Human Henge got off to a terrific start with our launch at Stonehenge on Friday evening. It followed a useful Mental Health Awareness training session for staff and volunteers led by Sally Scott of the Richmond Fellowship.
Sara Lunt, our Chair, kicked off a round of introductions to the project in the Education Room, where we were welcomed by Kate Davies, Stonehenge General Manager. Bolstered by refreshments contributed by a Stonehenge volunteer (thank you!), we then visited the Neolithic Houses, where volunteers were keeping the kindling fires alight, and the exhibition.
Now we look forward to welcoming participants who will be visiting the Visitor Centre next Friday, in preparation for the first session on Friday 21st October.
Thank you to everyone who came along, to our fantastic Project Board members, and to Stonehenge staff and volunteers!

Spire FM published a good article about Human Henge which you can see here.

The Human Henge team l – r: Katherine Snell, Stonehenge Education Officer; Martin Allfrey, English Heritage Senior Curator South West; Dr Toby Sutcliffe, AWP Wiltshire Clinical Director; Daniel O’Donoghue, Richmond Fellowship Locality Manager; Chartwell Dutiro, musician and creative facilitator; Yvette Staelens, coordinator; Professor Tim Darvill, Director of the Centre for Archaeology Bournemouth University, Dr Sara Lunt, Chair of the Project Board; Colin Caldow, AWP Patient Public Invovlement lead on HH; Laura Drysdale, Project Manager. Missing is Dr VAnessa Heaslip, Principal Lecturer Health and Clinical Sciences Bournemouth University.

Kate Davies, Stonehenge General Manager, welcoming us to Stonehenge with Sara.  Tim Darvill, describing the therapeutic potential of historic landscapes. Martin Allfrey with Sara.

At the Neolithic Houses, inside with Stonehenge volunteers keeping the fires alight, Councillor Ian West and Katherine. Chartwell with Vanessa and Jessica Swinburne, HH volunteer and BU OT Student.

Martin, Dave – Stonehenge Volunteer, Dr Nick Snashall National Trust archaeologist at Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site, Katherine and Laura.

Today, The Restoration Trust has received £53,400 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for Human Henge, a partnership with English Heritage, Richmond Fellowship and Bournemouth University supported by Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. The project is also part funded by Wiltshire Council Amesbury Area Board (£2,224) and English Heritage (£3,000).

Based at Stonehenge, Human Henge engages disadvantaged people living in Wiltshire in a therapeutic sensory experience of the World Heritage Site. Over ten weekly three-hour sessions two groups walk the landscape with archaeologist Professor Timothy Darvill OBE and other experts. Their journey ends with a ceremony inside the Stone Circle, near the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, collaborating with musician Chartwell Dutiro. Drawing on recent ideas that Stonehenge was a place of healing, as they walk in the steps of others before them our participants contribute a new layer to the multiple understandings of this enigma. Human ends in June 2018. It includes exhibitions, conferences and research examining whether a creative exploration of historic landscapes achieves sustained measurable health and wellbeing outcomes for people with mental health conditions.

Human Henge enables 32 local people living on low income with mental health problems plus carers and volunteers to experience Stonehenge with expert guidance. They create an epic poem and ceremony that affirms the abiding connection between people, place and the past. Exhibitions at Amesbury Library, Salisbury Museum Festival of Archaeology and Bournemouth University, and proposed presentations at Theoretical Archaeology Group conference 2017, Culture, Health and Wellbeing international conference 2017 and an international Archaeology and Wellbeing conference 2018 share learning with the public and professionals. A website and social media link to partners’ websites, reaching a wide audience. Interdisciplinary evaluation and research evidences this pilot project’s heritage, community and health outcomes.

Stonehenge is the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world and, with its associated landscape and related monuments, demonstrates Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial practices between 3,700 and 1,600 BC. Stonehenge and its landscape are precious to visitors from around the world (more than 1,350,000 p.a.); to scholars as a unique and still incompletely understood site; and to people seeking inspiration as an ancient and magnificent ceremonial centre and burial place. Stonehenge and 6,500 acres of surrounding landscape are inscribed as a World Heritage Site (WHS). The Stone Circle and most monuments within the landscape are Scheduled Ancient Monuments. Parts of the landscape are Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The WHS includes parts of Amesbury and Larkhill, plus several villages. Two output areas in the Amesbury Community Area are amongst the 30% most deprived in England. Amesbury East is the most deprived OA in Wiltshire. Rural deprivation in the area contributes to isolation and poor mental health.

Commenting on the award, Laura Drysdale, Director of the Restoration Trust, said: “We are thrilled that the Heritage Lottery Fund has supported Human Henge, a brilliant opportunity for people living with mental health conditions to connect with one of the greatest prehistoric monuments in the world. Stonehenge is an incredible site, so it’s great that Human Henge helps Richmond Fellowship clients in Wiltshire overcome barriers to access and share that adventure with the wider public.’

Nerys Watts, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund South West said: “We are so pleased to be part of this exciting project which will add to the quality of life of those taking part now and enable us to understand further the health benefits of engaging with heritage into the future.”

www.humanhenge.org

Human Henge is a new project about archaeology, mental health and creativity. Run by the Restoration Trust in partnership with Richmond Fellowship, English Heritage and Bournemouth University, it will be interesting, adventurous, safe and fun.

The Restoration Trust helps people with mental health conditions engage with art and heritage – we call it Culture Therapy. Find out more about us at www.restorationtrust.org.uk