The Voice article about the grant of £9,800 to the Gentlemen’s Society in Spalding over William Stukeley’s drawings drew a bit of a mild smile from me.
All credit to the Gentlemen’s Society and the granting of this financial award.
It is more than ironic to me now that Holbeach missed out on the financial input of visitor, or tourist, antiquarian attraction over these last two/three decades – for William Stukeley’s birthplace, in Holbeach, conservatively worth over three to four noughts over the £9,800 of the grant.
For most folk who would wonder ‘how come?’, William Stukeley’s family home was knocked down. It wasn’t worth much at the time of redevelopment but the planners have sure lost out now.
William Stukeley is one of the biggest names not only as a father of Survey Archaeology in Britain, but the largest figure in UK history to popularise both Stonehenge and Druidism in the public consciousness of both Britain and the World of the day.
It actually was his much older mate John Aubrey who first surveyed Stonehenge with Charles II – but no matter.
Only the fact that Holbeach has lost any recognition of the birthplace and family home of William Stukeley – as if he has been wiped out of history, denies the millions of people worldwide the chance to visit.
Tony Forbes-Whitmore
Princes Street
Holbeach
