TAN HILL, NR ALTON BARNES, WILTSHIRE.  

A HILLSIDE FULL OF MYSTERY & INTRIGUE.. THE LATEST CROP CIRCLE POSITIONS ITSELF NEXT TO SIGNIFICANT  PLACES IN HISTORY. THE CONNECTOR REPORTS ON THE FINDINGS AND FOLKLORES OF TAN HILL & ITS TEMPORARY VISITORS OVER THE YEARS.  

Tan Hill, as well as Milk Hill, towers about the Pewsey Downs, with commanding views that can be seen for miles around. They are the highest points in Wiltshire, some 900 feet high. The history of the entire range of hills, overlooking the sleepy villages is extremely diverse, with one of the oldest settlements in the country, to burial mounds, that stand out like beacons in the landscape.  

Tan Hill itself is roughly the same height as Milk Hill, with its White Horse dominating the landscape. A 19th century charlatan originally constructed it by the name of John Thorne, also known as Jack the Painter, who rode off into the night pocketing the workers money.  

Nowadays we marvel at the impressive sights that form below their slopes, and this particular formation below the banks of Tan Hill, is certainly no exception. We have seen previously in 2001 two formations in this general area, almost in the exactly same spot as this year’s formation  

2001 FORMATION   

Indeed, Steve Alexander filmed the famous video of the strange object on top of this hill back in 1990, which had gone down in crop circle history, as one of the most significant films taken of such objects. These very objects Steve filmed may just be the same as the objects I filmed this year in the Ogbourne St George formation back in mid June.  

OGBOURNE ST GEORGE LINK.  

If we take a further trip down memory lane, and mention the wondrous pictogram of 1990 that formed on the other side to Tan Hill, and on the very same night as the famous East Field formation. You can see from the design of this formation, how far the phenomenon has progressed, into something entirely different I feel.   

1990 PICTOGRAM (SECOND PICTOGRAM TO EAST FIELD) 

I also remember visiting a much smaller event back in 1992, which was at that time, part of a running theme of the SNAILS, which formed in numbers around the general area. This smaller design was once again in the vicinity of Tan Hill, and almost in the same position as the Pictogram some two years earlier.  

1992 LINK OF SMALL SNAIL FORMATION.  

Its only through looking at the archive, one can see possible significance in the placement of formations over the years. I believe the exact locations of their positioning in the landscape are important in understanding our involvement with them, or interaction.  

If we return to Tan Hill itself, the history of the hill is very interesting. It was thought that Queen Guinevere herself and her funeral Cortege passed over the hill, on her way to the Isle of Avalon, to be buried with her husband, King Arthur himself. The hill has also been used for festivals, celebrating the mother goddess of the land, which stretches right across the range of hills to Knapp Hill, which could exactly represent the womb of the goddess herself.  

The formation that has appeared this year has shown a possible change in the way that the Circlemakers approach to the construction of their formations. While writing this report, it has come to our attention, that another formation has displayed the same characteristics at Barton Le Clay. This is the fact that these formations are completing themselves over two nights! Something that isn’t new in the history of the phenomenon, but we have had two events in a short space of time. The Tan Hill formation included just one section of crop that you can see from the photographs was flattened on the second day of its appearance. This will be highlighted in our forthcoming DVD.  

This particular formation once again establishes how important it is for the Circlemakers to position themselves next to ancient sites in history. We have seen this time and time again, but we see the importance in far more detail, when we make reference to earlier formations, and the history of these sites. We must be very grateful, for having such sites of interest on our doorstep, and the continuing message being conveyed in such spectacular fashion.  

Report Stuart Dike