YOU could say that it began and ended within the restorative, ageless retreat of leafy, sun-dappled Savernake Forest – but what happened during the hours in between unfolded into one of the most controversial occurrences witnessed in this county in the 20th Century.

Amidst the blood and battery – and there was plenty of both – the events of that sunny Spring evening resulted in what has been described as “the largest mass arrest of civilians since at least the Second World War….and possibly the biggest in English legal history.”

And it led one peer of the realm, The Earl of Cardigan to proclaim: “I was staggered by some of the scenes I witnessed that day; scenes that we all see often enough on television and can turn off.

“I had never seen anything like that in the flesh though, and made the worse by the fact that women and small children and babies were in the thick of it.”

Thirty years ago this weekend The Battle of the Beanfield erupted not a million miles from Swindon – an episode which for years afterwards became both a byword and reference point for an ongoing conflict between the Counter Culture and the Establishment.

It was certainly not the finest hour in the long and proud history of England’s first county police force and provoked headlines in this newspaper and our sister publication the Wilts Gazette & Herald such as “The bloody result,” “’Bully boy’ police under fire’ and “Police ‘are not bullies.’”

A report two years later by the Police Complaints Authority (see panel) spoke of “excessive force” used by some of the 1,363 officers who arrested no less than 537 people during the battle – perhaps ‘rout’ would be a better description - in a Wiltshire field on the evening of Saturday, June 1, 1985.

Riots shields, truncheons and the spilling of blood were sadly inevitable in the lush Wiltshire countryside as the summer of ’85 approached….but few could have predicted the sheer extent of the violence along with the absolute mayhem that ensued.

From a distance of three decades its shock value has not diminished.

Thousands of hippies/New Age Travellers, call them what you will, were intent on holding a free festival at Stonehenge that year to coincide with the summer solstice.

Fearing damage, the “owners” of the nation’s most iconic monument and the surrounding land, English Heritage and the National Trust said “no way” and obtained a High Court injunction preventing the gig. It was down to Wiltshire Police to uphold the court’s decision.

Many people in Swindon may well have noticed, on the evening of Friday, May 31 a rag-tag assortment of vehicles by-passing the town as they trundled along the A419 before heading south towards Marlborough.

It was the bulk of what was commonly referred to as The Peace Convoy, and that evening around 140 vehicles camped for the night at Savernake Forest, the vanguard having shoved aside a Forestry Commission warden who had tried to block their entrance with his van.

They were off the next day, making tracks for Stonehenge and no doubt bracing themselves for a spot of bovver with the Old Bill.

Twenty two miles later, seven miles short of Stonehenge, they came an abrupt halt near Shipton Bellinger after three lorry-loads of gravel had been tipped into their path, courtesy of Wiltshire Police.

The convoy of mainly buses, vans and caravans swiftly took evasive action, steering down a rural lane. Suddenly finding itself facing a substantial blue line, it rumbled into Warner’s Field, a beanfield.

By then the sheer number of Travellers had prompted Wiltshire Constabulary to mount a “major operation” involving officers from seven forces.

And after popping on their riot gear they decided to “disperse” the 600/700 Travellers from the field.

Members of the convoy put it this way: “We were ambushed.” It all became something of a blur, a very bloody one.

Officers claimed they were showered with missiles including petrol bombs although no evidence of the latter was ever substantiated.

And then, at about 7pm, police came to what you may consider a bewildering conclusion…..to arrest the lot of ‘em.

Many of the Travellers, according to police, than began driving their vehicles around the field in a “haphazard” manner to prevent arrest. This prompted officers to stop them, smash the windows, and remove the occupants before applying the cuffs.

The Travellers claimed that quite simply they were the victims of an indiscriminate and savage attack, with women and children bang in the middle of the shrieks and battering.

What is incontrovertible is that many a head was split that day by a police truncheon; photos appeared all over the press, including the Adver, showing Travellers being either dragged or led away, their faces streamed with blood.

Some footage can today be viewed on YouTube of ITN’s Kim Sabido reporting from the beanfield on what he described as "surely some of the most brutal action taken by the Police Force in Britain for a long time.”

He tells of police “hitting out wildly,” and of “young women with babies in their arms being hit as well,” and also of people trying to escape but being “beaten sometimes senseless to the ground.”

Observer journalist Nick Davies reported: "There was glass breaking, people screaming, black smoke towering out of burning caravans and everywhere there seemed to be people being bashed and flattened and pulled by the hair.

“Men, women and children were led away, shivering, swearing, crying, bleeding…."

The ill-judged decision to arrest as many Travellers as possible also saw police cells for miles around crammed with people – in some cases 12 to a cell.

The lucky ones who escaped arrest or hospital, limped back to Savernake Forest in vehicles that were still road-worthy while others headed there days later after being released from custody.

Lord Cardigan, whose family own Savernake Forest, had earlier followed the convoy on a friend’s motorbike and was horrified at what he described as “the dramatic and bloody events.”

In a statement to this newspaper he said that, back at Savernake, police suggested he give them permission to clear the forest which would involve around 200 “suitably equipped” officers.

He added: “But with those events extremely fresh in my memory I said that I could not agree to any scenario that might possibly lead to anything remotely resembling a re-run, this time on my family’s land.”

  • AROUND 50 people were reported as injured during the Battle of the Beanfield, including nine police.

    Those arrested were charged with obstruction of the police and the highway, but virtually all of the charges were later dismissed.

    Numerous complaints against officers were made to the independent Police Complaints Authority resulting in the publication of a report in March, 1987.

    In it, the PCA said it was convinced – and the police forces involved accepted - that those who complained about officers hitting members of the public with truncheons were telling the truth.

    It concluded: “In the act of making the arrests some officers clearly used excessive force but it has not been possible to identify them.” As a result disciplinary proceedings were impossible, it added.

    Two years after the event a Wiltshire Police Sergeant was found guilty of causing actual bodily harm to a member of the Peace Convoy.

    In 1991 24 Travellers were awarded £24,000 damages after suing Wiltshire Police for wrongful arrest, damage to property and false imprisonment.

    But it was a hollow victory as their compensation was swallowed by legal bills after the judge declined to award them costs.

    In court Lord Cardigan testified against the police, after which The Daily Telegraph accused him of betraying his class.

    The Earl sued and won – and later revealed that he bought a BMW with the proceeds.