A Life of Ley Hunting

1967

Thursday May 4th 1967. Jimmy Goddard and Stephen Goddard (father), Arbor Low,Derbyshire
The object of this ley-hunt was to visit Arbor Low in Derbyshire. My mother and two other relatives from the Midlands area were with us, but they remained in the car when we stopped at the farm near Arbor Low, and did not walk up to the site itself.

As we had not known we would be coming to Arbor Low, we did not have the map with us, so at first mistook the nearby tumulus, Gib Hill, for the site. This quite large mound had small stones round it with "VR" on them, and on the top had quite a large rough-hewn stone with a brass plate on it saying that it had been replaced as nearly as possible in its original position by the executors of a will.

Gib Hill was quite interesting, as the only place where the top stone was visible when standing at the bottom of the mound was from the north-west, when a V-shaped notch in the hill made the stone visible. This was seen to be aligned with a clump on the horizon, too far and dim to photograph.

Arbor Low itself, some way away, was found to be a huge circle, almost like a clock face, of stones lying on the ground, radiating outwards from the centre. In a NW and SE direction respectively, a clump could be seen on the horizon, thus both aligning with Arbor Low and each other.

Arbor Low is reputed to have fifty leys going through it, found by K.H. Koop, an early ley hunter.

Dictionary definitions of "Arbor":
The axle on which a wheel turns, the main support of any machine.
Latin name for tree.
A seat in the open air, shaded by branches of trees.

The first of these is very interesting, as Arbor Low is in the shape of a large wheel, and is in fact the apex of the Great Isosceles Triangle, discovered by Philip Heselton. Does this bear out to some extent my theory that the ley system may be some kind of vast machine?

Return to List of Years
Return to Homepage