he subject of leys (or ‘ley lines’ or ‘ley hunting’) as we have come to know it is essentially a British one. Both the good and bad aspects can be blamed on the British! For 20 years I edited the only journal in the world devoted solely to leys, THE LEY HUNTER, and I think I have come to know the subject more intimately and in more detail than anyone else alive. The first thing I can assure you is that what is talked about in New Age journals, workshops and groups today about ‘leylines’ is mainly a combination of misunderstanding, old falsehoods, wishful thinking and downright fantasy. What I am going to tell you now is the true history of ley research. Like most histories, it is essentially a list of dates and names, but unless we understand the growth of the ley idea, we will never understand what leys are, and what it is we are dealing with.

Alfred Watkins, pioneer proponent of the ley theory, shown taking photographs along one of his alignments.

Photo: Major Tyler/Northern Earth.

The origin of the Ley theory

In 1921, Englishman Alfred Watkins had a sudden perception (he called it a ‘flood of ancestral memory’), while looking at a map of the Herefordshire countryside. He saw that various prehistoric places, such as standing stones, earthen burial mounds, prehistoric earthworked hills, and other such features fell into straight lines for miles across country. Watkins spent many years studying such alignments on the ground and on maps. He was a pioneer photographer and he took photographs of his alignments, wrote books and gave lectures. In response to his work, especially to his most important book, The Old Straight Track (1925), the Straight Track Club was formed, in which people all over Britain conducted field research looking for alignments of sites, and perhaps remnants of old straight tracks lying along them.

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