Well taking note of other blogs, I am going to have photo days. The following is of the church in Alton Barnes in the Pewsey valley in Wiltshire. I always thought there was something magical about this valley. Somewhere I would like to live. It just wasn't the pub which drew in the crowds over crop circles. It was the Saxon road and the Iron Age fort on top of Martinsell hill, the area sort of oozed sanctity for some unexplained reason. Two churches near to each other, one church having probably been built on a stone circle. You went into the church, lifted the wooden lids and there were the two stones, which did not actually add up to a stone circle but then you would have to take down the church for confirmation.
We occasionally went to Pewsey church in the town because Paul's parents were buried there and we would take flowers and potter around. The valley itself would probably been the way from Avebury to Stonehenge.
Viewing from the church you could see an 18th century white horse and up on the downs a prehistoric long barrow called Adam's Grave. In Anglo-Saxon times it was called 'Woden's Barrow'. Mentioned as Wodnesbeorh in an A/S charter of 825 AD. If I remember rightly there was apparently a Saxon hanging place along the top of the hill. The naming of barrows of course is part of folklore, Adam was said to be a giant. Information about the grave can be found on The Modern Antiquarian.
Martinsell Hill, I am walking along the old Saxon road here.
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| The church |
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| The UFO pub in 2012? |
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| Over parked |
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Modern cup marks dated 1990. Could that be the date when crop circles were imagined into reality. The UFO theories? Nope, 1960s |
What a lovely place. Thanks for the photos.
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