A NEW heritage list could provide extra protection for spiritual celebrations at Stonehenge.

The government will soon be asking people to nominate their favourite traditions that best reflect where they live to be included in the new Inventory of Living Heritage in the UK.

Inclusion in the list will ensure these intrinsically UK traditions, which could include Gloucestershire’s cheese rolling race and London’s Notting Hill Carnival, will be protected as the list aims to keep track of crafts, customs and celebrations that are valued by people across the country.

The government says traditions that are central to the rich tapestry that makes up the UK’s many cultures and identity will be considered and those added to the list will help “protect them for future generations”.

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Nominations, which are expected to open later this year, will be accepted in seven categories: oral expressions (poetry and storytelling), performing arts, social practices (festivals and customs), nature, land and spirituality, crafts, sports and games and culinary practices.

Heritage minister Baroness Twycross said: “The UK is rich with wonderful traditions, from Gloucestershire’s cheese rolling to folk music and dancing and the many heritage crafts that we practice, such as tartan weaving and carving Welsh love spoons.

“I would encourage everyone to think about what traditions they value so that we can continue to celebrate them, tell our national story to the rest of the world and safeguard the traditions that make us who we are.”

Long-time campaigner for free access to Stonehenge, King Arthur Pendragon, has suggested that solstice and equinox celebrations at the neolithic site should be included in the list amid fears of ‘sanitisation’ by local authorities.

He says that if these celebrations are not protected, there are concerns that English Heritage – which manages the site – could eventually turn them into a commercial event rather than a spiritual celebration.

He said: “I feel that any such recognition [such as inclusion in to the Inventory of Living Heritage in the UK] would aid us.

“It would be another string to the bow in our arsenal against what is clearly the idea of the local authorities – English Heritage and Wiltshire Council in particular – who would, given half the chance, completely sanitise what should remain a spiritual celebration rather than what they would turn into a commercial event.”

King Arthur spoke to your Salisbury & Avon Gazette previously, where he accused Wiltshire Council and English Heritage of attempting to create a “monopoly on parking” around the nationally important site.

This comes after access to a byway, which offered an unrestricted view of Stonehenge, was curtailed for months, forcing people to pay to park at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre car park instead.

The Inventory of Living Heritage in the UK list comes as a result of the UK signing up to the 2003 Unesco Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Culture Heritage, which requires member states to compile an inventory of living heritage practised by communities in each country.