Through the Magpie Eye: The 1984 Stonehenge Free Festival

21.06.2019 • 1 comment

A large crowd at Stonehenge in hazy light, with people in white robes among them and several sat on top of the stones

Seeing as today marks the longest day of the year AKA the Summer Solstice, here’s some grainy old photos taken from the final Stonehenge Free Festival back in 1984.

As the name suggests, this was a free gathering that took place at the infamous Neolithic stone slabs of Stonehenge, attracting a rag-tag band of hippies, punks, bikers and travellers.

This month long festival culminated on or around the solstice, and over the years featured bands and musicians like Hawkwind, Gong, Crass and Roy Harper.

By 1984 the festival apparently attracted around 100,000 people - but not everyone was a fan - and after complaints about unrestricted drug sales and damage to the site, it all ended on June 1^st 1985 after a violent feud between a convoy of travellers and the police.

Anyway, these photos, taken from the excellent UK Rock Festivals site, are pretty good, and show what music festivals looked like before Carling-branded takeovers and endless bag-searches…

Four people stood and sat on top of a Stonehenge lintel against a blue sky with white clouds

A cream coach on the grass with psychedelic paintings propped against it and someone in a dark coat looking on

Three festival-goers reading a sheet of paper on the grass, one in a Rhyme and Reason tee, one holding a four-pack of cans

A black and yellow trike made from a motorbike and half a car, carrying riders past crowds and tents on the festival site

An orange lorry with a green box body painted Ygors Revenge in white, parked among tents and people on the festival site

A tarpaulin shelter with a red cloth door and handwritten signs, one reading Acid, next to a red car on the festival site

Druids in white hooded robes gathered among the stones of Stonehenge beneath a painted banner, with onlookers in front

Someone with long curly hair crouched by a dark green motorbike on the grass, in front of a white van and a striped tent

Festival-goers lounging on a patchwork blanket on the grass beside a white van, shot at a tilt across a tent rope

An audience sat on the ground at the festival, one in a camouflage jacket and green jeans, another in a cream jacket

Three people lounging on a battered sofa by a tent, two hiding their faces, one laughing in a red and black striped tee

Three festival-goers chatting by a white car and a tent, one in a long striped kaftan and headband, one in a patterned jumper

A dark saloon car with a container on its bonnet, someone in a black jacket beside it and a vintage bus behind

Someone with long hair putting up a frame of tent poles on the grass, with canvas tents and a blue van behind

A hazy view over the festival township, with parked cars, vans and tents, people milling about and a hill in the distance

Visitors among the stones of Stonehenge on a sunny day, two perched on an upright stone and others sat on the grass below

Druids in white hooded robes walking past a standing stone, one carrying a staff, with onlookers by the stone

Two shirtless festival-goers, one with a spiked mohawk, sat on a burnt-out car wreck among the crowd and litter

A crowd milling among the stones of Stonehenge in golden light, framed by a lintel, with a white flag above their heads

Druids in white hooded robes gathered among the stones in the sun, one with a staff topped with leaves, as a crowd looks on

A relaxed crowd sat and stood on the grass among the stones in sunshine, one in a long pink skirt, some shirtless

Click here for loads more snaps of the festival and some pretty honest accounts of the festival from those who were there.

The people say...

Gordon Bannerman uttered @ 03:49 PM on Tue 22.06.2021

Hi there, I was at the festival, hitched from Dundee with 6 other Punks
Apparently a friend saw us on the local news in London, at the festival and still searching to find that footage. If anyone remembers seeing it, love to hear from you.

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