Edlesborough

On the same beautiful spring day as we visited Billington church (see blog post dated 17th May 2010) we also went to St Mary the Virgin Church at Edlesborough. It is a beautiful church, set up high on a hill and with yet another panoramic view over Dunstable Downs and Ivinghoe Beacon.

As we looked out over Ivinghoe Beacon we could see an old footpath going straight from the side of the church to the top of the Beacon, but the authorities have built a electricity pylon right on this path. (See 1st pic above) This raises the question – does this lower the energies on the leyline and did someone “in the know” do this deliberately? Anyone who has read the book “PowerPoints” by Robin Heath might be suspicious! Whatever the reason, it really spoils the view, unfortunately.

Back to the dowsing. We found 2 leylines, one going east to west, which is the normal one we find in a church and the other South West to North East and is direct line with the Beacon. The latter resonated mostly yellow, on our colour chart, with a lot of blue and Jackie also picked up a bit of red. Yellow and red being MM line and blue is our local leyline which we found at Grove and Billington. So these places are all connected.

We also found a narrow leyline going down the side of the church, which resonated gray on our colour chart and is particular to that church but has no bearing on our research, but is still of interest if you wanted to dowse there yourselves.

Standing in the grounds looking towards Billington which we had visited earlier in the day, it is interesting to note that Leighton Buzzard’s spire is right behind it although hidden. This is extremely interesting because this means that you could draw a straight line through all 3 churches. Fascinating.

A couple of observations: Although we found 2 main leylines here the energies at this church are nowhere near as strong as at Billington and the lines were stranded today. Perhaps, as it was a really warm day, the lines metaphorically took off their winter coats and spread themselves out to sunbathe in the warmth! Perhaps when it is cold, the strands huddle together to keep warm! A whimsical thought, but we feel it needs more research all the same. We intend to keep a weather/stranding note in future.

2nd Visit to Holy well

Looking through a book on the history of Leighton Buzzard we noticed an article on the Old Linslade Holy Well, complete with a hand-drawn map by Frederick Gurney in 1915 showing the place where he thought the Holy Well was sited. Our interest was piqued because we had previously dowsed there before and we were pretty sure that we had found the site to our satisfaction, but Mr Gurney’s site, according to his map, was very different to ours. (Please see our previous blog dated 18.6.08 for details of that field trip.) His site was on opposite side of the Grand Union Canal and the bridge.

We were very intrigued though, so off we went on a beautiful spring morning to follow in Mr Gurney’s footsteps and re-dowse the area to see if we could agree with his findings. We were careful at all times to keep an open mind and not to prejudice our findings in favour of ourselves. Mr Gurney, as far as we know, was not a dowser, but at a certain spot he had found an Edward III coin (12th Century) and assumed that this had been the site of the Holy Well.

We easily found the spot from his directions on the map. It was very like a pirate treasure map – 40 paces here – 80 paces there etc. The area hadn’t really changed that much but, unfortunately, our dowsing found absolutely nothing. We continued to dowse in different directions but our rods continually pointed back to our original site in the reed beds north of Old Linslade church, the other side of the bridge

The photo at the top of the page (please click to see enlarged photo) shows how far we were from St Mary’s Church, Old Linslade. We are not saying Mr Gurney was wrong, but by using our dowsing rods we think we may bring a more scientific approach to this conundrum. Just because he found an old coin in a certain spot doesn’t mean that the Holy Well must have been there. Old Linslade in the Middle Ages was a thriving community and the coin could have been dropped anywhere.

We still say that we were correct on our first visit (and we are usually right!!).

2nd Visit to Dunstable Priory

Our second visit was quite different. We wanted to follow the leyline through the grounds and to photograph things we missed last time. (And to buy some brochures which we were too mean to pay for last time!) We also wanted to check once and for all our result as to whether it was a Mary or Michael line. We also wanted to check further the two modern (1972) interesting stained glass windows over the west door.

To our surprise the atmosphere was much lighter on this visit. There had obviously been a wedding because there were beautiful flowers everywhere. Had these two things had an effect on the energies in the church? This is an interesting thought. Can we change vibrations with emotions? Does happiness affect the leys? Can such a simple thing as flowers raise vibrations? All interesting questions.

The 1972 stained glass west windows showed two figures. The man in the red window is King Henry I who founded the Priory. We were most amused to see that he was sitting directly on top of an Eleanor Cross (his wife). this must be most uncomfortable!!! The 'H' on the yellow window no doubt stands for Henry but we have no idea about the 'C'. Could Thomas Cranmer be the man carrying his head? He annulled Henry VIII’s marriage at Dunstable but later he lost favour and was executed. Just a thought.

We read the brochure about the stained glass window, and we were amazed to find the red window has green lines behind Henry representing the crossing of the Icknield Way and Watling Street. (You can just see it at the bottom of the window in pic above). This, of course, is the path of the MM line. Amazing to think that leylines are represented in a church. Perhaps proof that they exert some sort of pull or energy even if you are not aware of it.

Checking the leyline again, it was very strong going up the centre aisle again, but was stranded at the edges, particularly near the altar.
　
We made our way outside to explore the grounds. By the East end of the church we found the leyline to be even wider than inside. It seemed to stretch the whole width of the church and was again very stranded. However, the energies seemed exceedingly strong and we both felt tightness in our chests, A sign we both feel when energies are strong. Jackie then made an amazing discovery that in fact the leyline encompassed most of the grounds behind the church. Later on that day looking at a map, much to our amazement (and we certainly didn’t know it at the time,) we found the Icknield Way actually runs along through the grounds and along the side of the church. We high fived!

Returning to the front west door we dowsed the line and followed it through the archway leading to the priory grounds and it made a right turn to Priory House (see pic). Priory House (for those that are interested in symbology it is interesting to note that it is No 33!) was a travellers resting inn right on the crossroads of Icknield Way and Watling Street. Yes – them again. It is worth a visit to see the beautiful stone vaulted ceilings, Then the line went across Watling Street and up the side of the Methodist church. This path leads directly to Friars Field. We will pick the leyline up next time.
　

Dunstable First Visit

Dunstable First Visit

Our apologies for not posting for a while. This is mostly due to the awful snowy weather we have been having. We haven’t been idle though. We have been researching and also taking orb photos. Please watch this space as we are working towards an orb website and we are even hoping to offer photos and cards for sale. Here is a sneak preview of one or rather two.
We have decided to take our dowsing a bit further afield and paid a couple of visits in January, (in the extreme cold and sleet) to Dunstable, mostly to the church there called Dunstable Priory.
We had read in the Sun and the Serpent that the famous Michael and Mary leyline runs through the main door of Dunstable Priory, so thought we would dowse it ourselves and see what we thought. The Priory has a very wide West door with multiple arches. The carvings have eroded away so we were unable to establish whether were any anomalous sculptures of gargoyles and skulls such as Leighton Buzzard or Notre Dame in Paris. There weren’t any gargoyles at all on the entire building as far as we could see. On our first we found the inside to be dark and gloomy. It didn’t seem to have nice vibrations. This is probably due to its history and the original front door, with its bullet marks from when the Royalists attacked the Priory in 1644, is testimony to this. Those of you who are interested I am sure you can find further information on the Internet.

Back to the dowsing. We dowsed inside the church and we both found there was a definite leyline going East to West, and out through the church through the main west gate and through the altar. We both, separately, found the leyline to be very wide and was the width of the archway, not just the door. Jackie found a faint one going North to South by the choir stalls but Sian couldn’t pick that up at all. We checked this wide, strong energy line against our colour vibration chart, again separately, and we both dowsed it as yellow, which means it was a Mary line. This was not what we were expecting as The Sun and the Serpent Book says the priory was built on a Michael line! I’m afraid we beg to differ at this point.

All Saints Church

We have dowsed the churchyard before looking for the entrance to the underground tunnels without much success but we think we may have found where the victims of the plague were buried.

Each time we have been in the churchyard we have picked up extremely strong energies along the outer boundary wall path with Pulfords School. This path leads to a gate in the wall, which is locked. If you were able to walk this short, narrow tree lined path you would come to another locked gate, which comes out at the corner of Parsons Close. We came to the conclusion that this might be the private entrance for the Rothschild’s to come to church. (see previous blog for Leighton House).

Sian took photos of this path from both entrances and thought nothing of them until we looked at them on the computer. For some strange reason on the photo taken from the churchyard end the far gate had completely disappeared! Had we gone back in time to see this area as it was in Cistercian/Rothschild time???!!!! Of course, this might be fanciful thinking and that some may say it is burnout from sunlight, but please note that the sun is shining from the right and not straight ahead. This is an area that MUST be photographed for orbs.

While Sian was busy photographing, and she had forgotten her rods anyway (- that is usually Jackie's trick!), Jackie dowsed for leylines round the church. The normal East to West leyline was present, but interestingly there was a very strong wide leyline running through the church North to South. She was really taken aback and then without telling Sian what it was, she asked her to dowse round the church to see if she could find any leylines. And guess what! She found exactly the same wide strong leyline. Sian was compelled to ask if it was part of the MM line and the answer from the rods was "Yes". We need to investigate further as it seemed to flow in the direction of Grove and Ivinghoe Beacon, which is one of the most important points on the MM line.

Is this a Mary line, breaking off from the main Michael line to visit All Saints Church, which the Mary line often does? We are beginning to think that the MM line is all one flow but it seems to us, that the Mary line is like a tributary, visiting special sites, off the main river of Michael. Another intriguing thought is - does she continue on to St. Mary’s church and the Holy Well at Old Linslade?
　
　

Exploring Adam's Bottom

We thought we would thoroughly explore Adams Bottom. No – that doesn’t sound right! We thought Adams Bottom had a large stone in it – No, that’s not right either!

We had seen on several old maps, mention of the Rowriddy Stone. This seemed a really good, exciting thing to dowse for. Jackie knew that the Rowriddy stream ran through Adam’s Bottom, a recreation ground off Heath Road and was the obvious place to start. Ah! That’s a better way of putting it.

The first thing that hit us when we arrived at the recreation ground is an embankment (see photo above) on 2 sides of the area. We have no idea if this is a modern man-made feature or has been there for generations or even centuries. We asked our dowsing rods about the embankment and they said they were old but not ancient. Very intriguing. We will have to find out more. The bridge over the Rowriddy stream at the Heath Road end is extremely long and sturdy for such a tiny stream; indeed the actual opening is very small, not much bigger than a wide drainpipe.

Why is the bridge so big? By the side of the bridge is an entrance to the park leading to Heath Road and there is a pile of very old, large lumps of sandstones.

Why they are there, we do not know. Yet another unanswered question about this place.
Back to the Rowriddy stone! With our backs facing the bridge we asked our dowsing rods where the Rowriddy stone had been located. They pointed towards the right hand side boundary of the park. Walking back towards Plantation Road we encountered a lot of energies. We turned right into Plantation Road and happened to meet a lady who was interested in what we were doing and was informative about the area being on Saxon land. Again very, intriguing. Was the stone Saxon?

We walked further up Plantation Road continuously asking our rods where the Rowriddy stone had been, and they kept pointing to our right and led us up Hillside Road until we got to a house called Burnden House and the rods pointed directly to this property. We feel this may well be the site of , or very near, the Rowriddy stone.

　

Leighton House

Sian’s husband had found out, quite by chance, that the Rothschild family, before they moved to Wing, had lived in a place in the High Street called Leighton House and that it had stood where the Co-op had been (now Wilkinson’s). Leighton House, we subsequently discovered, had been built on an even earlier house, Cistercian House, which was thought to have a secret tunnel leading to All Saints Church. We thought that this might be a good place to dowse and see if we could pick up any energies.

Walking along Pulford Road to Church Avenue we come to Popes Corner. The road leading down to Pulford School was probably not here in the time of Leighton House and the boundary of the Cistercian house (the house before Leighton House) could have been the wall surrounding the church. Also possibly the gate at the end of the wall could have led directly from Leighton/Cistercian house directly into the churchyard. Standing on Pope’s Corner there is a modern arched concave wall but underneath there looks to be a very old wall. Was this part of Leighton House? On both sides of the driveway there are old walls. This was certainly the entrance I would have thought. As we walk down further down the driveway the energies suddenly hit us. When we were standing on the empty ground our rods did a full complete circle when we asked if these were the boundary walls of Leighton House.

Our rods pointed to a broken down old building with corrugated iron roof when Jackie asked the question "Is there anything of particular importance it wanted to point out" – so we decided to follow where it pointed. The only way we could follow it was by retracing our steps and go into Parsons Close. On our left was an old wall, which we followed so we were obviously on the right track. This took us to Ticklebelly Alley, which has the remains of a very old wall on the right. Carrying along Ticklebelly Alley we come to a car park with a wall to the left of us, the bottom third of it looks very old.

Turning into the car park there is an enormous expanse of wall ahead of us and right at the end we saw the dilapidated building which we could see from the grounds of Leighton House. So we were obviously the other side of the wall where our rods had been pointing. How exciting! We were standing on the site of the now disused cattle market. We climbed through the fence and our rods pointed to the left when Jackie asked her rod to point to the boundary and any original walls of Leighton House. Right at the end of this wall there was a very tiny alleyway, which Jackie didn’t know existed, even though she has lived in LB all her life. This alleyway has very, very old walls. We emerged from this in the High Street between The Chinese Acupuncture and Squares Estate Agents.
We are concluding that we walked all the way round the outside of the boundary of Leighton/ Cistercian House and that we have established where the house and grounds were and that it was quite a substantial property.

The Purpose of these Diaries

What these diaries are going to be about are our experiences using dowsing to locate the hidden energies of historical and lost buildings or disused areas and/or in our local area. Dowsing is an amazing tool for doing such a thing. If it can find the energies in peoples auras, if it can pick up the energy of water hidden underground, it can definitely find energies left behind.

These are our experiences in finding these lost energies. If anyone has any suggestions as to where we can go, please feel free to email me with ideas.