Sir,—With reference to Mr. Alfred Watkins’ letter, while I have not investigated any one of the five leys he mentions, it seems to me that most of the prehistoric trackways followed the ridges or sides of valleys, and that as river valleys were probably almost impassable morasses the trackways could not cross them.
I do not see why there should be a trackway such as No. 1 in his letter, which is assumed to pass through Stover Lake to Stokeinteignhead Church, thus crossing the Teign, when in prehistoric days that was possibly a clayey-bedded river. But why should the ancient makers of the leys choose such termini as the places named in the five leys that Mr. Watkins has suggested?
If those termini were ancient camps I could understand the formation of such leys. With all due respect to Mr. Watkins, whose theory is very clever, I do not think we shall find the origin of sites by connecting up by means of a ruler on a map, for in most counties the ruler is bound to lie on fragments of ancient roads and homesteads.
I am doubtful whether, if one were able to investigate the suggested leys Nos. 1 to 4, one would be satisfied that
they were trackways. Would Mr. Watkins call that clearly-marked outline on the western side of the Holy Mountain at
Abergavenny a part of an ancient trackway or does it run at too steep an incline to be a track?
H. G. PICKARD.
Aylesbeare Vicarage, November 1.
Source info: MS note by AW “Western Morn News Nov 3 1922”.