Devil’s Den, nr Fyfield, Wiltshire

Sometimes, it is the sheer beauty of simplicity that the crop circles manage to convey, that gives one pause for thought. While we all may collectively gasp at the huge complex designs that appear, it is formations such as this simple ringed circle that reminds us of the raw beauty and power of the simple form.

It was the 17th century writer and philosopher Voltaire that said “God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference nowhere”. By this he expressed the idea that the circle was a supreme symbol of the Divine, that it mirrored the circle of the sky, or heavens, that it encompassed (surrounded and contained) all of creation, and that it was omniscient (its centre everywhere). It’s a beautiful and profound association and one that has permeated our culture since time immemorial. The Sun and Moon (objects of worship for millennia) are also connected to this thinking, as the major circular objects that occupied the heavens, they were seen as divinities, both linked to good harvests and the cycles of time – Gods that intimately influenced the success or failure of human culture.

This little ringed circle at Devil’s Den carries all these connotations within it, like a fingerprint of the Divine on the Landscape. That it should appear at Devil’s Den seems very apt! The circle measures approximately 60ft and is in a field of green wheat.

The Devil of Devil’s Den is not the Satan of the bible, but none other than the pagan deity of fertility and general merriment, Pan. Half man, half goat, he was appropriated by the church and turned into the Devil, no doubt in penance for his wicked fertility rites and general sinful merrymaking. Devil’s Den sits in Clatford Bottom, on Fyfield Down, between Avebury and Marlborough. It is thought to be the remnants of a longbarow, reported in some early archeological books as being over 200ft in length. All that now remains are two standing stones with a capstone (known as a dolman), and two fallen stones underneath. Local legend has it that every night, at midnight, Satan appears with 12 oxen to try to pull the capstone from the dolman, needless to say he hasn’t managed it yet! Folklore aside, it is a magical and quite isolated location, and we have spent may happy hours there (looking at other crop circles to have appeared there) and to bask in its quiet and tranquil environs with just the chitchat of birds and wild flowers for company.

This crop circle is included in our 2015 box set of 7 x 5 prints and will be included in our Crop Circle Year Book 2015 published later this year. Visit our shop to find out more!

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Geometry Gallery

The ringed circle is almost an archetypal crop circle form. It has appeared in different dimensional permutations almost since the inception of the phenomenon. Sometimes there is an esoteric geometric relationship between the ring and the centre circle. By this I mean that the relationship between the circle and ring can hold an invisible form. This will be one of the things I will look for when drawing it. As we reach the busy part of the season, formations are backing up on my drawing board! So I will update this page when I’ve completed my drawing.