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.