Many years ago I made an extraordinary discovery ………

A website by Mike Peer

This website documents my many years of research into the possibility that prehistoric man may have set out his sites of importance in alignment across the landscape, either for some ritual purpose or as astronomical pointers to mark the seasons.

Alfred Watkins first published his theory of ley lines in 1925 in the book ‘The Old Straight Track’.  Since that time his ideas have been much derided and maligned.  This is understandable because the standard of research has been extremely poor. It is only in recent years that new resources such as Google Earth and LIDAR have revealed more evidence. This development allows clearer assessment of past claims.

So what’s it all about…

Many years ago I made an extraordinary discovery. Certain ancient sites around my home town of Guildford were arranged in the landscape in a seemingly intentional pattern.  Some sites fall upon bearings of ten degrees from a common point. They are aligned at regular distances from that point. This regular distance also occurs along other alignments within the area.  Other lines run east to west, indicating possible equinox markers.  On one alignment I identified a high point where I suspected a site existed. I then found an unrecorded barrow at that point, later confirmed by the County Archaeologist.  (In the sidebar click on CROOKSBURY LINE / down arrow / Culverswell Barrow).

The following pages result from many years of intermittent research into the alignment of ancient sites across the landscape. People widely call these alignments leys or ley lines.  Researchers originally defined Ley Lines as the physical alignments of ancient sites. Recently they are seen as lines of ‘earth energy’ detectable by dowsing.  Many of these earth energy lines are not accurate alignments. Therefore, they are not ley lines in the original meaning of the term.  To avoid confusion, I have not referred to the alignments in this work as ley lines.  This work is an objective study of physical evidence. The subjective pursuit of earth energies has no place here.  

This work currently lists fourteen alignments  Others may come to light, especially if the area of interest is expanded.  The alignments are divided into two groups.  The primary group is at bearings of 10° intervals from a common point.  These intervals have been refined to 9.95°, and the bearings have been divided into the recurring distance interval of 3600 feet (1097.3m).  This distance, for want of a better name, I have called the Druid Mile (DM). The secondary group are all roughly east-west and contains further instances of the Druid Mile.

Note that this is very much a work in progress and many entries await the addition of information.  Fieldwork, once all sites are studied and photographed, will be concentrated on visiting deduced points on the alignments in the hope of discovering other unrecorded sites.  This would go a long way to validating the theory.

COINCIDENCE? – Some statistics.

The area chosen for detailed examination was approximately 25 miles east to west and 20 miles north to south, centred upon Guildford in Surrey.

Within this area, a list of all prehistoric sites, pre-reformation religious sites; other ancient sites; and sites of possible historical interest was compiled.   Eighty sites were added to a computer database, using AutoCAD, as Ordnance Survey (OS) coordinates.    The data was taken from the largest scale OS maps available online using Promap to give a working tolerance of one metre.

Of these sites, 22 fell upon the ten-degree rays based upon a common base point (Whitmoor Barrow); 16 were in various other alignments; 18 were associated with a standard distance of 3600 feet, and 11 of these sites occurred on more than one alignment.

Seven sites had serious relevance problems, being moats and Victorian churches.   We included these sites, noting that Victorian churches often have origins far older than one might suspect.   We now regard moated sites as coincidental.   Archaeologists excavated the two precise sites along the alignments, finding no signs of anything pre-medieval.

If you adjust the distance from 3600 feet to 3650 feet, this new value will not appear among any of the eighty sites.   This alone is well beyond coincidence.   What does seem to be a coincidence is the preciseness of the figure 3600.   Historians know that the English foot was not standardised until the Middle Ages. Earlier values varied by time and place, which makes it hard to see how this originated.

The alignments radiating from Whitmoor Barrow are extremely precise  – the South Line has the Crooksbury Line at fifty degrees to the west of south and the Compton Line at thirty degrees to the west of south.   The Tyting Line mirrors these at thirty degrees to the east of south and the Newlands Line at fifty degrees to the east of south – again well beyond coincidence.

The alignments’ text records many other ‘coincidences’.

The Possible Importance of Latitude

Professor Richard Atkinson excavated and restored Stonehenge in the 1950s. According to Professor Richard Atkinson, he placed the Heel Stone and the Station Stones in an astronomical position. Astronomers determined Stonehenge’s latitude astronomically.

The latitude of Stonehenge is 51°10’42”.  Scholars now hold that this location affords the best view of midwinter and midsummer risings. It also aligned with the moon’s rise and set at its major and minor standstills, marking the 18.6-year cycle.   At this latitude, the equinoctial risings and sun settings are virtually opposite so that a sight-line may have backsights and foresights; for example, the midwinter sunset in the south-west is opposite the opposite midsummer sunrise in the north-east, and the midwinter sunrise is opposite the midsummer sunset. This only applies to a relatively narrow band of some 30 miles in width at the latitude of Stonehenge. Once one goes beyond this band, the opposing risings and settings do not align.

The latitude of Whitmoor Barrow is 51°16′ 24.9″. It lies just within the corridor of interest and is about seven miles north of Stonehenge. If this is accurate, other observatory sites might share the same latitude. I am confident that my discovery of a possible midwinter sunset line, reinforced by my finding an unknown barrow precisely on that line.

The Goseck Circle shares a remarkable latitude with Stonehenge, lying on nearly the same latitude.   At 51°11’53.72″ it is a mere 1.35 miles north, well within the band of interest discussed above.   The Goseck Circle is a restored Neolithic monument in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, first discovered in 1991 from aerial photographs.   Researchers date the site to 4900 BC and consider it the oldest known solar observatory, which has two entrances in the henge that align with the winter solstice sunrise in the southeast and with the winter sunset in the southwest.   The third entrance to due north has no known significance.

There was a time when researching the above would have been a doddle, but I find it increasingly difficult to get my head around this stuff with my advancing years.   If I am in error, please correct me.