Archive for Thursday 17th October 2002 - The music that enchanted ancient Britain

Far earlier than the prehistoric ages known to archaeology – the neolithic and the ages of bronze and iron – was the Age of Giants. It is given that name, not because the people then were much larger than us, but because their works were gigantic. The structures they created over the British landscape were so vast and widespread that archaeologists today cannot recognise them. These works were of two kinds, physical and conceptual. The first include certain hills and rock piles which, according to legend, were raised by magic – by the use of elemental forces. The second kind are patterns of geometry, marked out across the country by ancient monuments.

One of these patterns is the Circle of Perpetual Choirs. Its centre is a spot in the Malvern Hills, where the three traditional choir counties, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire have their meeting point. Around it, on a circle of some 62 miles radius, are the ten choir sites. Three of them, Stonehenge, Glastonbury and Llantwit Major, are recorded in Welsh bardic lore. Another is Goring (meaning ‘choir-place’) on the Thames. A fifth site is Croft Hill, Leicester. At these places, a cycle of chanting was kept up, constantly, day and night.

This circle is one of many geometric figures from the Age of Giants. They are all parts of one design, and there was one purpose behind them - to create and maintain a divine spell or enchantment over the whole country. After more than 30 years of studying the subject, this is as far as I have got towards solving the Mystery of Britain.

John Michell