Slimbridge Dowsing Group
“THE kids will love that!” said farmer Rob Jewell when we told him there had almost certainly been an ancient labyrinth on his land at St Augustine’s Farm, Arlingham.
“And the grown-ups too!”
Being open to the public and school groups who like to visit the animals, the camera obscura, display of old farming equipment and especially the cafe, St Augustine’s has a wealth of interesting things to see during a day out.
Walking a labyrinth would add to the experience.
So our mission was to find the site of this ancient labyrinth, and Barry soon dowsed it’s whereabouts and the path to its centre.
A labyrinth is not a maze, which has blind alleys, false starts, and is just for fun.
Whereas a labyrinth has a single path in and out; it helps meditation and represents a spiritual ‘journey’.
There was nothing to see, of course, but that is the beauty of dowsing.
Our rods and power of intent can indicate things that can’t be seen.
Based on our findings, farmer Rob plans to mark out the ancient labyrinth, probably around 750 years old, and originally ‘built’ of turf or stones.
Having a labyrinth on your land that first saw the light of day around AD 1200 is a bit special.
In fact, it’s true to say most of sleepy little Arlingham, miles from everywhere, is a bit special too. It’s hard to believe now, but when the Romans occupied Britain between AD 43–410, Arlingham was an important crossroads of civilisation.
Being on the banks of the River Severn, which was handy for fishing and defence, there was at that time a ford or crossing point across to Newnham. (Don’t try this today!)
While some of us dowsed the labyrinth, four other dowsers headed for the river bank and found indications of a Roman road that was also a pilgrim route, leading to two jetties that would have projected out onto the river.
The jetties dowsed as having two buildings, possibly warehouses to store wheat and timber, ready for transit.
Further down Ros found indications of some ancient burials that could mean a long-barrow.
Colleen dowsed a path along the riverbank that linked the two jetties to the Roman roads we’d found previously.
It’s amazing what you can discover during a day out at St Augustine’s Farm.
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