Reference to ley line 150 years before Watkins?

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swallowhead S
swallowhead Aug 30, 2019 13:39:35
Replying to Ross

Hi All,

Bit late to the party, but only just came across this thread. Getting to the bottom of the ramblings of Wood the Elder is my present area of research (and it was I who contacted Moss about Lansdown monuments a while back).

I do not think the Woods believed in or even knew about ley lines. His 'augural line' when referring to the Sols Rocks probably meant nothing more than a line of sight. Being able to see one point from another is a major theme in his antiquarian work but it does not imply that he believed in the modern notion of ley lines. There is a good line of sight from my living room window to the Royal Crescent, but no-one would suggest that there is a ley line involved.

It helps when you know exactly where he was talking about - the grounds of Hope House, just in front of Lansdown Crescent (built after the Royal Crescent and by a different architect). I published a paper a few years ago identifying the probable location, although I stopped short of declaring it a lost monument as the rocks were probably removed before any other antiquaries took a look at them (at most, it is probable that they originated from elsewhere, but how they got there, when and why is unknown). I have tried and failed to find any conclusive relationship between the buildings of the Woods and the Sols Rocks, aside from Wood claiming that North Parade was built with a view of them. In Wood's day, before he began his building Bath was a tiny place and I expect it very likely one could have seen the spot they were supposedly in from St John's Chapel and N. Parade. I'm also intrigued as to why no ley-line hunters (of which I seen many wandering around the Crescent lawn with copper rods and crystals) have previously suggested that there could have been a ley-line that ran near or right through the Sols Rocks. My personal view is that if these things worked I wouldn't have had to spend a year digging around in the local library and archives trying to find the place!

http://historyofbath.org/images/documents/c6a200a9-ad00-41a6-be24-737afac4eca6.pdf

Wood tried to build The Circus in 2 other locations before the final spot, and much of the choice of the location was down to the local council and having a landowner willing to lease him the land. So if there are any 'ley lines' running through it, it is almost certainly coincidence.

R Ross
Ross Jun 30, 2021 16:23:13
Replying to swallowhead

Thanks for the reply. I have only just come across it today, incidentally on the 100 year anniversary of Alfred Watkins’ ley lines revelation.

I came across your paper on Sols Rocks some years ago. It’s an absolutely fascinating and well-researched piece of work, and I’m glad to be able to finally tell you so.

Fair point about the ‘augural line’, although I’d also be interested on your take on the curious sentence in Choir Gaure where Wood – in reference to Stonehenge – describes a line which “bears six Degrees West of the Meridian, and directs to the Spire of Salisbury Church…”

As to your surprise as to why no ley line hunters have suggested that there could be a ley line through Sols Rocks, well I for one have considered this! I don’t use copper rods or crystals though. I use Google Earth. I have spent quite some time trying to corroborate your proposed location by trying to establish if it is aligned with any other ancient sites, and it is precisely because I can’t find any alignments that I am skeptical as to that being the location!

If indeed the site had the magnitude Wood suggests (a 30 foot stone!), and if one thinks there is something in the whole ley line theory of alignments, the Sols Rocks site should almost certainly be aligned with something.

I concede that the whole business with the circus/ley lines may of course be coincidence, but a happy one at that, and one which John Wood would probably appreciate.

Glad to make your acquaintance.

P.S. I heard somewhere you were working on a follow up article on the location of Wood’s Moon temple. Did that manifest yet?

Best wishes,

Ross