Friday February 21, 2014 - Avebury Ley, Wiltshire

Friday February 21, 2014 - Avebury Ley, Wiltshire

Today I first mapped out the Old Sarum Ley, as given in LHC.  However, realizing the travel distances involved and the shortness of time I decided instead to save investigation of this ley for a more appropriate occasion. I also looked at the Stonehenge Ley, but as it spans a whole 22 miles in length, it was not going to be possible to do this justice either.

I instead happily struck upon the Avebury Ley, which runs 7 ¼ miles from nearby Martinsell Hill Camp to Windmill Hill Camp via Avebury Henge.  This seemed an altogether more measurable challenge to sate my hunger for progress. This worked well as I was keen to visit Windmill Hill as it is a feature of the Avebury complex and drew considerable focus from Keiller.

I mapped the ley then headed for Martinsell Camp, shown as Martinsell Hill fort on the OS map. In an area awash with ancient earth workings Martinsell doesn’t leap from the map, being rather weakly noted and obscured by the heavy footpath lines.  However, on approach from the car park to the east I was struck by an impressively steep scarp rising to the camp perched aloft. Buoyed by a shining sun I headed up to see what I could discover.

Martinsell Hill Camp

The National Trust have open access land running from the car park that takes in some of the earthwork on the escarpment. While a public right of way navigates the whole perimeter of the camp, sadly the main area of the fort, including the summit and given ley terminus, are not very accessible.

I found the Trig point buried in scrub woodland that has grown up since the surveyors last had need of its purpose. From my map work, the Trig point lies on the ley and at 289m is the highest point on the hill. If my alignment is correct I would suggest this high point as the true terminal of the ley.

From the Trig point I progressed along the ley to the point given by the LHC which lies in an open field with views of the surrounding hills and countryside.  However, the north west face of Martinsell Hill has a shallow slope and I found Windmill Hill obscured by tree cover. It struck me that the aspect does not lend itself to this being a good terminal point, and it seemed doubtful if any of the intervening mark points along the ley to Windmill Hill would be visible be from here.

From Martinsell Hill I next visited the cross roads and long barrow at West Woods as described in LHC. At the cross roads I saw the substantial stone which lays between two arms of the junction. There are many stones about, and it is of course possible that this stone was placed to prevent undercutting of the corner. However, it is well embedded and of remarkable size, so would have taken considerable effort to install.

Possible markstone at cross roads near West Woods

Taking the by-way I climbed up to a fork in the path where the ley also intersects. A short way beyond I came to the long barrow.  This is a substantial earthwork of around 5 meters in height.  Looking back in the direction of Martinsell Camp no view is possible from within the beech plantation, but returning to the by-way where a view toward Martinsell is possible, the elevation appears sufficient for sight of the hill. Profiling of the ley will prove this point.

Moving on further through the wood I reached Wans Dyke. Silted heavily and not as pronounced as is it is at Tan Hill, the earth work still has an impressive presence.   What is most interesting is that the dyke follows a shallow ridge which would be a good location for a ley marker.

Arriving at Avebury, I walked around the north east quadrant of the embankment to the mid point where the ley cuts a chord to where Green Street makes its exit.  Windmill Hill is in clear sight, but looking toward Martinsell I could only see the ridge taken by the Ridge Way.  There are no candidate mark points revealed by the OS map where the ley crosses the Ridge Way, nor upon the ridges of Boreham Down and White Hill further back.

Avebury Henge sighting toward Windmill Hill

Finally I made for Windmill Hill, taking the path beside the Kennet which given the recent flooding wasn’t perhaps the wisest move.  A far easier, and drier alternative is by way of Bray Cottages. While that route appears longer, there is a short cut through an access point to Windmill Hill off the bridle way.

At Windmill Hill I caught a fine view of Avebury Henge and the glory of Silbury Hill set out below. If ever anyone shows doubt at the possibility that leys exist this is a place to impress them of the monumental abilities of the people who shaped this landscape.  Founding leys would be a doddle compared to these other monumental undertakings.

By my map work the ley passes through the pedestrian gate taken by the White Horse trail, allowing a good certainty of location on the map. Sighting from the gate across the chord cut of Avebury Henge, Martinsell Hill is clear to see, with West Wood below in the middle distance.  

Martinsell Camp from Windmill Camp sighting over Avebury Henge and West Woods

Barrows at Windmill Hill

Thursday February 20, 2014 - Silbury Hill Ley, Wiltshire

Thursday February 20, 2014 - Silbury Hill Ley, Wiltshire

Today I set about answering queries that had arisen on the Silbury Hill Ley. 

First of all though I stopped enroute at The Sanctuary, and noted the alignment of the Sanctuary, the close by former stone circle, East Kennet Church and East Kennet Long Barrow. East Kennett Church seems deserving of a visit.

On the Silbury Hill Ley I called in at Mill Lane which is to the north of Avebury. My profiling of the ley had shown this to be a ridge and therefore a candidate for a mark point. The top of Broad Hinton Church and its unflaged pole were again visible against the horizon. Looking to the south, Wans Dyke ridge could be seen clearly, but the intervening lower areas were not easy to make out. I may have spotted Silbury Hill, but could not be sure.

Further north I noted at Winterbourne Basset the ley follows the edge of Bowmans Wood. This is an interesting place name given that others have related legends of leys being laid out with arrow shots.

At Broad Hinton, where LHC offers the church and the well as mark points, I have to say I struggled with the description of layout given. LHC suggests that the ley enters the church yard alongside the lych-gate and misses the tower by 4-5 yards. If the line does pass through or alongside the lych-gate then it passes the chancel at the opposite end of the church from the tower. The church is certainly greater than 4-5 yards long so how can this description be correct!  My work later with Google Maps suggested the ley may in fact run directly through the chancel, which as the likely oldest part of the church would make good sense.  The Google Map alignment however does not show the ley passing through the well but to the west of that.

Broad Hinton Church and lych-gate

From Broad Hinton I made on foot to Bincknoll Castle following paths that keep close to the ley.  I noted that many of the field boundaries shown on my modern OS map are gone as the landscape gives way to ever bigger fields. Generally I feel whatever historic features had existed here are probably nearly all obliterated by this industrial-farming.

I confirmed the height (205m) of the location 1.1km along the ley south of Bincknol Castle, and that there is a clear view here of Wans Dyke - although the actual point that the ley cuts Wans Dyke is obscured by a stand of trees.

At Bincknoll Camp I stood on the major outer defence which according to GPS is at an altitude of 200m. The central point of the castle, the point referenced by LHC, I also measured as 200m. It was not possible from either of these points to see over the ridge 1.1km to the south and there is absolutely no view from Bincknoll Camp of Wans Dyke or any where past this ridge.

Bincknoll Camp

Given the relative flatness for an extensive distance from Bincknoll Castle looking south, and the camps failure to command a summit or view to the south, it feels somewhat hard to believe this camp to be the terminal point of the ley.  That said, there seems a much better case to be made in favour of Broad Hinton Church as the terminal, with Bincknoll as perhaps an extension to elsewhere. 

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - Silbury Hill Ley, Wiltshire

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - Silbury Hill Ley, Wiltshire

This Ley is described in a number of books, with a good, perhaps the best and certainly most thorough description given in the Ley Hunter’s Companion, Devereux & Thomson, p.130.

The ley is described as running from Bincknoll Castle to Marden Henge, with points aligning with Bincknoll Castle; Broad Hinton where there is a well and St Peter’s church; Avebury Henge; Silbury Hill; the site of a stone circle; Wans Dyke where a perpendicular ditch or cross dyke intersects; and finally on to Marden Henge.

I first drew a line on the OS 1:25,000 map using the grid points described by LHC, which ran fairly true, cutting the points broadly as described.

Initially I visited Wans Dyke, which with this being my first encounter, struck me as incredibly impressive. The high bank and deep ditch running as they do for so very many miles, immediately out do any other pre-industrial structures I have seen. Offa’s Dyke, which I have walked half of, though perhaps much diminished, and bearly traceable in parts, is but a patch on its contemporary. Why is Wans Dyke not known to people as Offa’s defense work is?

Wans Dyke at Tan Hill

Anyway, I am not here to marvel at Saxon defences, but here is a dyke that runs a ridge, and the location were this ley hits the ridge is most definitely a watershed. Marden Henge, which I am yet to visit, lies beyond and at a lower level and is clearly not visible from any of the other ley points described, so Wans Dyke is the terminus and any extension is merely that.

Walking the dyke I found a spot which according to map and GPS is the mark point offered by LHC. There is a definite gap here in the dyke, which I now believe more probably commands the true crossing point of the ley - efforts with google maps and the 19th century Cassini Historical Map which reveals evidence of former tracks that used to cross here.

I took some time with binoculars considering the line northwards. On the horizon I could see a church tower with white unflagged pole. I know now this to definitely be Broad Hinton Church a mark point as described by LHC. Silbury Hill is clearly visible and the line of sight to Broad Hinton Church cuts the west flank of Silbury hill as also described. Avebury, however is not visible as it lies at a lower level out of sight. There is nothing else that I could make out of the way to the north, and as the church does seem the furthest visible point, I could see of no sign of Bincknoll camp.

Northwards from Tan Hill to Silbury Hill

Looking to the South, with out the aid of compass - which I unfortunately omitted to pack - I spot what may be Marden Henge.

Southwards from Tan Hill to Marden Henge 

On my walk back to the road from Wans Dyke I followed the ridge around to Adam’s Grave. This is a hugely impressive long barrow with deep cuttings either side that presumably were dug to lift the barrow up. As I approached I note a couple of massive stones that may mark the way from a tumuli higher on the ridge. I didn’t check the alignment but they did seem curious and not marked on the map. The near by hill carving of a white horse, is by comparison much less impressive, amateurish perhaps.

Later, when seated, and able to consider what I had seen and properly study maps, I became troubled by the visibility of points on the ley. While from Wans Dyke a clear view is had over much of the length, beyond Broad Hinton it was not possible to see further and on to Bincknoll Castle. How could Bincknoll be considered as a terminal point by LHC if it could not be seen from the Wans Dyke ridge?

I undertook the rather labourious yet satisfying task of profiling the height of the ley from end to end. I did so by measuring the distance from Bincknoll camp, noting the height at each intersecting contour line on the map and graphing the height against distance to give a side section of the altitude along the ley.

The profile showed that from Wans Dyke, at its commanding elevation of 250m, the described points of the former stone circle, Silbury Hill, Avebury Henge are all technically visible. Beyond this there is a high spot at Mill Lane, then again at Broad Hinton. There are two further high spots further on at 1.5km from Bincknoll camp the other at just 500m form the camp, both are 205m high. It is unclear from the map what height to take for Bincknoll Camp as it appears to be on a scarp slope decending to the plane to the north; an odd choice for a start point of a ley if ever there were.  Only investigation would tell, but to keep the story simple, my visit to the site has revealed that the centre of the camp and the outer defence ring sit at 200m.  Stood upon the highest point there available it was definitely not possible to see the Wans Dyke nor much further than a mile or so.  This is not a good sign for the inclusion of Bincknoll Camp as a terminal point on the ley.