Journal of Geomancy vol. 1 no. 2, January 1977

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THE MEANING OF ARTIFICIAL MOUNDS AND MARK STONES

by HERBERT HUDSON.
(written 1933)

Introduction by F.A. BENNETT

All over the British Isles are to be found earthworks and mark-stones bearing names relating to the sun.  Here and there similar place-names survive, but the objects to which they referred have been obliterated by time.  Through a realisation of the significance of these ancient place-names the writer became convinced that the remaining objects and the places whose designations indicate the former presence of such “pointers” were sighting-points of astronomic alignments made by primitive men.  His investigations have revealed a great number of these alignments set out on the rising and setting sun at Midsummer and in May.  It is his belief that if the methods he has adopted in East Anglia and elsewhere be widely applied, a definite reason for many of the mark-stones and tumuli hitherto unexplained will be forthcoming.  And he claims that these islands are covered with a network of solar alignments set out on an organised system by the early astronomers either in the Celtic period or before. 

The grounds for his contentions and the evidence upon which he bases his theories are set forth below. 

The Language of the Astrologers

Mons. Danet, whose complete Dictionary of Antiquities was compiled by command of Louis XIV., makes it clear that there was a considerable method in the apparent madness of the “Ancients” who told fanciful tales about the innumerable gods and goddesses.  “The Ancients,” he says, “conformed themselves to the superstitious error of the common people, to keep them the better in awe; and when they made Beasts and Trees – and incidentally sun, moon, and stars – gods, they did not themselves believe they were really gods, but to denote some peculiar qualification in the object they deified.”

Astrology, the infant stage of that science out of which grew Astronomy, was three-fold.  It was chiefly occupied in determining the positions and motions of the heavenly bodies, their supposed influence on human affairs.  Its exponents employed it to form a moral code for the government of the uneducated and for utilitarian purposes; to fix the seasons, to remind agriculturists when to sow and to reap, and to measure their hours of labour. 

In “Our British Ancestors” (1865) Canon Samuel Lysons stresses the remarkable coincidence that the names by which many of our British tumuli are still called are little, if at all, corrupted by the lapse of time, from the titles of the divinities worshipped in ancient Babylonia, Assyria, Canaan, and Chaldæa. 

Comparing this statement with M. Danet’s illuminating passage, one finds it difficult to understand why Antiquarians have never devoted serious attention to the re-discovery of ancient observatories and astronomic alignments.  I am inclined to think that the chief reason lies in the fact that astronomy is a closed science to the average antiquarian, and that the average modern astronomer is not particularly interested in antiquities. 

A comprehension of the language of astrology demands something more than a mere translation of the meanings of words; it requires practice in the association of ideas, and a knowledge of symbolism.  For example, when one finds that Jupiter Ammon of the Greeks is represented sometimes {25} with an eagle and sometimes with a ram’s horn, and that he represented the sun in a certain phase, and that Vishnu of the Hindoos is also depicted with an eagle and a fossil ammonite; when one finds in situ Jurassic blocks containing ammonites on mounds bearing the place-name of Belus (the Babylonian Sun-god), one is forced to the conclusion that the same primary astrologic influence obtained in all parts of the world. 

So many races and tongues have passed through Britain since these mark-stones were erected, that it takes an interpreter of all languages to read them, but whatever be the tongue in which their name is recorded to-day, the meaning for which they stand remains unaltered; wherever the meaning is obscure, the cause of the obscurity lies in the misunderstanding by a conquering race of the dialect of the conquered race, the inability of a race to pronounce a sibilant or a guttural. 

Methods of the Early Astronomers

In ancient times people were nomadic before they were agricultural.  In hot countries it is more convenient to move herds at night; this may account for the fact that one of the most ancient gods in mythology is Sin, the Moon god. 

As agriculture developed, more attention was paid to the influence of the sun upon vegetation; hence arose the sun worshippers and sun observers. 

Since the Mark Stones, Mounds, and Tumuli in Britain relating to sun and moon worship bear Celto-British names of deities worshipped in Babylon, Persia, Chaldæa, Syria, Egypt, Greece, and Scandinavia, it is presumed that the Eastern astronomic influence of these races was brought to Britain by the Celts some time after 2000 B.C.  But it is an open question whether another astronomic cult may not have appeared in these islands even earlier. 

To locate an ancient observatory one must know how the primitive astronomers marked out their alignments.  Most people know how to set up a sun-dial to mark the hours; the early astronomers made sun dials to mark Summer and Winter on the same principle.  In hilly country such as Wales and Cornwall they chose a hill top commanding extensive views and set up a long stone; they then made a circle of stones around it at a distance of about 10 yards.  On Midsummer Day the sun rises at its extreme North-eastern limit.  They therefore placed a stone on the circumference of the circle to mark the exact point where the sun first appeared on the horizon.  They placed a similar mark stone at the point where the sun set in the West (another on the meridian where it stood highest in the sky at noon), and two other stones where the sun rose and set on the shortest day of the year.  In some cases we find that they did the same in regard to the sunrise and sunset on May 1st (Beltane). 

As a necessary consequence of the angle the earth’s pole makes with the plane of her orbit, the sun rises in Midwinter immediately opposite the point where it sets at Midsummer.  It is evident that the early astronomers made use of this alignment running N.W. and S.E. as a datum line for long measurements.  They also used the alignment of the rising sun at Midsummer to give them cross bearings.  When we look for ancient long distance alignments we have to take several things into consideration. 

If an observer in the West of England sets out an alignment on the rising sun, the extension of that line will not serve as a bearing on the rising sun on the East Coast.  It will be found that the ancient solar observation static as were placed to serve a limited area only. 

The bearing at which the sun first appears on the horizon depends upon the latitude at which the observer stands.  At Stonehenge, lat. 51 degrees, it rises approximately 49 degrees E. of N.; at {26} Edinburgh, lat. 56 degrees, it rises at a bearing of 43 degrees E. of N. 

The angle of the sunrise measured Eastward of the North point is exactly the same as the angle of the sunset bearing measured Westward of the North point. 

Alignments set out on the sun several thousand years ago vary very little from alignments set out on the sun to-day.  Thus, when an alignment is found passing through mark stones, tumuli, and mounds, and even places which have no such marks, but bear names indicating the rising or the setting sun, approximating to the bearings at which we know the sun to rise and set, there is very good reason to believe that such alignments were set out by ancient astronomers, provided that the angle the sunrise alignment makes with the sunset alignment is adaptable to the particular latitude under consideration. 

One other factor must be taken into account.  If an observer takes the bearing of sunrise over a point on the horizon on a level with the eye, the bearing will read several degrees further North than it would if his intermediate sighting-point were considerably higher than the level at which he stands.  In this way the contour of the “sky-line” may slightly affect the direction of the alignment. 

The close agreement between ancient alignments and present-day alignments on the sun is brought out in the following Table:

*These are probably May alignments. 

The bearings are taken from the North point (and not from the parallels of Longitude).  They are given in round figures. 

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Examples of Long Distance Alignments

Norfolk and Suffolk

Perhaps the finest example in Great Britain of a Beltane Fire line is the sunset alignment from Thetford Castle Mound, an earthwork, dome shaped, very steep, about 100 feet high.  It is forty miles long and passes through no fewer than four places named Bell.  (Bel was the Celto-British name for Belus, the Babylonian Sun-god).  From Thetford Mound this alignment runs through two tumuli 4 mile apart, Old Bell Farm, Bell Cross, another Bell Cross, Tibbenham Church mound, the Bell Inn at Kesgrave, through Pole Hill tumulus (Pol seu Baldaeg, the Norse god of light) to the site of Walton Castle (Walton, place of the Moon god). 

A parallel sunset alignment runs from Tattingstone Wonder (where a very ancient urn was found) to Wattisham Stone (in situ). 

I cannot find definite sunrise lines through the mound itself, but there are several parallel to the sunrise line.  One starts from Bell Hill tumulus near Belton and passes through Stockton Stone (in situ), the Lay (alignment) Pond, Harleston (from Ar, Aur, the rising sun), where there is a stone in situ, Woolpit (Heol, the sun), through Cross Green to Clare Castle mound, similar to Thetford mound.  Another runs from Pole Hill tumulus through Tattingstone Wonder to Ingatestone in Essex (two stones in situ).  There are many others in the county parallel to these alignments.  Some of the mounds indicating the alignments are very interesting, particularly that at Aspall Hall, which is 75 yards round the base and 12-ft. high, with a flat top on which has been built an Eighteenth Century pigeon-cote ; it is precisely the same shape as one at Theberton, except that the latter retains its original dome shaped top, and is in consequence, twice as high. 

Cornwall

Midsummer Sunrise alignments:–

Magi Stone, 4 miles S.W. of Wadebridge, through Ball to Youl Stone. 

Another runs from the St. Leven cleft stone through Kerris Stone and Hayle to Ash Hill. 

Another runs from Helston, through a barrow near Edgecombe, to a barrow near Malpas. 

Midsummer Sunset alignments:–

Magi Stone, through the Round Hole at Dinas Head, to Bull Rock. 

Another runs from a barrow on Brown Willy, through 2 miles of ancient straight track-way, and several other barrows to King Arthur’s Castle at Tintagil. 

Another runs from Brocka Barrow through King Arthur’s Hall, across Devil’s Jumps, through Helstone, to barrow on edge of cliff. 

Another runs from Helston to Stone Cross at Hayle.  Another runs from Par through Bugle to Nine Maidens. 

May Day, or more probably May 8th, Sunrise alignments are given in two places:–

Castle An-dinas to Castle An-dinas, thirty-three miles apart (dinas, directing on An, the rising sun). 

Another line runs from Helston to Helions.  At Helston the well known Furry Dance is held annually on May 8th.  Fraser compares it with the annual ceremony in India when the Saligram which is a black fossil ammonite, the emblem of Vishnu, who corresponds with Jupiter Ammon, is married to the Tulsi, or basil plant ; signifying the influence of the sun on vegetation in the Spring.  The word Furry probably relates to the Fir pole which used to be stood on end and set alight at the Beltane Fires.  I have found Jurassic blocks containing ammonites standing in situ in Suffolk at places bearing names indicating the sun. 

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The Isle of Wight

The key to the alignments in this county will be found in the ancient trackway a mile and a half long at Gar-stones near Gatcombe.  A parallel to this runs from Wroxall through Gods Hill Church, which stands on a magnificent artificial mound, through Bull’s Wood, to Bull Hill Tumulus near Boldre in Hants, and thence over Set-ley Common, through Brockenhurst to Gran’s Barrow. 

The sunrise alignment is given by two tumuli three and a half miles apart in line with, and N.E. from Bull’s Hill Tumulus. 

A sunrise line parallel to this runs from God’s Hill Mound through Brading Tumulus to St. Helens (derivative of Helion, the sun). 

Dorset

A sunrise line from Romsey runs through Stagbury Hill Tumulus, through Ashey, Ferndown Cross roads, to a tumulus at Hampreston (all these names indicate the sun). 

Hampshire

Southampton.  Two tumuli on Carhampton Down direct upon Woolston. 

A parallel sunrise line from Guildford (golden of the sun) passes through Old Winchester Hill to Sarisbury. 

The sunset line runs from Brockhurst near Portsmouth through Sarisbury to Toot Hill Tumulus. 

Wilts

Silbury Hill is the largest artificial mound in England.  It is 130-ft. high, and has a circumference of 544 yards.  The sunrise line passes from Ogborne St. George through a tumulus, then through Kistvean Tumulus, to Silbury Hill. 

The sunset line starts at Old Hal Barrow and runs thence through Giant’s Grave, Long Barrow, Silbury Hill, to Bradenstoke. 

Avebury Ring.  A sunrise alignment parallel to the diameter of the Ring, passes from Four Mile Clump, through half a mile of ancient track, and the Long Stone, to a tumulus on Roundway Hill.  The sunset line runs from Godsbury Hill Tumulus, through Giant’s Grave, Overton Hill Tumulus, three more tumuli, through the Ring to Windmill Tumulus. 

Stonehenge.  The ancient Latin name was Mons Ambrosia, “The hill of eternity.” The Ancients distinguished stones erected with a religious purpose by the name of Amber; which signified Solar, Divine; Stonehenge was therefore clearly a place of Sun worship and observation. 

The sunrise line from Sidbury Camp passes down the Avenue through the Circle to a tumulus a quarter of a mile off, to Stapleford.  A parallel sunrise line from Andover passes through Bury Hill Camp, Jack’s Bush, Britford, to Odstock. 

The sunset line through the Circle is given by a tumulus three and a half miles S.E. of the Circle. 

Kent

Four places named Mockbeggar give the key to a problem that has long baffled antiquarians: the origin of the Danejohn, the huge artificial mound in the heart of Canterbury.  According to Lysons this place-name is probably the same as Dan Jaan (woodland place), indicative, perhaps, of the time when Kent was clothed in forest, and a mound had to be erected to raise an observer above the tree-tops.  The Northern Mock-beggars are 18½ miles apart, and a parallel sunrise alignment runs from Salm Stone through the Danejohn to Shalmsford.  Another sunrise alignment parallel to this {29} runs from Goodnestone through Beddlestone to Great Job’s Cross.  A third parallel line runs from Shingleton tumulus through one of the other Mockbeggars to Stone Cross. 

The sunset alignment is given by Mockbeggars C.A. 

A parallel sunset alignment passes from Fox Cross through the Danejohn to Dover Citadel Hill. 

If the system be applied to all the larger mounds in Britain it will be seen that they are all principal observation stations in regard to the sun. 

The author’s investigations have been confined to East Anglia and the counties mentioned above.  But a cursory glance at the gazetteer of Great Britain convinces him that if the methods he has outlined be adopted in regard to other counties the whole country will be found to be covered with a network of solar alignments. 

A word of warning may usefully be uttered for the benefit of those who rely too implicitly on documentary evidence for the interpretation of place names.  Almost the earliest documentary evidence available is the Domesday Book in which it is held by some the names are spelt phonetically.  It is known that from mediæval times down to the eighteenth century considerable freedom was exercised in spelling, hence the countless variation.  There is much to be said for the suggestion that the phonetic pronunciation of a place name by the natives is the most likely to be correct.*

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* Editor’s note: Phonetic renderings of ‘Unofficial’ names, such as those pertaining to tumuli, stones, bridges, etc. can often be seen on Ordnance Survey and other maps, eg. the rendering of Devil’s Bridge in Yorkshire as Dibble’s Bridge.  ....................................................................................................