IT was far from being a typical court scene. A group of travellers, including some dressed as druids, turned up to beg the authorities not to evict them from a grass verge in Avebury they had occupied for the last four years.

It is nicknamed Emanon spelt backwards No Name by the people who live there.

But the National Trust has taken ownership of the unremarkable location, part of the verge off Green Street just outside the major earthwork surrounding the northern inner circle.

An eviction order was obtained from Swindon County Court a few weeks ago but the National Trust held off until the hearing at Kennet Magistrates Court in Devizes to decide if Wiltshire County Council, the highway authority, should be allowed to stop up the verge.

The county council said that as the verge rose up five feet it was not needed for pedestrians. It was proposing to leave a small strip of verge to enable pedestrians to walk off the road.

After hearing evidence from objectors, including two druids dressed in robes, the magistrates decided the verge should be stopped up, meaning the responsibility for the land transfers to the National Trust, which owns the adjacent land.

The strength of feeling against the National Trust was evident.

While three objectors gave evidence there were another eight supporters in the public gallery.

The Reverend King Arthur Pendragon, a druid dressed in robes, took the affirmation in court on his four foot long ceremonial sword.

He said the application by the county council to stop up the verge was a cynical ploy.

"It is not being done because it is no longer needed for highway use but because it makes it easier to evict the people living there," he said.

"The National Trust has got it into its head that it is going to squash this little site."

Rev Pendragon said Green Street was a dangerous road and pedestrians walking along it had to step into the verge to avoid tractors, milk floats and dustbin lorries.

Another druid, Badger, gave evidence in court dressed in robes.

He said he had been living at Emanon for about six months and it was his spiritual sanctuary.

"I worship in the stone circle every day, when the sun rises and goes down," he told the court.

He said a lot of people who camped at Emanon were homeless.

He said: "If we were not living on that camp we would probably be drug abusers or alcoholics and I reckon half of us would be dead now if we didn't live there.

"It is somewhere for people to get back in touch with their religion. I love it there. I don't want to be moved. If I went back to a city I don't know what would happen to me."

Iain Henderson, a computer executive from Swindon, was also supporting the objectors in court. He is a pagan and has camped at Emanon.

"It isn't just travellers who camp there, there are families with kids who go there," he said.

National Trust property manager for Avebury, Robert Mimmack, told the court that the Trust was evicting the campers because they were there without its permission.

"The majority of people who use the site cause no particular problems but there have been incidents where a member of the public was bitten by a dog from someone staying at the site and a member of my staff was menaced by dogs in the vicinity of the site." he said.

Mr Mimmack added that the Trust would probably fence off the area of verge. It was working with the Youth Hostel Association and Kennet District Council to look at providing a youth hostel at nearby West Kennett.