Sir,
The real value (if it has value) in my book on the above subject which you recently favoured with a long and critical review lies in the new facts regarding certain classes of antiquarian sites falling on striaght lines in the West Midlands. These fatcs have to be faced by enquirers even if my deductions prove faulty.
It must be of interest to many persons in Norfolk who combine the historic sense with a love of the countryside to know whether such facts apply to their County.
Permit me to indicate a few examples gleaned from the 1 inch Ordnance map (Norwich and Great Yarmouth, popular edition 2/6). I do not possess the personal knowledge of the County so necessary to real investigation, but the way in which these straight lines lie, not merely on the points named, but on fragments of existing roads, on cross roads and junctions, on ancient mansions and homesteads, convince me that the sighting system I described was in vogue in ancient days in Norfolk, as also in Suffolk, and that those who follow up the clues I indicate will find much proof not on the map.
There are differences from the condidions in the West which probably caused modfications in the method. The country is flatter and lower, only a few tumili are marked on the map, and place names indicating them are fewer, although the place-name element “thorpe” (see a new clue in the New English Dictionary) is an addition. The word and suffix “ley” so univesal in the West is almost absent, but occurs again on the Suffolk side.
I feel sure that several of the lines through Norwich will be faound to pass through ancient churcehs, but a local knowledge is necessary to verify this.
Here is the list, the straight lines passing through the points named on the map being numbered to keep them distinct. I am aware of the danger I run of including a curch of recent foundation.
1) Swardeston Church, Yelverton Ch., Ashby Ch., Carleton St. Peter Ch.
2) Colney Ch., Norwich Cathedral, Great Plumstead Ch., Fishley Ch.
3) Hoveton St. John Ch., Norwich Cathedral, Norwich Castle, East Carleton Ch.
4) Little Melton Ch., Norwich Castle, Great Plumstead Ch., The Nab.
5) Roman Camp at Caister, Caister Castle, Hemblingon Ch., Hellesdon Ch.
6) Swainsthorpe Ch., Buckenham Ch., Moat N of Moulton, Tunstall Ch.
7) Moat N of Tacholston, Saxlingham Ch., Kirstead Ch., Mill Hill Tumulus.
8) Brooke Ch., Thurton Ch., Two Churches in Great Yarmouth.
9) Church N.W. of Coltishall, Plumstead Ch., Langley Ch., Chedgrave Ch.
10) Moat W. of Toft Monks, Bell Hill Tumulus, Great Yarmouth Ch.
(note the two Halls and the convincing piece of road on this ley.)
I find similar facts in Suffolk, with moats more frequently on the ley.
Permit me a personal explanation to remove a misunderstanding which a curt sentence in my book might have caused. It is certainly not a fact that I knew nothing of the subject at Midsummer 1921. I was then ignorant of a complete sighting system being embodied in our prehistoric trackways, but it was an ignorance shared by everyone else. I thenThus in typescript; printed as ‘I was then’ equipped for quickly following up the first clue by half a century’s intimate knowledge of local topography, and, although no book-lore archaeologist, by a third of a century’s experience in systematic surveys and records of local antiquities. Fourteen out of the forty photographs illustrating the subject in my book were taken by me before 1921.
Yours truly,
Hereford, July 17th., 1922.
Source info: From typescript; published version (19 July) checked in library.
This letter is scanned from a copy of the typescript that Watkins pasted into his cuttings book. It was published in the Eastern Daily Press of 19 July 1922, p. 4, col. F. The editor corrected the typing errors (but not the grammatical error) and made some slight changes, such as expanding “Ch.” into “Church”.
Watkins made use of leys 1 and 2 below in The Old Straight Track, page 123.