Journal of Geomancy vol. 1 no. 3, April 1977
A PDF of the work reviewed below can be downloaded from the Patrick Foundation website for a small fee. A less favourable criticism appeared in a later issue of the JoG. – MB, March 2016
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An Integrated Astronomical Complex of Earthworks at Wandlebury and Hatfield Forest from the Third Millennium B.C. By C.A.E. O’Brien. Published by the author at Address, Thaxted, Essex, England. £2·20 inc. p&p.
East Anglia has not been noted for its megalithic structures, the pioneering work of Thom and his followers being concentrated in the north and west of Britain. This eye-opening work by a local author reveals for the first time the activities of the megalithic–astronomical culture in East Anglia around 2450 BC. Like Professor Thom, Mr. O’Brien is a professional surveyor and presents the results of his five years of fieldwork in detail, enabling readers to judge the evidence for themselves.
The author starts from the circular earthwork Wandlebury Ring, 4 miles s.e. of Cambridge, which is known to the academics as an “Iron Age Hillfort”. This was in fact a megalithic observatory with sightlines marked by gaps in the outer bank, which was cut away at six places to provide an artificial horizon. The various observation-points inside the earthwork conform to a geometrical plan based on the megalithic yard. The author deduces the existence of a 12-month solar calendar (in contrast to Thom’s 16-fold division of the year) and a lunar cycle of 18·51 years. In the statistical section his arguments are open to criticism (eg. the incorrect use of Bernoulli’s formula repeats the mistake made by Hawkins, in “Stonehenge Decoded”) but it is still fair to say that the results obtained cannot reasonably be ascribed to chance.
Geomantically, perhaps the most remarkable discovery is the way in which the azimuth of midsummer sunrise at Wandlebury was carried southwards so that it could be reconstructed at other stations. A 3:4:5 triangle was constructed with its hypotenuse on the sunrise line, and the short side was produced for 37km, via a chain of markpoints, so as to. link with other astronomical earthworks in Hatfield Forest. This connecting line has a constant azimuth and is not exactly a “straight line” or geodesic – the difference, though nowhere more than about 3 metres, being quite clear from the author’s survey. O’Brien deduces that the line was made up of 26 chords each of length one “megalithic mile” (1728 MY) and was laid down with an accuracy of 1 in 30 000. Of the 27 markers, 4 monoliths and 2 mounds remain in situ, one of the latter being the Uttlesford Mutlow, the former meeting-place of the local hundred. Another mark-point is the meeting of 8 tracks in Hatfield Forest. The author’s interpretation of this alinement is surely the correct one – but had Watkins or Rudge discovered it, it would have been hailed as first-class evidence for an ancient trackway! In fact two ancient clearings in Hatfield Forest do follow the geometrical construction laid down millennia before.
The southern end of the line is linked geometrically with the earthworks called Portingbury Hills, a second megalithic observatory and also carefully surveyed by the author. He shows how the azimuths of midsummer sunrise at Wandlebury and Portingbury could have been compared; the difference in latitude could then have been found, and the circumference of the Earth calculated to 1%.
As for the identity of the surveyors and the methods they used, O’Brien’s ideas are admittedly purely speculative. Assuming a priori that the ‘local tribes’ did not have the necessary scientific expertise, he forms the hypothesis that the work was organized by a Sumerian colony in Britain. But like John Ivimy, who wants to restore Stonehenge to the Egyptians, he does not produce direct evidence such as inscriptions or {54} the use of identical units of length in Britain and the East. In view of the discoveries by Thom and O’Brien, I think it would be better simply to abandon the archaeologists’ notion that the people of Neolithic Britain were nothing but “primitive farmers”.
Mr. O’Brien’s book is recommended to all investigators of geomancy and ancient surveying. His current research involves the possibility of a geodetic survey covering the whole of East Anglia, so as to carry the Wandlebury calendar to outlying regions. Publication will be awaited with great interest.