The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘megalithic’

Finally I get around to the Summer Solstice post! This year I spent Summer Solstice on June 22nd, and I spent it in the heart of Wiltshire on a tour round my favourite megalithic sites with Kal in tow. As we arrived we found that the remnants of the solstice celebrants were camped all around the sacred hills and places. In many ways my heart yearned to be with them – to live their nomadic life, to live so close to the places I loved and to move with the seasons and the celebrations. Yet, I have walk a different path and I have come to accept this. I live a balance between ordinary and extra-ordinary events, between the so-called mundane and the esoteric. “Balance in all things” – the hedge druid motto.

The day was being reported by the weather-predictors as being a downpour and a washout. We had driven through almost continual rain to get here, but when we arrived the weather seemed to be better than further north, and so we counted ourselves lucky. As we passed through the market town of Marlborough Kal finally asked where we were going. My reply was simple – “I don’t know. We’ll have to see what happens.” And so the tightly-packed mystery and potential of the solstice day began to unfold.

1) The Sanctuary

Our first stop was the remains of the stone circle known as The Sanctuary. Even though I have been to this part of the land many many times, and so has Kal, we have rarely been here together. However, it came as a surprise to me that Kal had never been to The Sanctuary yet, so when the impulse overcame me I stopped and we got out to have a look. Kal was hugely underwhelmed by the spectacle of some concrete markers on a vague circle. I knew what to expect, though, having been here a couple of times before.

Of course there’s nothing to see, but we still took the opportunity to FEEL for what was there. I felt that I should walk into the set of concentric circles via a particular path, and I decided to try and feel that path rather than dowse it. I would use the dowsing rods to confirm the final position when I got there. Minutes later of wandering in and out of the concentric circles, each time getting deeper towards the centre, I found a spot that appealed to me. When I dowsed to see whether this was where I should be – it was. I didn’t ask about the energies – male/female, strength, or anything else. This was just the place I needed to sit in. And it was raining. So whatever was about to happen should just get on with it. I put my hood up on my waterproof coat, and Kal did the same. Lucky I brought a spare, eh? Every time.

It was now really raining very hard. Even the hardcore crusties who had popped in to admire the remains of a once-powerful place didn’t stay around long in the wet. Luckily we were equipped for all seasons and weathers. We hunkered down against the summer storm. In many ways these kinds of weather conditions favour getting into a quick trance, and sure enough I quickly found myself emptying my head of the day-to-day junk thoughts.

As my energies re-balanced themselves to their new surroundings everything went calm inside. I knew this was the time to ask a purposeful question. “Please show me something that will further my spiritual quest.” I pleaded. There was a moment’s deliberation, and then a vision emerged in the dark stillness….

…It was me, sitting where I was, but I was seeing myself from above. Then a trackway, a path of electric green lines thrust across the landscape like two bolts of lightning and made their way over the hill nearby towards Avebury. In my mind I followed the lines as they arrived in the Avebury stone circle. They stopped at a stone that was shaped like a lion’s head. Here the vision zoomed into the stone and showed me a hole. I couldn’t gauge where the hole was on the stone because the image was just too fast, and I was barely picking up the plot line, never mind the intricate dialogue and the nuances of the word-play, so to speak! Then I knew something gnostically – in the hole I would find something that would guide me on my quest.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kal and I are still just outside the village of Ballyfarnon on the shores of Lough Melagh. It is our first day in Ireland on my ancestor energies quest. We have just looked around Kilronan Abbey and found some interesting and significant graves. Now we’ve crossed the road to St Lassair’s Well.

Saint Lassair is an interesting lady. There is very little historical information online about this woman, except that the well dedicated to her is associated with Brigit. Now, isn’t that significant considering that there is a small megalithic site right next to the well too? Seems like this may have been a site originally dedicated to Brigit and later appropriated in the name of Lassair? One account says that Lassair was Ronan‘s daughter – Ronan being the founder of the ‘modern’ abbey. Maybe. Here’s another consideration of her origins:

It is with Sanas Cormaic that we find the first explicit link made between this goddess and the element of fire, in the word ‘bri’. McCone has convincingly shown that the three arts it claims Brigit supervised— healing, smithcraft, and poetry—were in early Ireland all associated with fire. The authors of the saints’ Lives of Brigit seem to have been aware of the same-named goddess, though they never say so explicitly: all of her Lives give Brigit a druid father figure, so she is made into a member of the druid class, the same class as poets and judges….

…McCone has pointed out that another saint, the virgin Lassair, also has a fire name, from lassar, flame. In his view Brigit, like Lassair, was a goddess who became a saint in Christian times; both succeeded in the new religions because their attributes could be harmonized with those of the Christian God, for the Bible is filled with light and fire imagery.”

(source: p.64 – ‘Women in a Celtic Church‘ by Christina Harrington)

Hot Spots in a Cool Place

Of course, our first task is always to find out whether a place has any energy worth investigating. It almost went without saying, yet still we both dowsed for it in our own separate ways. We both asked the same initial questions and ended up standing next to each other underneath a tall but closely-cropped yew tree growing nearby to the well. We laughed and confirmed that we had both asked for the most energetic and beneficial places for ourselves and we had ended up at the same location.

From our evergreen vantage point we scanned the site. It is a curious mixture of modern Christian tacky monumental-ism, of rehashed re-interpretations of vestal virgin figures and sad-looking never-be brides combined with a plaque commemorating the visitation of the Polish octogenarian Pope John Paul II. Lurking politely to one side like a faithful pet is a small table of stone – an ancient monument of diminutive proportions whose first sight evokes a small smile and even so far as a smirk. What the heck is THAT? And what is it doing here?

Read the rest of this entry »

In the second of my posts on recovering my ancestor energies we visited two sites for the price of one - Kilronan Abbey next to Lough Meelagh has a holy well dedicated to Saint Lassair right opposite it. As ever, we were driven by our findings rather than our curiosity, and my quest was directed by some higher intelligence, for I had only done a glancing amount of research to pick this site out before we arrived in Ireland. As usual, something else had decided that I would be in the right place at the right time. Here’s the tale of these two personally special places, starting first with Kilronan Abbey.

Kilronan Abbey

The most convincing information I have found about the origins of the abbey at Kilronan Abbey is this account by James McGarry:

“The first Church at Kilronan, Ballyfarnon, Co. Roscommon, was built in the 8th century by St. Ronan and his daughter St. Lasser (Lasair), hence the name Kilronan (kil or cill meaning church). It was replaced in 1339 by one built by Fergal O’Duigenan which was burned down in 1340 and replace three years later by the Church, one gable of which stands today. Sheltered by that gable is the vault of the McDermott Roes, in which Turlough O’Carolan was interred in 1738.

This gable is a memorial to the Gaelic Literary tradition from the 13th -18th century as represented by the O’Duigenans, hereditary erenachs of Kilronan (lay abbots who held church land from generation to generation), and chroniclers (as well as bards and ollavs-hereditary poets) to the Mac Dermotts, Princes of Moylurg, down to Turlough O’Carolan, sometimes styled “The Last of the Bards”. The O’Duigenans maintained a School of History on this site. The origin of the bards is lost in the mists of pre-historic Ireland.” (source: Freepages Geneology)

‘Erenach‘ – such a lovely word. It means ‘an ecclesiastic having duties akin to those of an archdeacon‘. More about Turlough O’Carolan later too.

There’s that name again – “O’Duigenan“. Followers of the blog may remember my encounter with the spirit of ‘Dignan’ at Vale Crucis Abbey in Llangollen. In that episode he gave me his name and then challenged me to follow him when he disappeared in a westerly direction. By meditation and dowsing I discovered that this spirit had re-located itself back at its source – Roscommon in Ireland. This was the reason I was here – to find this spirit again and fulfil whatever the next part of my challenge was.

Kilronan Abbey, Roscommon

At this point I had no clues about the nature and direction of my quest other than these two sites and the snippet of a vision I had obtained from Carrowkeel where I had seen a sword fight between myself and an ancient warrior. Where would I be led next, I wondered? What links would it make in the chain of the quest of recovering my ancestor energies? I was about to find out.

Read the rest of this entry »

I have prepared a presentation on the subject of “Understanding Megalithic Sites” and I am inviting anyone who wishes me to come and do a talk on this subject to let me know.

These ancient structures are of continued and growing fascination for us, and yet many of these mysterious places are still under threat of extinction even before we have a clear understanding of their purposes and uses for us today.

In this presentation I theorise about some of the uses and purposes that I have discovered through research, by dowsing and by spending time in deep meditation at these sacred places. I explain some of the way in which we can utilise the special energies of these places for our own spiritual growth, and to appreciate the uniqueness of the sites, recovering valuable information about their structure, and the way they interact with the world around them.

New presentation - Understanding Megalithic Sites

See the next page for more details…

Read the rest of this entry »

Near to the village of Dorstone in the Golden Valley of Herefordshire is a wonderfully preserved ancient monument called “Arthur’s Stone“. The monument is on the borderlands of England and Wales, and as the map below shows there is a congregation of settlements and an alignment of sites along the ridges between the rivers Wye and Dore (“of gold”). Before I go on to explain my findings at Arthur’s Stone I want to discuss a little bit about my current concepts of what Arthur is, or who he was.

My current concept of Arthur

This Arthur fellow – he got about a bit, eh? These days I prefer the interpretation I read recently that “Arthur” is a title adopted or given to many kings, several of whom may have contributed to the myth and legend, the story and history surrounding the King Arthur that we have been remnanted. I like Paul Broadhurst’s idea that the Arthur figure was associated with the fixed constellation of the Great Bear, the guardian of the Pole Star. In my own additional interpretation, Arthur is aligned with and gets energy from the Great Bear’s stars. In particular I think this is the asterism of The Plough, or The Big Dipper as it is also known.

Plan of the sites surrounding Dorstone

My wife, M, entered the site straight away and went to sit on a small man-sized mound next to the monument. There she settled in for what she expected would be a long dowse. I wasn’t about to go against expectations. I got my dowsing rods out and began to explore, but first I had to find an entrance suitable for me and my energy at that time. I entered the site after asking silently for permission from the spirit of the site. I would be allowed in today – no pushing away or dive-bombing birds, or claps of thunder or anything like that.

As I entered the gate in the fence surrounding the monument I saw two other couples reading the information board provided by English Heritage. I turned my attention away from them, not wanting to overhear anything they might say about the site. I would stay out of earshot until they got bored and wandered away, as most people do at these places after ten minutes. I began by asking to be shown a ritual path that I could follow that would lead me to a power centre that was most suitable for me. I was taken from where I stood in a path that snaked in front of the “false entrance” stone, and then wound its way into the monument from the right-hand side of the covering front stone (seen slanting in the picture below). My path ended in the shadows at the back of the chamber on the left-hand side. I repeated the exercise from three other locations chosen at random and soon I was walking the same snaking path to the front of the dolmen, and then into the right-hand side of the chamber and to the back left corner again and again. By the fourth time I was realising this was a pretty certain dowsing result.

Looking into the initiation chamber

Read the rest of this entry »

Sunday 29th May – Dowth, Boyne Valley, County Meath.

Dowth (“The Place of Darkness”) is the lesser-visited site of the three famous megalithic structures in the Boyne Valley complex. It is less visited because there is no convenient bus taking tourists to the site, and instead intrepid visitors have to walk the mile or so from the bus terminus, or a mile and a half from the Knowth site, in order to reach it. Luckily for us this late May day was about as beautiful and sunny as May days get, and so we walked along the blooming hawthorn-lined lanes in utter delight. Some days it pays to be a (would-be) druid.

When we arrived at Dowth we had the place to ourselves with the exception of a solitary photographer who busied himself with setting up some arty shots. We read the information board (always amusing, sometimes useful) and then looked at each other. We felt there was something we should do before going in – but what was it? We decided to wait. We didn’t know what for – perhaps just to let our blood cool from the walk, or to become totally attuned to the ambiance of the site before we entered. We weren’t sure. But we waited for ten minutes, then entered.

Information created by archaeologists

The site exuded a sense of spirituality from the outset. As soon as I entered I got my dowsing rods out and asked them to lead me to the place that I was best attuned to, my power centre, taking me by a “ritual path”, as I called it. My intention, the thought I had in mind, was of the path around Glastonbury Tor – the labyrinthine path that I would soon take again at the Summer Solstice. Eventually, after much to-ing and fro-ing around the edges of the mound I was led into the centre to a spot where someone had had a fire, somewhere near the centre of the hollow that formed a giant hole in the middle of the mound. Kal calls this form of perambulation in trance a “walking meditation” and says that groups he works with do them quite frequently.I wouldn’t know anything about that – I did it because it felt right to do. At the burnt spot the energy spiralled indicating a power centre. It was here that I meditated on my throat chakra. I wanted to clear myself and energise at the same time, with special attention to my throat chakra.

Fire pit power centre at Dowth

Then, like at the entrance to this unusual site, I got the oddest feeling. I felt that I couldn’t progress until I had recited a poem that recounted all my efforts to this point – a kind of announcement as to why I was here. Was I not in a land of poets? Was this not the land where the Blarney Stone is kissed for its gift of eloquence? And so I began to recite some dodgy rhymes, somewhat self-consciously even though there was no-one else around except Kal and he was over the other side of the hill. I told the spirit of the hill all about the other places I had visited to work on various chakras, and what the result of each encounter had been. As soon as I completed my poem I felt a wave of relief (release) and I picked up my dowsing roads again to see where I should go to next in order to work on my throat chakra. I felt like I had opened a doorway into an opportunity, and now was the time to step across this Mercurial threshold.

Kal's vision quest on Dowth

I began to follow a single dowsing road as it led me around the curve of the hollow and back to a new power centre – a rocky scar in the hillside similar to one that I knew from my many visits to Gop Hill in North Wales. I went there and lay down to ‘doze’, to get myself into an attuned and trance-like state of mind, a receptive mind state, if you will. As I entered a light trance state and became comfortable with the hill I heard and fleetingly saw a familiar figure – it was The Lady. The same lady that I had encountered at Gop Hill (this was something I felt, rather than positively identified). In my half-sleep I was able to ask questions of the Lady of the Hill. My questions were answered by the reaction of the sunlight – if it went behind a cloud then the answer was negative in nature, and vice versa. The strength of the heat or cold indicated the strength of the answer.

Some of the information simply formed in my mind, or bubbled up from somewhere, and then I tested its validity using the clouds. This sounds stupidly un-scientific, I know, yet it was utterly consistent. I could ask test questions which had simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers and the clouds would react accordingly and immediately, uncannily so. Those test questions provided the assurance that this was some form of divination allowing me to interact with this powerful yet elusive Lady figure. This was not the first time I had encountered this kind of divination opportunity, and I recognised it for what it was, and wasn’t about to squander it.

Read the rest of this entry »

As I reported in my previous Arbor Low post Kal and I were inside the stone circle taking dowsing readings. This post is the product of those readings, and, as I had hoped, the great stone circle did indeed give up some of its secrets that evening. The results I present here are only preliminary and cursory research into the amazing insights that we discovered, and I hope that over the course of the next year I can back up everything I am about to say with some solid on-the-ground fieldwork, dowsing, and more research. However, for now, I must content myself with my initial exciting findings, and must re-iterate that they are currently only theoretical and speculative.

Impossible Bearings

We dowsed inside the inner circle to find the point from which the radial alignment leys that Kal had found previously emanated. The spot was in between the two central large recumbent sets of stones. I stood in the centre whilst Kal walked around this point with his dowsing rods. Whenever he got a reading he stopped, and I lined up the compass with his dowsing rod and noted the bearing. After only two readings it became apparent that something quite exciting was going on here – the numbers were coming out incredibly familiar: Zero degrees – due North! Not 1 degree, 5 degrees, or 10, but spot on zero. Next – 45 degrees! Interesting. Well, it doesn’t take a mathematical genius to recognise these numbers as particularly significant when related to a circle!! Kal was oblivious to this, as he was simply walking around and stopping at particular points when the rods moved to a right-angle. I was the one whose eyebrows rose a little at each reading until I couldn’t contain myself any longer and blurted out something like, “This is impossible!”.

Here are the set of radial ley line bearings taken:-

1. 0 degrees
2. 45 degrees
3. 90 degrees
4. 135 degrees
5. 180 degrees
6. 240 degrees
7. 270 degrees
8. 335 degrees

I took the readings home, quite excited at the prospect of plotting them onto Google Maps and following the result – perhaps this would open up some new avenues of sites to explore along the lines, or new centres of spirituality to visit and dowse this year? Stupid question, as it turned out – of course it did.

The importance of place

If those radials are extended out until they reach significant points, such as the end of the land, or a sacred site, then you get some pretty amazing coincidences across a very large area. How could the circle builders have managed to position the circle with such precision over such a wide area? By using star, sun and moon alignments alone?

Here’s a link to the Google Maps diagram of the radials extended in all directions: Arbor Low radials. In this view you can click on each of the markers and see that each of them is a significantly named place, containing either the name of a Christian saint (popularly “Mary” or “Margaret“), or village names ending in “-ley”, “-lea” or “-leigh”. Some of the villages include the name “Cross“”, which I also think is significant, as it may indicate a location where the alignment leys I have discovered intersect with other ley lines. A rich source of further investigation in the years ahead, I feel. One final criterion for a significantly named place is the inclusion of the word “-stone“, which I believe indicates a standing marker stone may have existed there at one time, acting as a sighting stone indicating the direction and placement of the ley line.

Defining the Criteria for a Ley Line

This has always been a hot topic for leyhunters and critics of them. What constitutes a ley line? One could argue, “Well, you could draw a line anywhere in Britain and find that it goes through a place name like that.“. To a certain extent this is true. Random chance would be one factor, but it may also be that this country is riddled with ley lines, and eventually you are going to cross one or run alongside one if drawing a straight line across country. However, these are the elements I felt constituted a ley line without me having actually dowsed its presence yet:-

1. The town or village must end in “ley”, “lea”, “lee” or “leigh”
2. Such a village/town must not lie more than 1 mile from the central path of the neutral ley line.
3. The path of the line must pass through at least THREE significant ancient sacred sites.
4. There ought to be many references to saints names in the name of the villages, towns or the churches that the ley line passes through.

You’ll find one or two random proximities over any long line placed across the country. I tested this set of criteria, all classic ley line definitions, by starting a line map at a random point in the British countryside, and traced some lines to the cardinal points from there Here are the results for the Random Ley Line:-

1. NORTH: one close and one direct hit on a line extending 118 miles.
2. SOUTH: three close and five direct hits on a line extending 142 miles.
3. EAST:  no hits or near misses on a line extending 99 miles.
4. WEST: two close and two hits on a line extending 140 miles.

Eight hits on the random southern line, eh? But let’s look at the clustering of those hits – they almost ALL appear in the small space between the M40 motorway in Oxford (a hot spot for ancient sites and leys) and the M3 motorway in the space of about 20 miles. I venture to suggest we have actually hit an existing ley line in that area, or some very close to it. The total line extends some 140+ miles in total, mostly devoid of hits.

How many ancient sites were passed through in this test? NONE. How many saints names were in the names of villages or towns near to this random line? NONE. Did it align three or more sacred sites? NO. Okay – so the “ley” name criteria was occasionally met in clusters, but the other criteria were completely devoid.

The Arbor Low Lines

Let’s compare that now with the lines that I found emerging from the Arbor Low stone circle. I’ll do the details later, but for now, let’s just compare those cardinal hits and near misses.

Let’s examine each of those radials in turn, and see which significant places they touch. NOTE: all the lines have at least ONE sacred site because they all emerge from Arbor Low.

1. The Northern Ley

• Bearing: 0 Degrees
• Length: 173 miles.
• Places: 18
• Sacred sites: 2

The northern ley ends at Holy Island, and goes straight into the Lindisfarne Priory and ends at a place called Mary Gate.

One of the descendants of Llywelyn the Great (c. 1173-1240) was born in ‘Raby with Keverstone’, which is an interesting connection to Yr Elen mountain, a peak conjoined with one named Carnedd Llywelyn, meaning “Llywelyn’s cairn”.

Here are the places that are upon or close to this ley line:-

1. Farnley Tyas
2. Aspley
3. Bradley
4. Shipley – confirmed energy ley running N/S – 29th Jan 2011
5. Burley
6. Ilkley
7. Thruscross
8. Bewerley
9. Pateley bridge
10. West Layton
11. Keverstone
12. Hedleyhope
13. Hamsterley
14. Throkley
15. Kirkley
16. Longhorsley
17. Adderstone
18. Mary Gate, Holy Island (Lindisfarne Priory)

UPDATE 31st January 2011. I have been to Shipley and confirmed that a neutral energy ley exists in the town centre running North-South through the Hockney pub, a memorial statue and a labyrinth design depicting twin entwined serpents. I dowsed that this is the same energy ley that connects to Arbor Low. I suspect that other energy leys exist in the area too, attested by the sheer number of places ending with the suffix “-ley”.

2. The North–Eastern Ley

• Bearing: 45 Degrees
• Length: 71 miles.
• Places: 16
• Sacred sites: 4

Possibly travels through the Barbrook series of stone circles. Cannot find an end point, however, as many of the circles on the eastern seaboard would have been timber circles, and long since disintegrated.

Here are the places that are upon or close to this ley line:-

1. Bakewell (St.Peter’s Well)
2. Handley
3. Pilsley
4. Birchen Edge cairns (between Wellington’s and Nelson’s Monuments)
5. Ramsley (reservoir)
6. Whickersley
7. Bramley
8. Alverley
9. Cantley
10. Wheatley
11. Twin Rivers (at the mouth of the Humber where it divides into two rivers)
12. Crabley
13. Hunsley
14. Rowley
15. Westwood Common timber circle
16. Beverley

3. The Eastern Ley

• Bearing: 90 Degrees
• Length: 73 miles.
• Places: 6
• Sacred sites: 3

The line ends, I believe, at Bolinbroke Castle, made famous for being the seat of many of England’s kings, as recounted famously in several Shakespearean plays such as Henry IV, who was born there. Wikipedia link. The only other significant place I could find on this line is the Nine Ladies Stone Circle, also in Derbyshire. Perhaps the line ends there – this is something I will have to test out in the field by checking points along the line.

The funny thing about this line is that its bearing is not exactly 45 degrees. If a line is drawn at exactly 45 degrees then it slightly misses Nine Ladies, and misses Bolinbroke by a mile or so by the time it gets out east. Now, despite what I said earlier about the fact that the line as measured on the night was 45 degrees exactly, I actually think this might be a case for saying that I may have taken the measurement slightly wrong for this line. I say that because I am, indeed, fitting this line retrospectively based on the evidence of the sacred sites and villages named “ley” that I only discovered when I traced the line across the land. If you follow the line and see that the sites fit if the line is angled slightly further than 45 degrees I think you’ll agree it’s a more convincing case for the existence of a ley line.

Here are the places that are upon or close to this ley line:-

1. Nine Ladies Stone Circle
2. Clay Cross
3. Lower Pilsley
4. Pleasley
5. Clipstone
6. Bolinbroke Castle

However, by the criteria I laid out earlier, this line is not wholly convincing – only two ancient sites appear on it, and not three – unless Bolinbroke Castle could be considered to be an ancient site. We may never know. Where’s Time Team when you need them?

4. The South-Eastern Ley

• Bearing: 135 Degrees
• Length: 155 miles.
• Places: 12
• Sacred sites: 3

The least convincing of the radials, as I can’t find many ancient sites along this line for quite a long stretch. This is the problem with most of the lines that extend over the eastern side of the country – the geology of the area does not encourage the building of stone monuments. Instead, it would appear that their ancient monuments were rendered in timber, and then never upgraded to stone, as they had been elsewhere where suitable stone was abundant.

Here are the places that are upon or close to this ley line:-

1. Brightgate
2. Matlock Bath (petrifying well, Heights of Abraham, Rutland and Great Masson caverns)
3. Lea Bridge
4. Lea Brooks
5. New Brinsley
6. Felley (old priory - information contributed by reader ‘Pat’)
7. Mapperley
8. Lambley (The Lambley Spring)
9. Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen
10. Tivertshall St.Margaret
11. Pulham St.Mary
12. St.James South Elmham

There is clustering of sites on this line, with a section in the middle (between Lambley near Nottingham and Wiggenshall SMM in Norfolk) where there are neither correspondences or ancient sites listed. I am quite unsure about whether the line continues beyond Nottingham at the moment. The only thing I have to make me want to keep the line the length it is would be the end point being the mouth of the River Blyth, which is such an exact geographical feature for a line to end at. A mile further north or south would have been less convincing. End points being the mouths of rivers seems to be a feature of the Arbor Low radials.

5. The Southern Ley

• Bearing: 180 Degrees
• Length: 167 miles.
• Places: 25
• Sacred sites: 5

The southern ley ends at St Catherine’s Hill on the northern edge of a town called Christ Church at the mouth of the River Avon and River Stour. Either that, or it ends at the Breamore (Bremmer) sites just a few miles further north, where there is a “Giant’s Grave” long barrow, a “Giant’s Chair” and an ancient turf maze called the Miz-Maze. Passes next to Stonehenge and other Wiltshire sites, and through Marlborough.

Of Catherine’s Hill:

“One “miracle” legend that local heritage does not play up is that Christchurch, like Vortigern’s citadel, was reportedly consumed by fire from heaven – no doubt because the reason given is that it was devastated by a fire-breathing dragon sent to punish the town for its wickedness. An account by a visiting French monk, Herman of Laon, has the town being burnt by a fire-breathing flying dragon in 1112/1113. Herman came here with a group touring SW England to raise funds to rebuild their home church, but got an unwelcome reception here. As Herman’s group left, they looked back and were pleased to see the town being burnt up by a dragon in revenge for the insult to their Lady of Laon.

Dragons are often associated with “fire from Heaven,” but despite new-age attempts to equate dragons with ‘serpent lines’ (rather than ley lines) of esoteric or geomantic force, no link with St Catherine’s Hill is apparent, Herman’s dragon rising from the sea. There is a local land-based serpent-dragon legend, but it is localised across the valley at Bisterne (which means beast’s or pest’s secret place). Or at least the family whose ancestor supposedly slew it resided at Bisterne, with the dragon carved on their stone gateposts in commemoration, the dragon itself alighting at Burley Beacon nearby to drink the milk the fearful locals left out for it. (For more on dragons and the theory they are linked to ley lines, see Here Be Dragons (2008), by Michael Hodges, author of the history of St Catherine’s Hill pictured right.)

The notion of the hill as a still actively pagan site in the Middle Ages is supported by some slight circumstantial evidence. At some point a chapel was built on the hilltop either in addition to, or else instead of, the planned hilltop priory church. This is despite the fact the downtown Priory site had up to nine chapels or altars there already. One theory is a hilltop church was erected to displace ongoing pagan use of the hill. It was the policy of St Augustine that the early Saxon church should take over ‘wood and stone’ pagan sites and give them a cosmetic makeover to convert them into Christian ones, beginning around 600.” (Source : http://www.south-coast-central.co.uk/n&q/stcatherineshill.htm)

Here are the places that are upon or close to this ley line:-

1. Fenny Bentley
2. Cubley
3. Fradley
4. Hilliard’s Cross
5. Lea Hall
6. Bentley Heath
7. Hockley Heath
8. Henley-in-Arden
9. Billesley
10. Blockley
11. Coln St.Aldwyns
12. Blunsdon St.Andrew
13. Westlea
14. Rockley
15. Lower Everleigh
16. Salisbury Cathedral
17. Clearbury Ring
18. The Giant’s Graves and Chair, and Miz-Maze
19. Gorley
20. Hangersley
21. Ashley Heath
22. St.Leonards and St.Ives
23. South Ripley
24. Sopley
25. St Catherine’s Hill

6. The South-Western Ley

• Bearing: 240 Degrees
• Length: 120 miles.
• Places: 14
• Sacred sites: 2

Passes through the legendary site of Caerleon, reputed site of King Arthur’s Camelot and long-time Roman Fort. link.

“When the feast of Whitsuntide began to draw near, Arthur, who was quite overjoyed by his great success, made up his mind to hold a plenary court at that season and place the crown of the kingdom on his head. He decided too, to summon to this feast the leaders who owed him homage, so that he could celebrate Whitsun with greater reverence and renew the closest pacts of peace with his chieftains. He explained to the members of his court what he was proposing to do and accepted their advice that he should carry out his plan in The City Of The Legions.

Situated as it is in Morgannwg (Glamorgan), on the River Usk, not far from the Severn Sea, in a most pleasant position, and being richer in material wealth than other townships, this city was eminently suitable for such a ceremony. The river which I have named flowed by it on one side, and up this the kings and princes who were to come from across the sea could be carried in a fleet of ships. On the other side, which was flanked by meadows and wooded groves, they had adorned the city with royal palaces, and by the gold-painted gables of its roofs it was a match for Rome.”

“After the death of Uther Pendragon, the leaders of the Britons assembled from their various provinces in the town of Silchester and there suggested to Dubricus, the archbishop of the City Of The Legions, that as their King he should crown Arthur, son of Uther. He called the other bishops to him and bestowed the crown of the kingdom upon Arthur. Arthur was a young man only fifteen years old …”

(from ‘History of the Kings of Britain’ by Geoffrey of Monmouth).

I suspect that the ley line may end at Butterdon Hill in the Dartmoor National Park. There is only circumstantial evidence for this based upon the frequency of nearby villages with the word “ley” or “leigh” in their names. Perhaps there is stronger evidence for the end point being Caerleon.

Here are the places that are upon or close to this ley line:-

1. Farley
2. Checkley
3. Church Leigh
4. Dodsleigh
5. Chartley
6. Shirleywich
7. Teddesley Park
8. Gailey
9. Wrottesley Park
10. Romsley
11. Upper Arley
12. Tedstone Wafer
13. St Weonards
14. Caerleon

7. The Western Ley

• Bearing: 270 Degrees
• Length: 92 miles.
• Places: 6
• Sacred sites: 2

The western ley goes to the imposing mountain of Yr Elen. No-one seems to know why it is dedicated to Elen, but I can hazard a guess – it is Elen of the Roads – the spirit who shows the seeker the way, who makes visible the invisible paths of energy, the ley lines, and here stands this summit: due West of Arbor Low, on a ley line, and dedicated to Elen. No other sacred sites along the way though, unless you include the town of Mold, which is steeped in history and pre-history, and whose castle may have been the site of a former, much more ancient, fort or protected sacred space. Or perhaps its church dedicated to St.Mary may have a much older history. But that’s speculation.

Here are the places that are upon or close to this ley line:-

1. Healthylee
2. Wimboldsley
3. Tarporley
4. Buckley
5. Mold (St Mary the Virgin church)
6. Yr Elen (mountain)

8. The North-Western Ley

• Bearing: 335 Degrees
• Length: 68 miles.
• Places: 6
• Sacred sites: 2

The north-west ley ends up at Blackpool’s South Shore. Not generally considered to be a sacred site (although it oculd be considered to be the spiritual home of Mecca Bingo) until you do a little  reserach on the subject. Here’s a quote about Blackpool’s megalithic history from the Megalithic Portal site concerning the one sacred site known about in Blackpool:

“Information from Pastscape:

“The Rev William Thornber states that a round cairn or cairns formerly stood on the site of the Lodge of Stonyhill, and he was told that Mr. Fisher, the proprietor of the field, had carted away upwards of twenty loads of soil, burnt red and black, from the site of a large circular cairn, which had made it difficult to identify. He also states that adjoining the cairns are two wells, one called the Fairy Well, or Wrangdomwell, and the other Bull Spring, which issues from a huge oblong mound of stones, in the Bull Meadows, which he supposes to be of artificial origin. He says that the Fairy Well was still resorted to with offerings of rags , nails and pins, and that he had found, himself, nails, leather thongs and-an old shaped knife, after the meadows had been ploughed.

This area is now completely covered with modern buildings.” Source: http://www.pastscape.org/hob.aspx?hob_id=39366“

Here are the places that are upon or close to this ley line:-

1. Fernlee Reservoir
2. Pott Shrigley
3. Gatley
4. Tyldesley
5. Crosstown
6. Blackpool

Again, I’m  not sure if this line really constitutes being called a ley line. There are very few sites above random chance, the sacred site at the end of the line may or may not have been of significant size and status, and there are no known extant or remnant sites in between Arbor Low and Blackpool.

—————————————————————–

As you can see, some of the radials are more convincing than others. Over the course of the next few years I aim to see whether there is any dowsing evidence, or local custom that would back up these suppositions.

Gwas.