Thursday, 7 July 2022

special spiritual places in britain

Britain is full of stone circles from the Bronze Age and before:

Pagan Britain: The UK's Ancient Sacred Sites - Horizon Guides

Why exactly were they built? 

Bronze Age Dartmoor - The Life of Marghwen - YouTube

There are lots of Roman remains too.

Did the Romans invade Britain because they wanted to destroy the Druidic religion, the focus of Celtic religious and cultural resistance? 

The extermination of the druids, as well as the great number of other soothsayers and herbalists, cannot be separated from the larger process of Romanization, in which older facets of Celtic culture were gradually abandoned to integrate the new peoples into the Greco-Roman sphere.

Why did the Romans slaughter the Druids? - Quora

By destroying both the geographic heart of Druidismin Britain, the Romans caputered core system and eventually Keltism.

Why did the Romans suppress Druids? - Quora

They eventually wiped out the Druids on the island of Anglesey:

The Roman attack on the British Druids on Ynys Môn

But they also imposed themselves on other parts of Britain, including in modern-day Devon:

Nemetostatio (Roman Fort & Marching Camps) in North Tawton, United Kingdom (Google Maps)

The Roman fort is believed to have had the name Nemetostatio, meaning "The road-station of the sacred groves", and may have been located on the site of an ancient druidic sanctuary. It covered an area of roughly 600 ft (185m) east-west by 390 ft (120m), and was located adjoining the Roman road between Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) and Okehampton.

North Tawton - Wikipedia

Nemetostatio - 'The Outpost of the Sacred Grove(s)'
The place-name seems to be an amalgamation of the Celtic word Nemeton 'sacred grove' and the Latin word Stationis 'road-station, outpost'.
It would appear that the Romans built the Nanstallon fort close-by or perhaps directly upon the site of an ancient druidic sanctuary, and hoped by their presence to suppress the native Celtic religion, together with its reputed practice of human sacrifice.

Jay Doubleyou: Something from the air…

Christian churches were often built on former religious sites:

A Tiny Church Sits On Britain's Oldest Site of Continuous Worship | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

One in particular being Old Sarum, just above Salisbury:

History of Old Sarum | English Heritage

Old Sarum: A Layer-Cake of History 

... for many Stonehenge is a cornucopia of earth energy and has a whole network of ley lines running through which connect it to the plethora of ancient wonders that surround it in Wiltshire and beyond. For example, one such ley line connects Stonehenge, Old Sarum, Salisbury Cathedral and Clearbury Ring. Although the churches were not built at the same time, the ley lines suggest, some would say, that intense earth energies were always present in these positions – causing later societies to build their monuments there.

Stonehenge Ley Lines and Earth Energies – Why Does it Attract ‘New Agers’? | Stonehenge Stone Circle News and Information

Old Sarum lies on one of the earliest recognised examples of leylines as determined by Sir N. Lockyer. It is connected to both Salisbury and Stonehenge, both sacred places on the Wiltshire landscape.

Old Sarum, England

Sir Norman Lockyer - (1836-1920) - Lockyer made the first 'professional' observation of geometry in the lay-out of the ancient landscape. He realised that a geometric connection existed between Stonehenge, Grovely (Grove-ley) castle and Old Sarum. The three form an equilateral triangle with sides 6 miles long. (See Above)

Lockyer pioneered the field of archaeo-astronomy, and spent some a time in Egypt, where he investigated the alignments and orientations of many ancient structures. He was able to combine his astronomical knowledge with observations at certain temples, and produce dates that he confirmed through examples of temples with re-aligned axis. His researches led him to conclude dates of 4,000 BC for early dynastic structures (3).

Geometric alignments

Norman Lockyer Observatory

Returning to Dartmoor, there are very special places - perhaps haunted:

BBC - Devon Video Nation - Kitty Jay's Grave - a Dartmoor Legend

Dartmoor Tales: Kitty Jay's Grave - YouTube

Jay's Grave - Wikipedia

Kitty Jay (album) - Wikipedia

Seth Lakeman - Kitty Jay - YouTube

What 'special spiritual places' have you experienced?

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