BERWICK’S BARLEY WONDER SPARKS THE SEASON! 

The range of hills and flats north of Avebury, is certainly a contrast in crop variety to the rest of the surrounding countryside. This particular part of the Avebury landscape, has a number of villages running along the A4361, which runs towards Swindon. The second village outside of Avebury is a small place known as Berwick Bassett, which has seen a few formations in the past, but this latest design, ranks as one of the finest along this stretch of road.   

As we are all aware the season has been very slow in coming this year, but this latest event, is I am sure the start of the 2001 season in Wiltshire. Many people we have spoken to have already also felt the same, and with it, hopefully we will witness a more relaxed view from the Farmers. Time will tell!

This design, has certainly echoes of past formations, not only from last year’s season, but also from this year already.

Situated just off the double bend on the A4361 and on the flat facing Rough Hill, is a wonderfully constructed formation, just of the Bridleway, which runs past Avebury itself, and eventually joins the Ridgeway.  It is located about 100ft into the field, and is in green immature Barley, just over waist height.  This design, has certainly echoes of past formations, not only from last year’s season, but also from this year already.  We can see a pattern starting to emerge with regard to a particular part of its geometry, incorporated into at least two other formations. 

Full image in the Crop Circle archives

The Allington Down formation from 2000, was the first design to use the Convex Equilateral Triangle. (Pursuit Curves)

The second from the 2001 season at Barbury Castle. This is the third design to use a smaller version of the shape, into its geometry.  The whole design is within a large outer circle, which was extremely well constructed. 

The entire area has a particular serene atmosphere, even though the road isn’t very far away, you can still feel, and almost touch the peacefulness. 

The entire shape itself, is based around the rotated Convex Triangles, five in number, which make up the standing sections of crop, but you can also say there are ten in total, if you look at the flatten sections within the standing. Very hard to describe, but look at the shape for a while, and you will understand.    

The entire area has a particular serene atmosphere, even though the road isn’t very far away, you can still feel, and almost touch the peacefulness. It was a real pleasure, after weeks of frustration, to be able to see out first formation of the season. Indeed, the actual location hasn’t been hit since 1994, when we visited a very nice formation also in Barley, which resembled the Isle of Man symbol.  The area generally, seems to have the right soil conditions, for Barley, as there are a number of Barley fields along the A4361.  

For anyone who is interested in the association towards Ancient sites, and the direct locations of the formations, this particular Berwick Bassett formation, is very close to Monkton Down, which was a very important burial site for the local community. 

All images Stuart Dike. Copyright 2001

Report by Stuart Dike.