St Breock and St Dennys
Despite a dire April weather forecast, a mixed group of Tamar Dowsers and West Cornwall Dowsers set out across the fields of St Breock downs, high above Wadebridge in North Cornwall, in the brightest of spring sunshine.
Our first target was the remains of a once extensive stone structure, now called The Nine Maidens, of which half a dozen Menhirs remain standing in situ, a few lean and others lie on the grass; some half hidden. It was apparent that these sad remnants are the residue of a lengthy row, possibly aligned to the midwinter moonrise, which once stretched further to the south west of the visible stones - and way to the north east, at least as far as the broken Menhir, shown on the OS map of the area as TheBlind Fiddler (formerly marked as the Magi Stone). The residual stones appear to be just the partial outer edge of two double rows, which, although they have fallen victim to field drainage, stone cutting and land clearance over the last 500 years, can still be dowsed by the trademark intertwined energy braiding we have found several times before in the South West, and also in Brittany.
Within the rows, and between them, energy leys appear to trace the astronomical alignment – their overlapping banding echoing back to a time when this was a significant and powerful site. Rather like a sudoku puzzle, there was just enough available information to allow the dowser to work out the rest from questioning and experience.
Near to the stones, we found the remanence of human habitation dating back to a time before the stones were brought to the site from the surrounding area. The round houses and animal pens of subsequent generations were also easily dowsed.
In this field, and in the fields beyond the A39, are the remains of many tumuli – some difficult to access on private land, while others closer to the bustling Atlantic Highway have been largely ploughed out in recent centuries.
A foray by the WCDs to investigate some of the more inaccessible mounds was rewarded by the discovery of a series of alignments, which are not so apparent on the map, as the map only includes some of the more significant of the remaining structures. Given the straight sight lines from these tumuli to others in the distance - and from The Blind Fiddler to the stones at the other end of St Breock on the horizon - it is just possible to grasp the original visionary scale of this Neolithic undertaking.
While it is sad that so many of the working population of the area did not, and do not, value the cultural wealth of their heritage, we must be grateful that the protection provided in ancient times allowed the site to survive into the era of cartography and cyberspace - and the turning of the spiritual tide.
We had hoped to carry out further dowsing on this site, but the intervention of the farmer - who indicated strongly that we had strayed beyond the permitted access (albeit in an empty and unmarked field of grass) - led us to reconsider our plans for the afternoon. So, most of us set off in convoy to a very different type of dowsing site - the nearby hilltop church of St Dennys.

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