Court move on oak circle

SCIENTISTS TRYING to move an ancient oak circle known as Seahenge said yesterday they would seek an injunction to stop druids occupying the site.

The archaeologists, working for English Heritage, areappealing for help from the courts to remove protesters from the circle off the Norfolk coast. They have occupied the 4,000-year-old monument at Holme-next-the- Sea to prevent English Heritage workers taking it to a museum.

A spokeswoman for the body said she hoped to obtain an injunction so that the druids could be forced to allow the work to go ahead. "The timber circle needs to be removed or else it will be destroyed by the sea.

"The protesters have been occupying the site and preventing the archaeologists from carrying out their work. We are hoping to obtain an injunction."

The druids are obstructing removal of the circle because they believe it is a site of spiritual importance.

Earlier this week the work was being stopped by a lone druid called Crow, who staged a sit-in inside the circle. Crow has now left the area.

English Heritage wants to move the circle - which emerged from the sea late last year - because, the organisation says, it is in danger of being washed away.

But local people, environmental campaigners and druids have opposed the move and want the circle to stay where it is. Seahenge, made of 55 oak trunks and an upturned oak base, has been described as one of the most exciting archaeological finds in Britain.

English Heritage wants to move the timbers, which date from the time of Stonehenge, to the Flag Fen archaeological centre, near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.