Friday 12th August 2016
Today we went for a walk up Cley Hill near Warminster in the UK. There are magnificent views from the top of the surrounding Wiltshire and Somerset countryside.
Cley Hill rises dramatically from the flat fields south west of Warminster. The summit of the hill is encircled by a series of Iron age earthworks, or ramparts. Inside the Iron Age defenses are several Bronze Age bowl barrows. On the south west slopes the ramparts have been levelled in places for medieval lynchets, a form of terraced farming.
The Devil and Cley Hill
An old legend tells how Cley Hill came to be formed. According to the tale, the Devil was angry that the citizens of Devzes had converted to Christianity, and decided to bury the town under a pile of earth. He put a mass of earth in a sack and set off to find the town. On the way he met an old man, and enquired how far it was to Devizes. The old man guessed who he speaking to, and cleverly told the Devil that he himself was on the way to Devizes, and had set out as a young man, but now he was old and aged, and had yet to arrive at his destination. The Devil was so discouraged by the tale that he abandoned his journey and simply dumped the pile of earth beside the road. The town of Devizes was saved, and Devil’s pile of earth became Cley Hill.
BUT … The best view was of the CROP CIRCLE at the base of Cley Hill . Although at least 10 days old, the design was still clear in spite of the many people who had obviously visited it .
After viewing it from Cley Hill we carefully followed the track lines in the field to walk into the circle itself.
Sadly most of the energy had dissipated as the circle was over 12 days old but it was still fascinating to be within the circle itself and observe the formations of the wheat and how they were lying.
