Gurston Ashes, nr Fovant & Chiselbury Ring, Wiltshire.

Details: This circle was first seen on July 24th and is located at a place called Gurston Ashes (a ring of ancient trees), nr Fovant in Wiltshire. The circle is approximately 200ft in diameter and is in a field of mature wheat. As we flew over, many of the nearby fields were in the process of being harvested, one wonders how much longer the season will continue and if we will have an early finish in 2018.

Location: This is a very pretty location, Gurston Ashes, is a ring of ancient trees, not far from Fovant in Wiltshire. Fovant is famous for its chalk Military Badges carved into the hillside, you can see pictures of the Badges in the gallery below and read more about both them and their history here. The area was a huge barracks site in WW1 and the first badges were carved by soldiers using the barracks. Gurston Ashes and the Fovant Badges are also close to Chiselbury Ring an Iron-Age hill fort (see images below) which sits almost directly above the Fovant Badges. You can read more about the hill fort here – all in all this is a lovely and very interesting part of the Wiltshire landscape.

Visiting: We have heard that the farmer is not allowing access to this formation, so please keep out of the field – thanks. Harvesting is well underway in this area.

Design & Symbolism: Many have interpreted this design as a door ajar – which seems eminently reasonable. According to the geometer and researcher Michael Glickman, the doorknob is located at the centre of the enclosing and outer circle (a nice touch).

The idea of the crop circles as some kind of portal (or doorway) is not new and there have been several formations that have shown tunnels, portals and other similar design motifs. This circle immediately reminded me of the book title ‘The Door Marked Summer” by Michael Bentine and the Steve Wilson song of the same name. If ever there was a door marked summer – this would be it! The fact that so many intuitively sense that the crop circles are doorways to somewhere other is very interesting indeed, perhaps some are ready for a new adventure or searching for access to something ‘other’? Many people report incredible synchronicities in relation to the crop circles, and sense that somehow the circles are a conduit through which they can explore this ‘otherness’ and their relationship to it. What is the paranormal if not a link with something else, whatever that may be?

Come and meet us at our annual conference August 3rd – 5th in Devizes Wiltshire. We have three days of workshops and lectures – it’s a great place to immerse yourself in the subject and meet like-minded people! See here for more details.

Visiting the Circles? If you are thinking of visiting any crop circles this summer, please read our Visiting the Crop Circles section. It’s full of useful information and etiquette for visiting the countryside and the crop circles. Please remember that you should not enter any fields without the express permission of the farmer.

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Please Help to keep us Flying in 2018: If you have enjoyed looking at our pictures and information please consider making a small donation to keep us flying. There are so few of us left regularly recording the circles it’s really important that we continue. And while some now use drones to record the circles, it is important that there are still images taken from aircraft where the best quality camera equipment can be used and images that include the broad vista of the landscape can be taken. This kind of photography is expensive and it gets harder with each passing year to raise the funds we need to continue our work, but if everyone who regularly looked at this website made a small donation we would meet the funds we need. You can make a donation here.

NOTE: Some of the images below are beautiful landscape scenes. Click on each image to enlarge them and see the whole picture.

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Geometry Gallery

I had at first wondered if the door would reveal a pentagonal geometry, but once on the drawing board it was clear this wasn’t the case. As far as I could tell, the door was created with a measure of 15 degrees off the right-angle. Still, it is a fabulous design and it makes a striking image when in the field and when painted. This might be an image I come back to over winter months for another look.