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Cana Henge — Fieldnotes

Cana Henge (Saturday, 22.11.03)
This is no longer named on OS maps, but the 1854-56 map calls it Cana (see old-maps.co.uk). That map also describes it as a camp and calls the building to its SE Cana Barn.
Cana Barn seems an ideal place to park, and the footpath, jinking left then forward, takes you past a field of very high cabbages, then to a pea field. Somewhere in this pea field the henge must lie, but there are no indications, and the contour of the land, sloping gently away westwards, makes it an unlikely henge site (level ground being the norm).
The old map places it firmly in this field, though the Getmapping aerial photograph (see old-maps.co.uk) shows nothing. I can't help wondering if the henge was misplaced on the old map and should be further east, half in the field on the other side of the pathway. This would then place it on level ground.
Some way into the pea field is a slightly raised area, and I dowsed the energy flow as passing over this in a NNWSSE direction, with a width of 14 paces (about 7 yards). If the old map is right, this raised area is probably the henge's eastern bank. (But if my level-ground guess is right, it might be the western bank.)
The energy line seems to have a few effects on neighbouring vegetation. The hedge north of the pea field has a 7 yard gap exactly where the line goes. The cabbages in the field south of the pea field have a yard-wide no-growth pathway running through them which exactly coincides with the energy line.
All in all: no henge visible, but energy detectable - so that's half a result.

(See Hutton Moor Henge for notes on dowsing.)

Nunwick Henge — Fieldnotes

Nunwick Henge (Saturday, 22.11.03)
The three Thornborough Henges are aligned NWSE and that alignment, if extended more or less south, should pass through Nunwick Henge in an NWSE direction too. However, unless I was in error, I dowsed the energy line as taking an NS route along the western portion of the circle. Further investigation will have to follow.
The henge itself is almost invisible from the ground. It does not, for instance, appear on the 1854 map (whereas the even more invisible Cana Henge does). It took air photography in 1951 to discover it, and if you log on to old-maps.co.uk (feed in co-ordinates 432500, 474500 - then press the View Aerial Photo instruction on the lower toolbar when the old map appears) you can just make out a circle in the Getmapping plc. aerial photo, half in the green field to the west and half in the dark field to the right.
When we visited, the wheat had long ago been harvested, so we could make out the occasional bump in the field nearer the road (the westerly field). This I dowsed, finding the rather unexpected NS energy flow at 14 paces wide (= about 7 yards). I didn't want to invade the field to the east as it contained green shoots, so do not know if there are any energy indications there or not.

(See Hutton Moor Henge for a note on Dowsing.)

Hutton Moor Henge — Fieldnotes

Hutton Moor Henge (Saturday, 22.11.03)
This is a beauty. If approaching from the north, you can drive some way up the farm track which starts at Hutton Moor House, till mud takes over. Then, on foot, bear left past the silage tank, and the grass track (mostly following the energy line) will take you to the henge.
On high ground and with a backdrop of woodland, Hutton Moor Henge stands wide and noble, protected by wire fences but with easy access by gate. The banks are low nowadays but they are green and shapely.
Using a pair of dowsing rods, I found the main energy line runs right through the centre in a NNWSSE direction, 18 paces wide (= about 9 yards). It seems to colour the grass along its route in a sandwich pattern, making darker tracks along its outer portions and a lighter track between them. It avoided the apparent entrances (extended dips) because they were aligned NS.
However, there was a strange little extra energy line, only a foot or two wide, running through the north entrance, making a light coloured track. I did not follow this (nor the main energy line) to the southern part of the henge as somebody with a very loud gun was killing things in the woods and a stray bullet did not seem impossible. (Is November 22nd special? There seemed to be distant guns going off in all directions.)
The apparent effect on the grass, by the way, has an approximate parallel at Thornborough Henges, where the energy line, on leaving the central henge in a NW direction, cuts a channel (sheep track?) through the grass as it goes. This track, though very narrow, seems precisely at the centre of the energy flow.

A Note On Dowsing
Anyone can dowse. Hold two bent metal sticks (cut, say, from a coat hanger) one in each hand and walk slowly, pointing them forward like six shooters, till they decide to cross of their own volition. You have then found an energy line.
After a number of paces (say, seven or ten or sixteen) the sticks will uncross, and you have then found the width of the energy line.
Try the same procedure at a few other points and, with luck, you will have found the direction of the energy line, which can then be checked with a compass.
The good thing about energy dowsing is that we are able to connect with the minds of the Old People. Neither brutal nor ignorant, they aligned their monuments meaningfully, and with a pair of bent metal rods we can follow their thinking.
We can connect with the same energy they did, and by so doing, we can connect with them.
This feels good: real field work.
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