The press were putting forward ideas of saving and preserving the monument where it was, something archaeologists explained was impossible. English Heritage's chief archaeologist, Geoffrey Wainright, eventually gave the go ahead for a full excavation in March 1999. The procedure would cost £500,000, and the timbers would be conserved at the Fenland Archaeological Trust's field centre at Flag Fen in Cambridgeshire. Excavation began on Wednesday 26 May 1999, by a team from Norfolk Archaeological Unit led by Mark Brennand. Again they found it a particularly daunting and difficult site, as they were only able to excavate for a few hours a day. Much of that limited time was taken up removing water that built up overnight, and fish and other animals that had set up residence there. The team also had to contend with protests mounted both by locals and by Neopagan groups led by Parish Council Chairman Geoff Needham, a former fisherman. English Heritage had taken part in meetings with protest groups, but neither side changed their position. One of the most vocal protesters, the Neopagan and conservationist Buster Nolan, informed a reporter from the "Eastern Daily Press" that "Seahenge has more meaning and power on the beach here at Holme than it does anywhere else… This is 60 grand being spent by archaeologists who are patting each other on the back, telling each other they're doing the right thing. It's a farce." Nolan went on to employ some local solicitors in an attempt to get the courts to intercede on the protesters' behalf, receiving donations from the Council of British Druid Orders and from a local businessman, Mervyn Lambert, who told reporters that "The people of Norfolk should have more balls… I'm amazed they're allowing it to happen." But solicitors refused to take up the case, believing that they could not possibly win against English Heritage.