Man Pleads Guilty to Historical Site Damage
- 12 years ago
An elderly man pleads guilty to damaging England's ancient site, Priddy Circles.
Owning a historic piece of land may sound great, but for one elderly man, it turned out to be disastrous. Roger Penny is a retired business man in his 70s.
As a pension investment, he decided to purchase a prehistoric site called, Priddy Circles in Somerset, England. The site dates back approximately 5,000 years and the land is described as an earthwork ring.
It was built around the same time as Stonehenge and it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The designation meant that Penny was required to obtain approval from English Heritage before beginning any renovations or major work.
Penny hired to contractors to “tidy” up the area without consulting officials. The end result wasn’t so good: natural holes inside the ring were filled with rubble and heavy equipment had made ruts inside the circle.
The damage took place last year and Penny found himself in court.
The prosecutor stated - These circles have "enormous potential to inform us about the Neolithic period, and in archaeological terms are internationally significant.”
Penny was ordered to pay about $60,000 for restorations and thousands more in fines.
Owning a historic piece of land may sound great, but for one elderly man, it turned out to be disastrous. Roger Penny is a retired business man in his 70s.
As a pension investment, he decided to purchase a prehistoric site called, Priddy Circles in Somerset, England. The site dates back approximately 5,000 years and the land is described as an earthwork ring.
It was built around the same time as Stonehenge and it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The designation meant that Penny was required to obtain approval from English Heritage before beginning any renovations or major work.
Penny hired to contractors to “tidy” up the area without consulting officials. The end result wasn’t so good: natural holes inside the ring were filled with rubble and heavy equipment had made ruts inside the circle.
The damage took place last year and Penny found himself in court.
The prosecutor stated - These circles have "enormous potential to inform us about the Neolithic period, and in archaeological terms are internationally significant.”
Penny was ordered to pay about $60,000 for restorations and thousands more in fines.