Ley lines have been the subject of heated debate between ley hunters and archaeologists ever since their discovery by Alfred Watkins in the 1920s. He proposed the existence of a network of completely straight roads that cut through a range of prehistoric, Roman, and medieval structures. The authors, both 'alternative archaeologists', explore the theory of ley lines with the belief that lines and patterns formed by joining up ancient sites prove the existence of a megalithic science based on a mysterious force (oh dear! As Hutton observed, a belief in "ancient earth energies have passed so far into the religious experience of the 'New Age' counter-culture of Europe and America that it is unlikely that any tests of evidence would bring about an end to belief in them. I thought it might show how things have developed since Alfred Watkin's book written 75 years previously.

Belief in ley lines nevertheless remains common among some esoteric religious groups, such as forms of modern Paganism, in both Europe and North America. From dialogues on poetics to meditations on how one continues to create in a country (world) of non-stop war, these elegantly curated triads reverberate with collective insights.

Ley lines are a fascinating subject for the historian and the more open-minded professional (or amateur) archeologist, and reading both of these books is an illuminating start on the subject.

Suddenly, the conservative miller from Hereford morphed into a countercultural visionary, a prophet of the Age of Aquarius. Thom lent the idea of leys some support; in 1971 he stated the view that Neolithic British engineers would have been capable of surveying a straight line between two points that were otherwise not visible from each other. Other statistical significance tests have shown that supposed ley-line alignments are no more significant than random occurrences and/or have been generated by selection effects. He presented this as a challenge to archaeologists, urging them to examine his ideas in detail and stating that he would donate a large sum of money to charity if they could disprove them. Another key book produced among the ley hunting community was Mysterious Britain, written by Janet and Colin Bord.

Jeremy Harte, editor of Wessex Earth Mysteries, subsequently produced several books on folklore; his book on British fairy lore later won the Folklore Society's annual prize. He argued that straight lines could be drawn between various historic structures and that these represented trade routes created by ancient British societies. For me at least, the great thing about it is Watkins’ determination to really look at the landscape he covers and to try to make sense of what he sees. That is how our ancestors found and manipulated natural earth energies to place standing stones, circles and cup-marked stones, and that is the only way they will be understood.

His obsession with leys was a natural outgrowth of his interest in landscape photography and love of the British countryside. A study by David George Kendall used the techniques of shape analysis to examine the triangles formed by standing stones to deduce if these were often arranged in straight lines. Some maintained that even if the presence of earth energies running through ley lines could not be demonstrated with empirical evidence and rational argumentation, this did not matter; for them, a belief in ley lines was an act of faith, and in their view archaeologists were too narrow-minded to comprehend this reality. The local Episcopal church (ringed, bottom) has its main roof ridge aligned to the corner stones of its burial ground and Mausoleum 2.

The author gives an update of the theories behind the straight lines, quoting in detail from a variety of sources. Hutton suggested that some of the enthusiasm formerly directed toward leys was instead directed toward archaeo-astronomy.

It was later edited by Paul Screeton, who also wrote the book Quicksilver Heritage, in which he argued that the Neolithic period had seen an idyllic society devoted to spirituality but that this was brought to an end through the introduction of metal technologies in the Bronze Age. And Mitchell’s decision to place the tor at Glastonbury at the centre of his network, the capital of his sacred landscape, is still played out most summers on the Eavis family farm.

In the mid-1970s, Michell then published a detailed case study of the West Penwith district of Cornwall, laying out what he believed to be the ley lines in the area. Since the 1960s, members of the Earth Mysteries movement and other esoteric traditions have commonly believed that such ley lines demarcate " earth energies" and serve as guides for alien spacecraft.