Wholistic Arts

St John's Night, San Xoan de Poio It's the night of St John, and we're sitting watching the post-match interviews [Spain vs France, Euro 2012], waiting for the firework display (it's now 23:23 exactly!). We've eaten the traditional sardines and maize-bread, and after the fireworks we'll go downstairs to our own apartment, put baby to bed, then jump over our candles, as is our new custom since baby was born and is still too young to stay up so late to go and jump over the bonfires at midnight.  I was thinking, while trying to start the barbeque to cook the sardines, that the fire represents Leo and the longest day in the most pagan, primitive, prehistoric way, while the fish represents the Christian religion and its merging into (or highjacking of, if you look at another way) the ancient traditions. Together, the two elements represent the most basic elements of food (fish and bread, products of seafaring and farming) and heat. On the summer solstice we n...

Castle Ring, Cannock Chase Started out in the morning in new car. Went to Castle Ring in Cannock Chase. I drew a line on my Ancient Britain map where I thought the Belinus leyline was. According to my calculation it disects Castle Ring. Further research had shown that another source thought it disected Meon Hill near Stratford-on-Avon, so I needed to visit both! As an aside, I also found that a couple had come up with a theory about 'leylines'. They thought they were natural tracks made by animals, posibly migrating herds, and then used by man later as communication networks, interesting. At Castle Ring I walked completely round the large hill fort. My rods crossed all round the perimeter except for either side where I found the leyline, 23 paces in width again, disecting the site in a SW-NE direction. Looking NE in the distance was the coal power station at Rugely. Castle Ring was thought to have been occupied around AD 50, by the Celtic Cornovii tribe.The fort at it...

Castro Landin We took a drive out into the Galician countryside on an unseasonably hot and sunny day, the Spanish wing of our ever expanding team now with another new member: Loreto's Mum. I don't think she knew that this day-trip was part of our Soltice-Equinox expeditions, because we'd invited her along for a picnic. She waited with Malusa under the shade of some enormous pine trees while Loreto and I looked around, then later, she went with Loreto while I took a siesta with Malusa. It occured to me that many of these places, be they monoliths, dolmens, or Celtic villages, are usually quite close to pine trees. As we sat under the trees, I realised that people had been sitting under trees on this spot for literally thousands of years. The castro itself is particularly unusual. While the circular stone houses cluster together in places in the typical honey-comb effect, some are further spread apart, and one is square (see picture)! It must have stuck out like a sor...

Hints, Staffordshire Started out to Hints in Staffs, near a clump of trees called 'The Devils Dressing Room'. Apparently, this was part of a quarry! (Vic/me often found quarries nearby our places of interest, even Aston Curcus!). My dowsing rods told me that the line ran along the road beneath. We then followed this leyline which was taken from a book by Anthony Poulton-Smith "LEY LINES accross the Midlands". We continued to follow the line along the B5493, interestingly the ley did not follow the road direct but weaved around it. On one occasion we stopped the car by a farm and at the entrance from the edge of the road to the gate (yes, 23 paces) was the line. We then continued on the road to Seckington, a beautiful village. The church was quite inspiring. Then we went round the side and found the motte and bailey. Wow, this was impressive. The motte was very big and the hill part almost perfect in shape with a flat top. Although the bailey was encircled by a...

Dolmen da Barrosa, Portugal Loreto and I had found this place literally by accident one time during a day-trip into Portugal. We'd decided to take a wander onto the back-roads and just saw a sign for a dolmen and said "Hey!". So, wanting something to do to mark the Solstice, we waited for Mum and Dad to come over for New Year, and took them there on the way home from Porto airport. The dolmen is on the other side of a smashed open wall, and on a nice-sized square of land enclosed all round (except the smashed in entrance!). Next to the dolmen (beautiful specimen, I might add) are the remains of a house of similar dimensions as the dolmen, and in alignment with it. The year 1914 is calved above the door. Dad and I pondered over who would construct a building so close to a dolmen, and why it might have been abandoned. Then Malusa, the youngest member of the team, drew our attention, walking in circles on the leave-strewn ground, singing loudly and enjoying the echo of...

Heptonstall James and myself started out early at 09:00. The plan was to head off to Sylvia Plath's (poet) resting place. Heptonstall is very bleak and there is only one way into it! Also planned was to visit a well, Reap's cross, Standing Stone Hill etc. Stone circle, standing stone and a well. In the ancient hilltop weaving village of Heptonstall, overlooking Hebden Bridge, stand two churches, both in the same churchyard, one in ruins and the other one still very much in use.The chapel was erected between 1256 and 1260 and was dedicated to Thomas a Becket who was murdered in 1170, became a saint in 1173, and was a popular symbol of resistance to state authority. The aura of the ruined church was spectacular, looking across to the 'new' church over a lot of grave stones was eerie. One account on the internet suggests that there are over 100,000 bodies buried there! Another says 10,000. Whatever it is they lie below the stones that are above the surface. We the...

Castro de San Cibrán de Lás, Ourense At the same time that Raye and Dave were looking at hill-forts in Bakewell , the Spanglish section of the team were up in the hills near Ourense, checking out a fantastic hill-fort of our own. This castro is on the brow of a hill (as always), but with a circular wall around it of immense proportion. Further up the hill is a smaller circle of an inner compound, and between the two are hundreds of round houses, like a honeycomb. As we walked on the top, I helped Malusa jump down off a large rock, and I noticed that the floor beneath her made a hollow echo. I stomped around a bit, and Loreto agreed that it sounded like the whole hill was hollow. Castromao We also visited a second hill-fort, which looks like a more compact version of the one mentioned above, on a steeper incline, although this one is in a worse state of repair. It looks as though some archaelogical work on it has been abandoned (maybe they ran out of funds), because a lot of it is ba...

Bakewell and Pilsbury Castles We set off with the intention of going to two places. The first a motte and bailey in Bakewell. At the tourist information and the "local" said there was no castle in Bakewell! When I explained it was a bailey and motte and showed a picture there was still a sign of disbelief..."well if it is there its not visible?" Anyway, we proceeded and walked up, yes, Castle Hill! Behind a bungalow was a small field and a gate. We felt, as often happens on these expeditions, that we were trespassing. It has been left and is more like a copse with trees and bushes,but nevertheless is still there. What a find. It made sense that this would be a good position for a castle. It was difficult to capture in a photo because in order to get a clear view by stepping back the bushes then hid it. So, the two photos are taken one at a distance and the other close (but too close to get the feel of the 'bowl' effect inside. A bit of history: Edward the ...

Hemlock Stone, Nottinghamshire The Hemlock Stone stands near the summit of Stapleford Hill adjacent to Bramcote Hills and the park. The Hemlock Stone is felt by many to have been the site of past activity by the Druids, the priesthood of the Celts. It would form a natural focal point, a temple and altar for Celtic festivals such as Beltane, where the ancient practice of lighting fires on the stone during the night before May Day continued until the early 19th century. The combination of the stone with the surrounding oak woodland (the oak being a sacred tree for the Celts) and a nearby 'sacred spring' all add credence to the idea of Druidic use. On older maps the spring is shown as the 'Healing Well', just to the north-west of Stapleford Hill. This now lost natural spring was used by gypsies and miners alike as a place to wash and a local 'cure-all'. Local folklore even conjures up the idea of witches at the site using the poisonous hemlock plant in their poti...

Castle of Sobroso & Castro de Troña, Mondariz We took a drive up to the recently restored castle of Sobroso, way up on top of a very high hill. One of the most interesting facts about the place comes from relatively recent history - in the 1930's a journalist bought the place and began to restore it with the intention of living there, but once the fascist Franco regime took power, he was executed and his possessions passed to the government, who used it strategically during the civil war, but after left it to ruin. Also in the area is a church built right on top of a castro (Celtic village). We took a look around, and were surprised to find half of the church burnt out, even though the sign on the door shows that it is still a functioning church. It struck me, as dad went round with his divining rods, that the castro, the castle, and the church have all been built on this hill for the same reason - it contains a natural water source. If you're looking to set up a village a...

Castle-an-Dinas, Cornwall Castle-an-Dinas is one of the largest and most impressive hillforts in Cornwall, sited in an imposing position on the summit of Castle Downs with extensive and panoramic views across central Cornwall to both north and south coasts. It features in Cornish legend as one of the seats of the Duke of Cornwall and folklore has it that Cador, Duke of Cornwall, and Ygraine, King Arthur’s mother were killed here. That the site has attracted such mythic associations may be a reflection of its continued significance from its prehistoric beginnings into the Post-Roman and Early mediæval periods. This hill fort in the Parish of St.Columb Major is a scheduled monument of great importance. It is 700 ft above sea level and commands extensive views, it occupies a strategic position overlooking trade routes through Cornwall, this was a natural site for an Iron Age fortress. It covers an area of 20 acres and is one of the largest of its kind in Cornwall. The defences comprise t...

Pilsbury Castle, Derbyshire I can't believe it is Mabon (autumnal equinox) time again already. I ventured out just after Hartington in Derbyshire on a gated road to Pilsbury, after that I walked along a public footpath to the site of Pilsbury Castle. Pilsbury itself is a shrunken village which dates back at least to Anglo-Saxon times. At the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, it was part of the Manor of Pilsbury and Ludwell. The site of the monastic grange at Pilsbury is likely to have been here in the sheltered spot overlooking the river. The large present-day houses can be traced to the late 17th/early 18th century. I braved an onslaught of sheep, having strayed into a field off the public footpath. As I opened the gate a lot of sheep came from all over the field to 'attack' me! They weren't afraid either, so I legged it to the next field. Eventually I arrived at the site. I could sense how things would have been over a thousand years before, and probably even befor...

Lago de Castiñeiras, Pontevedra By the "Lake of Chestnuts" is a fantastic dolmen, called Chan de Castiñeiras, built in the centre of a large mound, presumably part of the original structure. A short walk away lies another, although that one has the top missing and is barely visible from a distance. A quick check with the compass showed us that these two were alligned perfectly from North to South. A little further south of the ruined one, we saw another group of stones - we went to check them out, but they looked too natural to be a constructed site; they also fit the North-South allignment. Maybe the two man-made ones were built along the line of the naturally occuring mound? After a picnic, our newly enlarged party (Dave & Raye, Vic and Loreto now with baby Malusa) went to the Chan de Arquiña - the last site that Vic and Loreto visited while the latter was still pregnant with Malusa. It was nice to sit on the dolmen with the baby and remember being there in the fog wit...

Beauchief Abbey, near Sheffield A nice day to start with but later turned a bit wet. We had read a book 'Atlas of Magical Britain', in it was Beauchief Abbey, near Sheffield, that had two leylines intersecting by it. The murder of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral on 29th December 1170 AD brought about the founding of the Abbey. Robert Fitzranulph, Lord of Alfreton, was said to have felt remorse at Thomas a Becket’s murder and gave land, sealing a charter granting the establishment of an Abbey at Beauchief. We found three leylines! Two of them both headed Northwards at each side of the Abbey (the West Tower is the only remaining part of the original) and we managed to find the third after intense investigation. This was the one that went North-eastward to Norton. Where we later investigated the church, which was founded in 1170 and what looked like a Saxon cross used as a war memorial. The first leyline we found was 23 paces, as usual, heading North-South and can be ...

Chan de Arquiña, Pontevedra We headed out in the afternoon - it had been raining heavily all morning, but by afternoon it was cheering up a bit. We couldn't find any useful directions on how to get there, and it doesn't appear on google maps either, so we headed for the rough area and crossed our fingers. As we got futher inland, and higher up, the fog got thicker and thicker. Eventually, we found a picnic area that looked hopeful, and asked a man there if we were in the right place - he told us were to go (about a mile further down the road), and added that with this much fog, we might not find it! We found the other picnic area, and started walking around, with an ever increasing sense of hopelessness - running over to every big rock visible through the dense fog, only to be disappointed. We decided to try the other side of the parking area, and eventually, we saw it on top of a hill (or sticking out from the top). It's quite low, but that's probably because it hasn...

Cornwall Searching the map before we left for Cornwall we found a possible leyline starting at St Austell Bay near Higher Porthpean. When we arrived we started to look for the 2nd point, a quarry. Castle Gotha Iron Age hillfort was 1st but we had tried to find it previously unsuccessfully. Because there was not much left of the quarry onto the next port of call. We found 'Beacon Cross', a Saxon Cross, hidden in a hedge but checking with divining rods found the leyline nearby, 23 paces across. The line also passed through the Lost Gardens of Heligan nearby. We then searched for Veryan Castle which was hard to find. Eventually found it clearly from a certain viewpoint. The picture shows the hillfort with Carne Beacon tumulus in the background. We had just before climbed on it and the views were spectacular. Then we ventured down to Pendower Beach and sure enough found the leyline going off into the sea, exactly 23 paces across! Onto St Anthony Head where we were able to view the ...

Pontevedra No trips this time - Raye and Dave came over to Spain to visit, but I had a bad bout of sciatica so we couldn't go anywhere. From a mystical perspective, our previous trip to Lapa de Gargantáns was the last one we did before finding out that Loreto was pregnant - so maybe there's something in the fertility myths connected with these places! Following this train of thought, the solstice did have some significance, as it was at this time that we found out the sex of the baby (it's a she!), so we were able to send Raye and Dave home with the knowledge that the next addition to their family will be a granddaughter. Vic

Lapa de Gargantáns, Moraña We went out into the countryside between Santiago and Pontevedra in search of the menhir "Lapa de Gargantans" (meaning either Limpet of 'Gargantans' or possibly the Big-throated Limpet!). We got lost (as usual!) and decided to head to the nearest small town and see if we could find our way from there. We were amazed to see dozens of enormous signposts all over the place! "Wow!" - we said to each other, because signs are normally few and far between for these things. When we got to a shabby carpark, we saw a farmer and asked him were it was - "just over that ridge". We walked a couple of hundred metres and there it was - about half the size we'd been expecting! It was still a nice one - and a beautiful shape - but no more than 2m in height, where it had once been over 3 and a half. The photos we'd seen made it seem much bigger, and with it being so well signposted too, we left feeling a little disappointed. But it ...

Long Meg, Cumbria We went to see Long Meg and her daughters. This is the 3rd largest stone circle in England after Avebury and Stanton Drew. There is a large ring and several large outlying stones. The largest of these outliers is Long Meg, the "mother stone". Long Meg is about 12 ft high and looks very impressive. Close inspection showed spiral carvings on her face. The circle itself is composed of 59 large stones and a trackway runs through them, similar to Avebury. When I used my dowsing rods there were two specific areas of activity. These were two circles about 6ft diameter within the 'circle'. I realised that the circle was more like an ellipse and that the two "vortex's" were the ellipses centres. Amazing. Dave

Castlerigg Stone Circle, Cumbria The day before we viewed the Mabon Stone we decided to visit "Arthurs Round Table" an impressive earthwork less than half a mile from Mayburgh Henge which has one large stone in the centre remaining. We then went to Castlerigg Stone Circle in Cumbria, a site we had always wanted to go. The setting was unbelievable, all around there were mountains with the circle set in the centre, spectacular. I dowsed with rods and they crossed inside the inner ring. Using the rods I sensed a leyline passing through the top of the circle about 15ft wide. Viewing East and West it appeared as though the line went from one summit to another. Dave

Mabon Stone, Gretna, Scotland The Autumn Equinox or Harvest Home is also called Mabon, pronounced 'MAY-bon', after the Welsh god Mabon ap Modron, which means literally 'son of mother'. So we set off to Scotland to view the "Mabon Stone": The Mabon stone was named for Mabon, the Celtic God of fertility, corn harvest, equilibrium and equinox. The day of autumnal equinox we experience equal hours of light & darkness. The Northern hemisphere transcends into Autumn and Winter and the Southern hemisphere into Spring and Summer. It is where the Celtic culture celebrated and empathised with nature. After walking around for hours under bad weather conditions we found what we thought must be the stone but it was not what we expected. Later, climbing out of a farm enclosure into the farm drive, the owner explained that she had not seen the stone even though it was in the next farm, she had heard that it had 'fell over', checking it out again I am sure it is t...

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne or Holy Island is a beautiful place, it has a Priory which is now in ruins and a castle on a hill. The castle was used by the military but I would imagine this was probably an iron age hill fort earlier. St Cuthbert was buried at Lindisfarne, and his remains later transferred to Durham Cathedral, having been there last year this was our homage to him to see where he spent most of his life and wrote the famous Gospels. Coincidentally, we saw this on TV soon after we arrived home. The Gospels had come 4th in the most treasured 'secrets' of the UK (The Domesday book being no.1). A magical island which can only be reached via the causeway at low tide. We tried to leave early in order to visit Bamburgh Castle but the tide beat us! Dave

Vigo and Tui Casa dos Mouros, Candeán, Vigo A dolmen on a small piece of land in the middle of a housing estate. It took us ages to find, and the path is quite overgrown with bracken, but it was well worth the trip. We didn't stay long, as it was a scorching hot day, and we wanted to get to the next place before it got too hot... Alto dos Cubos, Monte Aloia, Tui A castro at the top of a mountain forest. It was at least a couple of kilometres walk through the forest, but the tall pines kept us shaded from the heat. The castro was wonderful, with a view down the mountain to the town of Tui and the river that seperates Galicia from Portugal. As with all the castros, we noticed that it had a great strategic location, as you'd see the Romans coming for days before they actually reached you. Vic

Guimaraes, Portugal We headed towards Porto to try to find the remains of a celtic town (Castro in Spanish, Citania in Portuguese). We got a bit lost on the way, and ended up finding the beautiful historic city of Guimaraes. We found this Templar guarding the entrance to the castle there! (He's supposed to be the first King of Portugal). After lunch, we headed to a different 'citania' than originally planned - Citania de Briteiros. This is a the remains of a vast city on a mountainside - apparently a very cosmopolitan place at the time of the Romans. The whole city has a gutter that would have had water running down from the natural spa at the top. At the bottom of the hill is a pool for bathing in the spa waters (unfortunately empty, but with renovation work going on at the moment). Vic