In time for the 40th Anniversary of the Beanfield (1 June 2025), when the army and police brutally attacked a convoy of people heading to Stonehenge for the annual free festival in 1985, we are releasing hours of previously unseen video testimony taken in 1990/91 during the making of the documentary ‘Operation Solstice’. Footage that survived after over 30 summers and winters, mostly in a mum’s loft, saved from inevitable deterioration. Some once familiar voices, now long since passed, brought back to bear witness to the shameful barbarism of that day, ‘the worst police treatment of people’ in living memory.

The Beanfield

Phil the Beer

Helen the Hatt

Decker Linn

Don Aitken

Extra viewing

FACING SOUTH -

A TVS Special on the Convoy (1986)

A TVS Special report on the Convoy and the threat to civil liberties (1986) A documentary about travellers parked up in Bristol after the police operation to clear them from Stoney Cross in 1986.

Trashed, BBC2 1986

A landmark BBC2 documentary from 1986, with lots of witness accounts of the Beanfield from the travellers, the Earl of Cardigan, and the Observer’s Nick Davies.

An Englishman's Home -

BBC Debate on Right to Roam (1986)

A BBC 2 studio debate focussing on the right to roam, to live the travelling lifestyle, and to gather at Stonehenge. Lots of familiar faces, and loads of fair comment from the likes of Brig, Eavis, and Phil the Beer. According to Moz, who was in the audience, they made sure that there was plenty of booze laid on to encourage 'the verbals', and a confrontational vibe..