OXFORDSHIRE CIRCLES OF 19
Ashbury, Nr Swindon, Oxfordshire. Reported 1st August.
An aerial shots by Lucy
Pringle Copyright 1996.
. 
VESICA PISCES
Close to Wayland Smithy near Ashbury (East of Swindon), SU 277-842 in
wheat, about 175+ feet in diameter. A true Vesica Pisces is formed by two
circles that touch each other`s centers. That these don`t quite do so is very
interesting; it means the centers are well into the standing crop - where there
are no marks or damage at all.
Diagram and report by Peter R. Sorensen. Copyright 1996.
Crop Type: Wheat
This area is on the borders of Oxfordshire and is steeped in history just
like the Avebury area. It boasts the largest White Horse in England,and
certainly one of the oldest. The horse is only two miles from Ashbury, also the
ancient Longbarrow of Wayland Smithy adornes the landscape, but is now enclosed
by tall trees which flank the Ridgeway Path.
The formation in question was situated on high ground above the village of
Ashbury, and could not be viewed from anywhere due to the extremely flat field.
The formation could not even be seen from the road parallel with the field. I
almost gave up searching, when I was only 50 yards from it. That's how elusive
it was, but well worth the find.
The formation consisted of a large circle, placed inside were two cresents
moons, creating a Vesica Piscis in between the shapes. Again very impressive
floor pattern, but because the crop was riper this time, the floor lay didn't
quite have the flow of Liddington Castle.
The two crescent Moons placed within the circle were not situated in a
central position, they were slightly offset to one side. As they both mirrored
one another, their positioning again was inaccurate, one was placed slightly
below the other. This could have been a deliberate ploy on behalf of the
Circlemakers, but it certainly created an interesting floor detail on either
side.
The Vesica Piscis, the shape that was produced by the two cresents moons,
consisted of a circle in it's centre, with two directional layers of crop
identical in detail each side finishing the overall shape.
A very interesting formation, and quite a size about 170 feet in diameter,
the flow of the crop was clockwise around the Crescent Moons, as well as the
inner circle situated in the centre of the Vesica Piscis.
An interesting feature to note was the standing crop on one side of the
formation. This was the side were the formation is on a slight incline, meaning
whatever produced it, didn't quite have the force to flattened the crop, because
it was flowing up hill.
Pole Shot by Stuart Dike. Copyright 1996.
Diagrams of the two Ashbury Formations
Back to Crops of 1996 Index
