Ley Lines

Sanctuary Nov 9, 2010 09:48:47

When I first got kick-started into serious stone hunting ley lines were all the rage. If you got hold of Watkins' The Old Straight Track (1925) you were considered to be someone worth talking to and if you had a copy of his Early British Trackways (1922), well you were seen as someone rather special for some weird reason.

So what has happened since, is the ley-line idea still fashionable or simply seen as a hit and miss or chance thing? I had an interest in it for a short while linking barrows, stone circles, hill forts, standing stones etc but it always seemed to me that much of it was a bit random.

Mustard Nov 9, 2010 09:55:21

Replying to Sanctuary

Always seemed like wishful thinking to me. Some alignments do look fairly convincing, but I've never had the time nor the statistical knowledge to check the veracity of the theory. That's the problem with the internet - while there's a wealth of information available, you're often reduced to flipping a coin when deciding which source to trust!

The Sea Cat Nov 9, 2010 09:56:50

Replying to Sanctuary

Pendulums/Dowsing Rods respond very strongly to them, that's for certain.

Jane Nov 9, 2010 10:49:24

Replying to Sanctuary

Sanctuary wrote:

So what has happened since, is the ley-line idea still fashionable or simply seen as a hit and miss or chance thing? .

Yep. It's unproven mumbo jumbo. There are so many things in the landscape that if you look for patterns for long enough you'll always find things that line up. Just cos they do doesn't mean anything.

Sanctuary Nov 11, 2010 14:58:00

Replying to Sanctuary

Many years ago when I lived in Southampton I used to take my dogs out to Lyndhurst to give them a good run. We used to pass a spot where amongst the grass there was a quite large round area of pretty much barren soil well flattened. it wasn't in a clearing but on an open area which was a bit featureless. There was no water or shelter at this spot but every night dozens of New Forest ponies used to gather there to sleep. On meeting another dog walker there one day and striking up a conversation about it, she said she had been told that a 'force' was present at this spot and the ponies gathered there as it was a 'safe' area and along a ley line. Anyone heard of anything like this themselves?

Sanctuary Nov 12, 2010 22:18:11

Replying to Sanctuary

If the house this was found in is on a ley line I'm a believer!!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328904/Chinese-vase-sells-51-6m-lying-decades-Middlesex-home.html

neighbourofthedrude Nov 13, 2010 14:33:06

Replying to Sanctuary

All Little Chef Resturants are linked by Ley Lines.

:o)

Sanctuary Nov 13, 2010 19:45:12

Replying to Sanctuary

Who was the first recognised writer to introduce the 'magical/mystical' approach to ley lines?

Sanctuary Nov 14, 2010 21:07:49

Replying to Sanctuary

I've been having a read of Alfred Watkin's 1922 'Early British Trackways' and found it really interesting how he went about proving a ley.

[Quote Watkins] 'Remember that the entire course of a ley can be found from two 'undoubted' sighting points on it if marked on a map. Therefore stick a glass headed pin in these two points, apply the straight edge, and rule the line, pencil in at first, ink afterwards'.
When you get a "good ley" (his words not mine!!) on the map, go over it in the field, and fragments and traces of the trackwaywill be found, always in straight lines, once seen recognised with greater ease in future'.

So for him it wasn't just a case of 'joining up the dots' and claiming a ley line, but getting out into the field and actually proving its existence by the evidence still available on the ground. Pretty neat eh!

Sanctuary Nov 15, 2010 08:48:00

Replying to Sanctuary

Thought I'd look up Alfred Watkins on ebay and glad I did. Found his 'Ley Hunter's Manual: A Guide by Alfred Watkins for just £3.71 in total, so have scooped that up and if anyone is interested there was his autobiography Alfred Watkins: A Herefordshire Man by Ron Shoesmith for only £4.70 in total looking for a home.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alfred-Watkins-Herefordshire-Man-Ron-Shoesmith-/250693308730?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item3a5e7c513a

Loads of 'The Old Straight Track' as well ranging from about a fiver to nearly 70 sqid!!