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Appendix 10.

(a) The following are the details of the 16 rivals for the Coldrum ley obtained inthe 100 Main Preref simulations. As indicated in Appendix 9.1, these are actually simulations using 127 sites, as lines involving site 121 were deleted after the program was run. In the case of the churches, an entry like “TR19” for Trottiscliffe church means that this church is identified as No. 19 in Ward [5] and is therefore probably Saxon in origin. A cross next to a church name indicates that the church does not appear in the Textus Roffensis, and so is assumed not to be of Saxon origin. A question mark next to a chapel or abbey indicates that we are not aware of any Saxon origin.

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Simulation 2

This is the “extraordinary chance alinement” described above. In addition to the details already given we should perhaps mention that a few metres from the hill-top cross-track at TQ 7766 5987 there is marked, on the 1:2500 plan, the site of an ancient stone called the Jostling Stone.

Simulation 12

Simulation 21

The Pilgrim’s Way roughly follows along this ley for 2 miles

Simulation 36

Simulation 38, Ley 1

Simulation 38, Ley 2

As with Simulation 2, we have a fake ley through Coldrum and Trottiscliffe, confirmed by the tunnel legend.

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Simulation 44

Simulation 46, Ley 1

The earthwork is described as a “massive rampart and ditch” possibly of Belgic origin (Archaeologia Cantiana, 80, 277).

Simulation 46, Ley 2

This ley also goes through site 121, a probably medieval earthwork. Is this a confirmation point (like a moat)?

Simulation 47

The 1:2500 plan calls site 108 “St Blaise’s Chapel” (in antique script) but IBehrend have no further information. Paddlesworth Church is one of several in this area mentioned by Walter Johnson, Byways in British Archaeology (1912) as containing sarsens, and therefore possibly on pagan sites.

Simulation 60

Simulation 61

Here is a 5-pointer that is shorter than the real Coldrum 4-pointer (but sites 118 and 119 are only 31 metres apart). On the 1:2500 plan the ley is seen to pass within a few metres of a cross marking the site of St Stephen’s Chapel; hence it presumably went through some part of the chapel fabric. The chapel in turn was next to the Coffin Stone (TQ 74013 60593) which “in all probability” is the remains of a burial chamber (Ronald Jessup, South East England, in Thames & Hudson’s series Ancient People and Places).

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Simulation 66

Simulation 87

A 5-pointer that includes a 4-pointer shorter than the Coldrum ley. See Simulation 47 for Paddlesworth.

Simulation 89

Simulation 92

Confirmed by passing through a moat at TQ 7394 6038 (not shown on the 1:50000 map).

(b) The following alinements are those which consist of definitely ancient sites or churches which feature in the Textus Roffensis:

Since four of the five sites on the alinement from Simulation 61 are ancient or Saxon, this line counts as well. The alinement from Simulation 47 may be acceptable, depending on the antiquity of St Blaise’s Chapel. Thus 7 or 8 of the 16 Coldrum beaters meet a “Saxon or earlier” requirement.

(c) There were 3 alinements involving site 121 which were rivals for the Coldrum ley. They were:

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Obviously since these are all 4-pointers and include site 121, none of them meets the Saxon-or-earlier condition.

(d) There were 16 lines which actually beat the Coldrum ley, but it is worth reflecting that there were another 55 lines, all 4-pointers, longer than the Coldrum ley but still under 10km in length – short enough to attract a ley hunter’s attention. All were 20 m or less in width, of course, but 23 of them were 13 m or less. Only 4 of the 55 lines involved site 121.