TOPSOIL contaminated with asbestos was removed at the dead of night from a section of the former A344 near to Stonehenge, it has been claimed.

The Sunday People reported that lumps "about the size of a brick" were removed by contractors working on behalf of English Heritage in August last year. It occurred whilst landscaping work took place at the World Heritage site.

A source told the paper: “They did the work at night because they did not want the publicity. They had dumper trucks going through the night to remove it.

"They pulled up the whole road and replaced the lot. The whole job took about a week.”

English Heritage denied a cover up saying work at the old visitor centre took place in the night to avoid disruption to visitors.

A spokesman said: “As part of the project to improve the landscape around Stonehenge, a section of the now closed A344 has been returned to chalk grassland.

“During the works, inspections revealed that the topsoil laid by the contractors on this section did not meet the standards required by English Heritage.

"Given the importance of the project and the fact that the area concerned sits within a World Heritage Site, we insisted that the contractor replace the topsoil.”

The organisation claimed only “traces” of asbestos were discovered and there was no risk to public health.

The spokesperson continued: “To avoid any inconvenience to the public and our visitors, this work took place over a couple of nights, outside of normal visiting hours.

“There was no cover up in any sense – we had no option but to carry out the work outside visitor opening times.

“The contractors would have worn protective clothing because that is a standard procedure.

“The road runs directly past the circle, about 40 yards away, so there was no way we could have done it in daytime.

“We wish it hadn’t happened and it caused us some delay but it did not impact on the visitor experience at the site.”