First and foremost of the material we deal with are issues of Place and Space, and how we experience them. This section includes phenomenology and psychogeography as ‘ways of seeing’.
The interpretation of prehistoric features as ritual sites and practices may distract attention from the ancient need for functional infrastructure. Roger B. Hutchins argues for one such case. Most NE readers, if few others, will be familiar with prehistoric stone rows. I became a guide for the Dartmoor National Park about 35 years ago, and […]
Stone rows: a practical solution Read More »
By John E. Palmer, 2024 Springendal is a protected nature reserve near Hezingen, in the province of Twente in the Netherlands. In April 2019 two metal detectorists (1) searched on terrain belonging to Staatsbosbeheer(Forestry Commission) and found some gold coins which they were unable to interpret or date. After consultation they decided to duly report
A Saxon alignment and pagan cult site in Twente, the Netherlands Read More »
By Simon Crook And if you flung her headdress on her from under her highlows you’d wheeze whyse Salmonson set his seel on a hexengown – James Joyce, Finnegans Wake ‘an orangefiery shipload from the planet Alpha’ On 10 December 2023, 32 days into navigating a family bereavement, I learnt of a recently discovered Roman
‘The foal seeks the pasture’: A hexagonal Roman shrine in Hampshire Read More »
For Queen and Country The Eleanor Crosses are among the outstanding monuments of the Middle Ages. They represent one of the most developed of our ancient funeral routes, and embody a wide range of architectural style and innovation. They also carry a weight of symbolism drawn from the mythic aspirations of a mediaeval dynasty. John
For Queen and Country: The Eleanor Crosses Read More »
Victoria and Paul Morgan help raise Cheshire’s prehistoric profile INTRODUCTION Cheshire is not a county famed for it its prehistory. At a push the megaraks can only really name The Bridestones (the remains of a Neolithic long cairn near the town of Congleton), but even that is often listed as belonging to Staffordshire. The
A Load of Old Bull? A Cheshire long barrow Read More »
With tales of oak and mistletoe, holy wells and miraculous images, John Palmer takes us to meet the Virgin Mary in the old wetlands of Flanders Many of the houses lining the Veertien Bunderslaan, in Blaasveld, have a miniature wooden chapel attached, each containing an image representing the Virgin Mary; the lane leads towards
The Little Chapel of the Fourteen Bunders, Netherlands Read More »
Stuart McHardy introduces the idea of geomythography, with an example of the insights to which this process may lead. Geomythography is a process of analysing landscape and society over time through evidence from oral tradition, archaeology, place-names, ritual and belief and the landscape itself. Significantly shaped hills – ‘paps’ – in various parts of
An Intriguing Find: Geomythography from Scarba and Jura Read More »
John Billingsley walks a haunted and fated ‘spirit road’ in Japan’s spiritual heart Ujibashi: The bridge and torii mark the entrance to the sacred precincto Amaterasu at Ise Naikū shrine. It is aligned on the winter solstice sunrise Visitors purify themselves in the isuzu River at Naikū The Grand Shrine of Japan’s
A Spirit Road in Ise, Japan Read More »
Steve Sneyd describes a legendary spiritual journey in West Yorkshire Berry Brow is a hillside suburb a little south of Huddersfield. It is also the location of an unusual natural feature notable equally for its name and its associated weight of folklore. Deadmanstone is a massive rock, perched above a dogleg of a minor road,
DEADMANSTONE: Spirit Path To The Otherworld? Read More »
In the early days of ‘earth mysteries’ research, exploratory steps were being taken towards place and the meanings that attach to it, culturally and subjectively, past and present. However, the field was rather thrown off course in the 1970s by the unproductive ‘earth energy’ fascination. NE believes it is time to retrace those steps, and
Psychogeography: An assessment of meanings Read More »