

It's a bit naff, seeing as Merlin was Welsh. And @Robinne Weiss is spot on. Why carve a face or a likeness into a natural structure?

 

[Geoff]

There again a Ye Olde Arthurian Theme Park might be the way forward. We could have a Gourmet Round Table Burger Bar and Sword in the Stone Pizza Restaurant, a Hotel Lancelot complex with Corporate Guinevere Business Centre and White Knight Quad Bike Circuit. The opportunities are endless! Think Big .. Who needs a ruin when Tintagel Castle Walk Executive Apartments could become a major development in the area!

 

[Marc Joan]

There again a Ye Olde Arthurian Theme Park might be the way forward. We could have a Gourmet Round Table Burger Bar and Sword in the Stone Pizza Restaurant, a Hotel Lancelot complex with Corporate Guinevere Business Centre and White Knight Quad Bike Circuit. The opportunities are endless! Think Big .. Who needs a ruin when Tintagel Castle Walk Executive Apartments could become a major development in the area!

Tintagel region is already very much like that -- a horrendous concentration of tat and tack. But until now they've stopped short of physically altering the landscape. Morons. Think I'll go and carve my likeness into the EH boss's front door, see how that goes down.

 

[Marc Joan]

This makes me think of the line from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, when a newspaper editor is forced to choose between reporting the truth or jumping onto the bandwagon of popular opinion:

Ransom Stoddard: You're not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?

Maxwell Scott: No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

I find myself torn in what to think about this—yes, it's crass and pandering to tourism—but Cornwall is the poorest county in the U.K. and depends for a large part of its income on tourism. I've lived here 26 years, and have known many people who work two or three jobs in the summer connected to the holiday industry, who try to save enough to get through the quiet winter months.

How many people would visit Loch Ness, if it weren't for the monster?

English Heritage have a commercial agenda too, and are not just guardians of our history. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that they'll soon be organising Knights of The Round Table jousts, with grateful locals clanking around in suits of armour. Such tourist traps are huge business around the world, with Renaissance Fairs being sold on a franchise basis. I visited one myself in Georgia, and it was a well thought out bit of hokum, mixing historical eras and selling lots of 'authentic' merchandise and food (turkey legs!) through concession stands.

The rise and rise of dumbing down continues....

I know what you mean, but there are so many ways of supporting tourism or local jobs [not necessarily the same thing] without damaging the landscape. The Lost Gardens of Heligan; the Eden Project; etc. I can think of a bunch of other things they are not doing, but could -- the morons.

 

[J. Rook]

EH are supposed to preserve our heritage -- not vandalise it. Morons.
Tintagel Castle Merlin carving sparks 'Disneyfication' row - BBC News
Rant over. For now.

This offends me also. But then I go on to read the other responses, and see another perspective.

 

[KG Christopher]

The icing on the cake (or the cream on the scon/scone) will be the opening of a Starbucks to put the local coffee shops out of business.

 

[Richard Sutton]

It's a bit naff, seeing as Merlin was Welsh. And @Robinne Weiss is spot on. Why carve a face or a likeness into a natural structure?

Maybe a case of creeping Yankee-ism. We've been known to disfigure whole sacred mountains...

 

[KG Christopher]

Maybe a case of creeping Yankee-ism. We've been known to disfigure whole sacred mountains...

I believe there is a stature of Crazy Horse being carved that will be bigger than the 4 presidents?. One of the best books I ever read 'Bury my heart at wounded knee'

 

[Richard Sutton]

KG, The Crazy-Horse statue is an amazing story in itself. The sculptor was a crazy Polish artist, now passed, whose life's work will take his son's lives as well to complete. Of course, it also has its detractors, many Lakota, who remind us that Crazy Horse himself, a religious mystic, never wanted any image of him made, neither a sketch nor a photograph. You should consider adding "In the Spirit Of Crazy Horse" by Peter Mattheissen to your library as well. Another case of justice completely forgotten.

 

[Matnov]

I have read this thread with a note of wry amusement given that in a previous professional incarnation, I had to clash heads with EH on more than one occasion and they were never willing to budge a single inch on a whole range of reasonable proposals involving very minor, and actually rather sensible, repairs and alterations to a variety of properties they over-saw. So to read about this makes me wonder what has changed? Because the EH I had to deal with would have probably invoked the riot act before allowing such a thing to go-ahead so I can only assume some real change in their over-all ethos in the 5 or so years it has been since my last dealings with them.

 

[James Marinero]

So to read about this makes me wonder what has changed? Because the EH I had to deal with would have probably invoked the riot act before allowing such a thing to go-ahead so I can only assume some real change in their over-all ethos in the 5 or so years it has been since my last dealings with them.

Budget cuts and sheer need to survive - and maybe a new generation brought up on the concept of franchises, as in The Star Wars Franchise, for example.

 

[Robin]

Interesting. I'm just a few miles down the road from Tintagel right now, and a couple of immediate thoughts occur to me:
1. The village itself is already a tired and depressing place. There's a deep sadness about the buildings, the shops, the people working there too. If this does something positive for the folks there - well, good stuff.
2. There are still many unspoilt and beautiful parts of Cornwall. But they're reducing in size and number year on year. If the exploitation of Tintagel means that other areas of the wild North Cornwall coast gain a reprieve as a consequence - that's also welcome!

 

[Marc Joan]

Interesting. I'm just a few miles down the road from Tintagel right now, and a couple of immediate thoughts occur to me:
1. The village itself is already a tired and depressing place. There's a deep sadness about the buildings, the shops, the people working there too. If this does something positive for the folks there - well, good stuff.
2. There are still many unspoilt and beautiful parts of Cornwall. But they're reducing in size and number year on year. If the exploitation of Tintagel means that other areas of the wild North Cornwall coast gain a reprieve as a consequence - that's also welcome!

As someone who goes to Cornwall each year, I know what you mean. But there are other ways of achieving the same end, I believe.

 

[Robin]

As someone who goes to Cornwall each year, I know what you mean. But there are other ways of achieving the same end, I believe.

Talking about it with my wife - she wondered whether EH would permit similar at Stonehenge. We then had a debate about the likely graffiti signature of a Neolithic hooligan. A big 'X' ?

 

[Jay Aitch]

Seriously though, a two foot square area of rock carved into Mel Gibson's likeness is nothing to lose sleep over.