Updated Monday 2nd February 1998
The Doons Law, Leetside
Farm, Whitsome,
Berwick-on-Tweed, Berwickshire, Scotland,
reported on 16th August 1990.
The Doons Law pictogram appeared at Leetside Farm Whitsome on August 16th?? 1990. It was found by the farmer Mr. Robert Barclay who was most surprised to find such a Southern phenomenon on his doorstep. Doons Law he told me was an ancient cemetery and that his ploughing activities around the site had unearthed quite a few antiquities including a stone coffin from early Christian times. Whitsome had at that time been the the site of a monastic establishment hence its name Whitsome is derived from the Cistercian order of monks who wore a white habit.
The formation consisted of three circles connected by two alleyways. Unlike the English dumbells of 1990 the alleyways were laid laterally rather than lengthwise. One of the alleyways pointed up to the burial site, but the other did not at first appear to indicate anything in the immediate area at all. However I was sure that there was something to be found from investigating the angle of the two alleyways. I took the compass bearings down the alleyways from the centre of the main circle and drew the two extended lines on the map to see if there was anything else of interest indicated by the angles. The line that ran through the burial site extended outward some miles to point at Swinton Kirk. The line missed the church by about 150 yds or so. The second line pointed directly at Norham Kirk a very similar distance away. In fact when placing a compass and pencil on the map with the sharp point on the pictogram the difference in distance between the two churches was a matter of 100 yds or so. Thus the triangle made by the pictogram and the two churches was practically an Isosceles triangle
I decided to investigate these two churches to see once more whether there was a common denominator between these two sites which were so clearly indicated by the angles of the pictogram. In Swinton Kirk which has its origins in the 13th. Century I found the tomb of Alain de Swinton, a Knight of those days and of the family who were one of the earliest powerful landowners of Berwickshire.
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In Norham Kirk I found the tomb of another 13th. Century Knight whose identity was unknown but who had evidently been on the Crusades, as his monument depicted him with his legs crossed and at his feet was a small lion.
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Coincidentally the stained glass windows in Norham Kirk are of a very geometric design extremely evocative of some crop circle designs.
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At this point I was very excited as here was a clear indication of two common denominators and the possibility of more. I returned to the map and extended the arc that ran from Norham to Swinton further round in an anticlockwise direction to find that the arc then passed through Kimmerghame House. This is, and has always been, the residence of the Swinton family. I am sure that this then means that the unknown Knight buried at Norham is another member of the Swinton family, and that there must also be a similar connection with Doons Law itself. The way that the alleyways were flattened in a lateral fashion strongly suggested the geometer's compass or dividers which are a symbol of the Masons who are also known in Scotland anyway as the Knights Templar. Thus one arrives at a series of indicators thrown up by the placement of this pictogram which I list below.It is also a general basis on which to work while investigating the formations in the South of England.
1). The 13th. Century.
2). Knights.
3). The Swinton family.
4). The Church.
5). The Knights Templar.
This pictogram was certainly a very important one, and revealed a wealth of information by making a single angle from a strategic position.
Footnote.
General Sir John Swinton reports to me that another small grapeshot circle was found two years ago by his farm manager on a hillside close by Kimmerghame. He says that he saw it himself and it that it was a very neat perfectly swirled circle in barley of no more than five feet diameter. I will find out the exact spot and report back in due course.
John Haddington Copyright 1997
