CFPR Field Report

GPS  0771 6277

Our regular morning sortie across the majestic Wiltshire countryside has today paid off with huge dividends. The final leg of our usual circuit takes us along the circle-rich stretch of road between Alton Barnes and Devizes. Here the new arrival lay in wait

As we reached the maximum elevation at Cannings Cross we were slammed in the face by a surreal image. Stretched across a field of young wheat on our left was a formation that, from our position on the roadside, struck us as being a quite massive and very impressive sight, not to mention a rather refreshing and unique departure from the norm.

We swiftly located the farmer whose field the formation adorned. To our horror he announced to us that he was going to cut the thing down very soon. He advised us that if you need to see it you'd better do it quickly, it isn't gonna be there long? With a sense of great urgency (and with
permission) we hurried down the tramlines to get our fill before the formation was lost to the mower, an hour later the glyph had lost all of its central components.  

What is it!

An arrangement of some sixty circles spanning 315ft of wheat. At its widest the formation is 104 ft.

At the center there are, or were, twelve standing barrels of wheat, each with a 9ft diameter. These were all extremely well constructed and, it seems, positioned with extreme precision. This core feature has a kind of scalloped enclosure made from flattened circles that radiate out in the
two directions for some considerable distance.

Each of the two lateral arrangements  of downed circles recedes into the distance diminishing in size from 16 to 9.  The whole arrangement tapers off to a fine point with 4 rows of 5 circles joined by 1 row of 3 and a single circle to complete the point.  On the whole a very pleasing formation
with a fine quality lay throughout.
 

  What a shame the central core of this rather fine work had to be carved out!  

Images © 2001 Charles R Mallett