March 2008 - Haye Mill

Haye Mill, near Callington

A Reality Check in a Secluded Valley

Haye Mill has had a long history of earnest endeavour. For many years it was the mill of the Haye Estate, powered by a small tributary of the River Lynher. The working water wheel now provides electricity to current custodians, John and Suzanne Littlewood, who have established a counselling and therapy centre there.

John set us three main areas of investigation ñ the history of the mill itself, the activities of the surrounding mine workings and the more subtle energies of the site. With a list of questions and an outline map, twenty three TDs set off into the extensive grounds to discover what we could of this little-dowsed location.

The first port of call for many of us was the labyrinth established by John and Suzanne in the 1980s. John had intuitively set the centre on the junction of two ley lines. Two strong earth energy lines also cross there, perhaps attracted by the shape of the structure, or its meditative use over the last couple of decades. Here, we got the first indication that this would not be an ordinary field trip, with a couple of people being refused permission to dowse from the source altogether and another getting reversed dowsing responses to normal. However, many others did manage to get clear positive reactions. It was clear that the labyrinth was functioning well ñ at least for most of us.

Our search for mine workings resulted in people making their way to various corners of the grounds. While several adits and test pits were located, the main mineshaft eluded us. A number of us came to the conclusion that wolfram, a form of tungsten, had been mined here, which may indeed have been one of the minor minerals extracted. However, none of us discovered that lead/silver were the main lodes.

Our researches into the past uses of the mill itself were similarly wide of the mark. A number of dowsers, myself included, came to the conclusion that the mill had originally been used for grinding ore, which may indeed have been a logical reason to establish it in this out-of-the-way valley in the first place. However, many of us got a straight ënoí for corn milling ñ which had in fact been the main function of the mill until it fell into disuse earlier in the last century. The history of the mill found some consensus among the group. While the broader site had been in use since at least the Bronze Age, a building, probably constructed in wood, was built in the 9th century and was replaced by a stone structure in the 12th. This later became the Haye Mill, which was subsequently extended to form the home that John and Suzanne live in today.

Ironically, we seemed to be on more solid ground with the intangible and subtle energies of the various parts of the site. Some areas exhibited strong healing energies, with the mill building itself being criss-crossed by mainly positive lines, some entering and leaving through doors and windows.

A small ‘grotto’ formed by former quarrying blasting, had an esoteric feel, generated by the spiralling of two strong female energy lines. These energies had been damaged by human activity times past, but were now well on their way to full restoration.

The pull of the labyrinth (having now received the official recognition of being designated by a circle on the latest OS map of the area!) was felt by many and clearly serves the private processional purpose it was laid out to deliver.

An interesting cameo relating to subtle energies was when one dowser stopped in what she felt was a hot-spot - very noticeable on a chilly March afternoon. Further investigation discovered a main energy spiral, surrounded by smaller ones. A nearby tree, starting to succumb to the stealth of the ivy, indicated that this was not the most uplifting of locations, but the rods obstinately stated otherwise, confirming the original hot-spot sensation. Only at the debrief did we discover that this was the exact site where John proposed to build a new therapy room - indicated on his approved plans by a bright red circle surrounded by smaller circles. Was this dowsing future energies or inadvertent map dowsing? Either way, it raises once again the whole issue of the power of positive thought.

While everyone seemed to have an enjoyable and productive afternoon, using their skills out in the field in this very varied and, at times, confusing location, many of us were left puzzling how we could get such a reasonable consensus of responses that were at such variance with the known historical record. Although this was not quite what John and Suzanne would have preferred, it was, perhaps, an early season wake-up call to the group as a whole. Those who were denied permission to dowse on all or part of the site had it first hand. Some of the rest of us were given the dig in the ribs that will remind us to take stock before we blithely wander off rod-waving.

I have never known my ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses to reverse, although others state that this is not an uncommon event - and it may well have been in evidence here. Another potential, and related, issue is the local impact of planetary and geological activities. John told us that the labyrinth in particular was subject to cosmic forces - and these may well have been influencing either the energies on the day and/or our results.

Alan Neal raised the issue that once someone has decided a dowsing result, that thought in itself takes form - and can be transmitted subtly, even telepathically, to others in the group. By the time a number of members have concluded a certain response, it becomes a ‘fact’ with its own substance and dynamic.

I was left feeling we had not really done dowsing justice to the hospitality we had received, or to the range and scale of the energies in this vibrant place - and I asked John if we could return at some point in the future to try again, perhaps at a more cosmically enhanced time.

In the meantime, many thanks indeed to John and Suzanne for an enthusiastic reception and welcome refreshments. We wish them well with their ambitious venture to expand the beneficial activities of the Haye Mill Trust and to build a new therapy room. If our unintentional dowsing has any substance, this will certainly happen one day.

For anyone interested in the activities of the Haye Mill Trust, a new website is currently under development.

Nigel Twinn

Tamar Dowsers

March 2008