Jaap Beets, 59, was in his farmhouse in Gelderland on September 5 when he heard screaming coming from his livestock outside
Restoration work at Stonehenge has begun today, with scaffolding erected inside the ancient Salisbury monument as the UNESCO world heritage site undergoes the first major repairs in more than six decades so cracks and holes in the stones can be refilled.
Strong winds buffeting the 4,500-year-old stone circle on Salisbury Plain just two miles west of Amesbury have taken their toll on its horizontal stones, called lintels, which may start rocking or become unstable, according to English Heritage.
Large-scale restoration this morning, with conservators seen scaling 22ft high scaffolding so holes, cracks and joints can be refilled. The last major job was conducted in 1958, when several fallen stones were hauled back into place by Aubrey Bailey.
His son Richard Woodman-Bailey, who was eight when he placed a 1950s halfpenny under one of the stones during the first repairs, is now due to place a commemorative 2021, £2 silver coin featuring Britannia within Stonehenge at an unveiling ceremony.
Before Aubrey Bailey's repairs, the last time Stonehenge underwent restoration was at the beginning of the 20th Century after the horizontal stones had fallen off the monument. It is hoped no further repairs will be needed for the rest of this century.
Scaffolding has been erected next to Stonehenge this morning as the ancient monument undergoes the first major repairs in more than six decades so cracks and holes in the stones can be refilled
A scaffold is erected inside the stone circle as specialist contractors from SSH Conservation fix defects from previous repairs
Conservator James Preston uses a pointing spoon on top of a scaffold erected inside the stone circle at Stonehenge as specialist contractors from SSH Conservation fix defects from previous repairs
The last major job began in 1958 when several fallen stones were hauled back into place within the UNESCO world heritage site whose origins have long remained a source of mystery and wonder The new work, which will be done in full view of visitors, will be light-touch.
Heather Sebire, senior curator for Stonehenge with English Heritage, said: 'Stonehenge is unique among stone circles by virtue of its lintels and their special joints, which prehistoric builders fitted together almost like Lego or Ikea furniture today.
'Four and a half thousand years of being buffeted by wind and rain has created cracks and holes in the surface of the stone, and this vital work will protect the features which make Stonehenge so distinctive.'
To mark the new restoration, English Heritage has invited Mr Woodman-Bailey, who was eight years old when the stones were last repaired.
His father was chief architect at Stonehenge, and the repair team asked the schoolboy to drop a 1958 halfpenny beneath a giant sandstone called a sarsen during the works.
After unexpectedly seeing his picture in an English Heritage magazine, Mr Woodman-Bailey got in touch with the charity to tell them who he was.
He will now place a 2021 coin, struck at the Royal Mint, on top of the same sarsen, beneath a newly repaired lintel.
Mr Woodman-Bailey, 71, who went on to become a stonemason and later a chartered surveyor, and now lives in Epsom with his wife, Jenny, said: 'Dropping the coin below the 50 or 60-tonne sarsen hanging over my head has always been imprinted in my memory.
'I didn't think anybody else knew about it until the photograph turned up in the magazine, and didn't expect to be asked back to do the same again, which is a real privilege.'
Speaking at the site this morning, Mr Woodman-Bailey joked that health and safety laws today would have prevented him from crawling under the stones and placing the penny underneath.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It would be frowned upon these days. I was here with my father, indeed mother, in the school holidays here and playing around the stones on the day that the lift was actually taking place.
'I had this coin I think rather in the spur of the moment thrust in my hand as the stone and the cradle around it weighing getting on for 60 tonnes was just 2ft above the ground. And I was asked to place this halfpenny coin under the stone as it was dangling above my head, but I didn't spend too long there, I can assure you.
'I had enough sense at the time to beat a hasty retreat.'
He went on: 'I don't think any work very much had been carried out previously, I think they had done some works at the beginning of the last century.
'Generally speaking, my father was reerecting the stones that had fallen since the end of the 18th Century. So there were a number of trilithons reerected and certainly its a much better site now, to see Stonehenge as it is today, to get a much better idea of what it would have been like originally when it was built.'
The work was made possible after tiny cracks, some three feet in length, were identified by a laser scan in 2012, which also picked up prehistoric 'graffiti' of axe heads carved into the stones.
The new project will use lime mortar to replace concrete mortar previously used to fix lintels together, which is now disintegrating.
Conservators will fix nine lintels, with no work planned on the smaller bluestones, which suffered damage from Victorian visitors chipping away at the stone circle to take part of it home as a souvenir.
The conservation work will take place between September 14 and 25, with visitors encouraged to watch and ask questions.
According to the monument's website, Stonehenge was built in four stages. The first version of Stonehenge was a large earthwork or Henge, comprising a ditch, bank and the Aubrey holes, all probably built around 3100 BC.
The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk, about one metre (3.3 feet) wide and deep, with steep sides and flat bottoms. They form a circle about 86.6 metres (284 feet) in diameter.
Excavations revealed cremated human bones in some of the chalk filling, but the holes themselves were likely not made to be used as graves, but as part of a religious ceremony. After this first stage, Stonehenge was abandoned and left untouched for more than 1,000 years.
Strong winds buffeting the 4,500-year-old stone circle in Salisbury Plain two miles west of Amesbury have taken their toll on its horizontal stones, called lintels, which may start rocking or become unstable
English Heritage began large-scale restoration this morning by putting 22ft scaffolding up so holes, cracks and joints can be refilled. It is hoped no further repairs will be needed for the rest of the centuryThe second and most dramatic stage of Stonehenge started around 2150 years BC, when about 82 bluestones from the Preseli mountains in south-west Wales were transported to the site. It's thought that the stones, some of which weigh four tonnes each, were dragged on rollers and sledges to the waters at Milford Haven, where they were loaded onto rafts.
They were carried on water along the south coast of Wales and up the rivers Avon and Frome, before being dragged overland again near Warminster and Wiltshire.
The final stage of the journey was mainly by water, down the river Wylye to Salisbury, then the Salisbury Avon to west Amesbury.
The journey spanned nearly 240 miles, and once at the site, the stones were set up in the centre to form an incomplete double circle.
During the same period, the original entrance was widened and a pair of Heel Stones were erected. The nearer part of the Avenue, connecting Stonehenge with the River Avon, was built aligned with the midsummer sunrise.
The third stage of Stonehenge, which took place about 2000 years BC, saw the arrival of the sarsen stones (a type of sandstone), which were larger than the bluestones. They were likely brought from the Marlborough Downs (40 kilometres, or 25 miles, north of Stonehenge).
The largest of the sarsen stones transported to Stonehenge weighs 50 tonnes, and transportation by water would not have been possible, so it's suspected that they were transported using sledges and ropes.
Calculations have shown that it would have taken 500 men using leather ropes to pull one stone, with an extra 100 men needed to lay the rollers in front of the sledge. These stones were arranged in an outer circle with a continuous run of lintels - horizontal supports.
Inside the circle, five trilithons - structures consisting of two upright stones and a third across the top as a lintel - were placed in a horseshoe arrangement, which can still be seen today.
The fourth and final stage took place just after 1500 years BC, when the smaller bluestones were rearranged in the horseshoe and circle that can be seen today.
The original number of stones in the bluestone circle was probably around 60, but these have since been removed or broken up. Some remain as stumps below ground level.
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