Stonehenge project postponed for a year

An ill-fated attempt to drag a three-ton rock from a Welsh mountain to Stonehenge has finally been postponed after a series of disasters.

An ill-fated attempt to drag a three-ton rock from a Welsh mountain to Stonehenge has finally been postponed after a series of disasters.

The journey, which was meant to recreate the path of the rocks to the ancient monument, had already been called a waste of money after £100,000 of National Lottery funds was devoted to the exercise. Now, after seven months of pushing and shoving, the boulder has moved only a few miles.

Critics have long said the plan should be completely abandoned. The original scheme was to take the rock from the Preseli mountains in Pembrokeshire to Milford Haven and then by barge to the West Country.

After starting in April, the stone should have reached its destination, some 240 miles away, last month. Instead, it sits abandoned on the quayside at Milford Haven.

The Millennium Stone project, organised by the rural development organisation Menter Preseli, has been plagued with problems since it began. First a sled used to carry the stone was stolen by thieves. Then the stone dropped off the back of two barges as they moved out of Milford Haven and disappeared into more than 50ft of water.

A renewed effort to move the stone will be made next May.