Ley Lines: The Greatest Landscape Mystery

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The paper by statistician Simon Broadbent [53] is one such example and the discussion after the article involving a large number of other statisticians demonstrates the high level of agreement that alignments have no significance compared to the null hypothesis of random locations. The result is a broad-minded and inclusive poetics, a vision of creative work as a constituent of personal and civic life.

Hutton suggested that some of the enthusiasm formerly directed toward leys was instead directed toward archaeo-astronomy. He was one of the founding members of the Dragon Project, launched in London in 1977 with the purpose of conducting radioactivity and ultrasonic tests at prehistoric sites, particularly the stone circles created in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.

Continuing belief [ edit ] Modern Pagans in Britain often believe in ley lines running through ancient sites, such as the Coldrum Long Barrow in Kent. Translating the term lung mei as "dragon paths", he reinterpreted tales from English mythology and folklore in which heroes killed dragons so that the dragon-slayers became the villains. Looking back on the book's reception in 2000, Williamson noted that "archaeologists weren't particularly interested, and ley-line people were hostile". According to his account, he was driving across the hills near Blackwardine, Herefordshire, when he looked across the landscape and observed the way that several features lined up together. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

Danny Sullivan's Ley Lines does this with reference to all the theories that have ever been put forward to explain the archaic landscape line. A statistical analysis of lines concluded: "the density of archaeological sites in the British landscape is so great that a line drawn through virtually anywhere will 'clip' a number of sites. Remembering [ley lines] exist is a way for us to find stillness and quiet, and to see the earth as animated.The authors, both 'alternative archaeologists', explore the theory of ley lines with the belief that lines and patterns formed by joining up ancient sites prove the existence of a megalithic science based on a mysterious force (oh dear!

Still in print, the book speaks from a more innocent age: blending a love of rural and historic Herefordshire with quotes from WB Yeats and George Borrow, and a charming openness about his own assumptions. Very comprehensive book, easy to read, full of information, full coverage on all main aspects of the phenomena, best book for a full introduction on the subject who also displays plenty of examples on the subject. Jeremy Harte, editor of Wessex Earth Mysteries, subsequently produced several books on folklore; his book on British fairy lore later won the Folklore Society's annual prize. I would suggest this as reading material to someone has read about ley lines before and complete novices. Capacious’ is a word he is fond of, and his wide arc of collaborative inquiry into eternity, war, responsiveness and responsibility delivers an expansive one-pointedness.It also contains an illustrated directory of over 50 ley lines from the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe and tells you how you can find ley lines for yourself. They were nevertheless generally in agreement that the ley lines were laid out between 5000 BCE and 2600 BCE, after the introduction of agriculture but before the introduction of metal in Britain. He also noted that the ley hunting community had "functioned as an indispensable training ground for a small but important group of non-academic scholars who have made a genuine contribution to the study of folklore and mythology. It wasn't until after the World War Two that the potential of the ley line as a repository for all things mystical really started to take hold. Another key book produced among the ley hunting community was Mysterious Britain, written by Janet and Colin Bord.

Hutton noted that this pulled along "a potential fissure between rationalism and mysticism which had always been inherent in the movement".

He also covers the fascinating, and creepy, paths of the dead used for centuries by churches when interring their dead. The author of these pages walked well over 3,000 miles across the hills of Scotland over a ten year period to understand the concept of ley lines, after watching a progamme on “Tomorrow’s World” on how to use a simple divining rod to pick up energies which are probably unknown to science. First in the Herefordshire countryside, and later throughout Britain, Alfred Watkins noticed that beacon hills, mounds, earthworks, moats and old churches built on pagan sites seemed to fall in straight lines. The book was disregarded by archaeologists but saw a resurgence of interest with the rise of New Age ideas in the 1960s. In Germany, the idea was referred to as Heilige Linien ('holy lines'), an idea adopted by some proponents of Nazism.