Click the audio play button above to hear me talk about String of Ideas.
String of Ideas
Adapted from a magazine article in 1985…
By
chance
I
had,
a
couple
of
days
earlier,
spent
an
exciting
and
magical
hour,
at
dusk,
helping
to
catch
a
lively
carthorse
called
Atlantis
who
was
more
inclined
to
remain
free
in
his
five
acre
domain than be collared and return to a life of work.
On
the
following
day
I
had
been
drawn
into
a
discussion
about
how
to
construct
a
regular
pentagon
with
just
compasses
and
a
straight
edge.
(Durer’s
construction)
and
how
this
related
to
the
significant
and
sacred
Vesica
Pisces
formed
by
overlapping
two
circles.
This
led
on
to
consideration
of
the
Druids
Cord,
a
length
of
knotted
string
of
13
equal
divisions
which
can
be
used
to
set
out
on
the
ground
a
variety
of
significant
and
useful
forms
such
as
right angles, pentagrams and seven pointed stars.
.
Durer’s construction.
The Druids Cord.
Setting out a right angled triangle
The pentagram was the emblem of
the School of Pythagoras and a symbol of the Mysteries.
Radius 13 Diameter 26 Perimeter of pentagon 10x8
Setting out a Pentagram
Setting out a Heptagram
These
figures
had
always
left
me
feeling
uneasy
because
it
seemed
unnatural
to
have
a
half
unit
included.
Experimentally,
at
this point I tried multiplying this series of perimeter lengths by 8.
To
my
surprise
and
delight
out
popped
the
following
set
of
numbers.
100,
200,
300,
400,
500,
600,
700.
So
12
½
MY
=
100
M
Hands.
That
looked
like
a
more
rational
and
intentional
sequence
and
unexpectedly
showed
a
use
of
a
decimal
system.
So,
despite
the
fact
that
the
MY
seemed
to
be
divided
into
eighths
(MH)
and
thirty
two
M
Inches,
some
of
the
calculations
were
done
in
tens
and
hundreds.
It
looked
as
if
the
measuring
system
was
based
on
halving
and
rehalving
a
basic
unit
but
the
calculating
system
was different.
However
this
was
not
the
end
of
my
journey
of
discovery.
A
few
years
previously
I
had
met
Martin
Brennan
with
John
Michell
at
the
Leyhunter
Moot
in
Hereford
and
had
become
very
interested
in the work Martin had done in the Boyne Valley in Ireland.
Part
of
his
work
led
him
to
propose,
in
his
first
book
Boyne
Valley
Vision,
that
the
builders
and
carvers
of
the
beautiful
and
enigmatic
designs
on
the
stones
of
the
mounds
and
chambers
at
New
Grange,
Knowth
and
Dowth
had
used
two
short
and
interrelated measures which he called A and B.
A
measured
1.0125”
and
B
was
1.4464”.
Both
subdivisions
of
a
larger
“C”
measure
of
20.25”.
Now,
because
his
A
measure
was
quite
close
to
my
MI
or
“thumb”
of
1.02”
and
the
ratio
between
that
and
Thom’s
MI
of
.816”
was
exactly
5:4
perhaps
there
was
a
similar
relationship
between
the
ancient
Irish
measures
that
Martin had identified and the British ones.
As
I
examined
a
series
of
Pythagorean
triangles
some
interesting
figures
began
to
appear.
If
a
3,4,5
triangle
is
drawn
with
an
hypotenuse
of
one
MY
the
opposite
side
is
20.4”.
Not
far
from
Martin’s
C
and
exactly
twenty
of
my
M
Thumbs.
If
the
C
measure
was
really
20.4”
and
the
A
was
1.02
then,
by
the
root
2
calculation
that
Martin
used
B
would
be
1.4425”.
Pretty
close
to
the
value
that he proposed.
However
the
two
important
common
dimensions
remain
the
“thumb”
of
1.02”
and
the
“cubit”
of
20.4”
which
relates
through
the 3,4,5 triangle to the Megalithic Yard.
Alexander
Thom
has
also
suggested
that
a
length
of
2.5
MY,
which
he
called
the
Megalithic
Rod,
was
used
by
the
builders
of
the
stone
circles,
mounds
and
dolmens
of
the
Neolithic
and
early
Bronze age.
Two
and
a
half
MY
is
6’
9
1/2”,
a
handy
size
for
a
surveyors
rod.
It
would
look
like
the
ones
seen
in
the
hands
of
the
Long
Man
of
Wilmington
and
is
also
20
M
Hands
long.
I
can
clearly
visualize
such
a
staff
or
rod,
marked
with
hands,
subdivided
into
thumbs
being
carried
and
used
by
one
of
the
“wise”
women
or
men
four
or five thousand years ago.
However, we now have to take into account the Dalmore bone which was excavated near
Callanish stone circle on Lewis in the Hebrides by Margaret Ponting.
Reproduced from The Ley Hunter article in issue 101
by Margaret Ponting.
A
suitable
name
for
it
might
be
the
“corn”
because,
although
it
is
smaller
than
the
barleycorn
which
was
.37
of
an
Imperial
inch,
I
think
it
was
likely
that
a
corn
or
grain
of
cereal
might
have
provided
the
conceptual
basis
of
such
a
small
measurement.
I
did
toy
with
the
idea
of
giving
it
the
name
“Meg”.
That’s
short
for
Margaret and also Megalithic, take your pick.
So,
unless
some
archaeological
discoveries
are
made
in
the
future
which
reveal
artefacts
with
even
finer
subdivisions
we
seem
to
have
got
down
to
the
smallest
common
denominator
for
all
the
measurements used in the Neolithic era.
In the tables below both the MY and the corn are used as a base. They express all the lengths as
fractions and multiples of them and clearly show their interrelationships.
1 Corn = 0.204” 4 Corns = 1 M Inch 5 Corns = 1 M Thumb5 M I = 1 M Hand 4 MTh = 1 M Hand20 M I = ½ M H 20 MT = 1 M Cubit (C)40 M I = 1 M Y 8 M H = 1 M Yard2½ MY = 1 M Rod20 M H = 1 M Rod1 Corn = MY ÷ 160 1 MI = MY ÷ 40 = 4 Corns = 0.816”1 MTh = MY ÷ 32 = 5 Corns = 1.020”1 MH = MY ÷ 8 = 20 Corns 1 MCubit = MY ÷ = 100 Corns 1 MY = MY = 160 Corns 1 MR = MH x 20 = 400 Corns 1 MR = MY x 2½ = 400 Corns
Click continue to follow the String from the Meg to the Mile
Click the audio play button above to hear how to contact me…
Jon Appleton
In
May,
when
leaves
are
dressing
the
trees
in
fresh
bright
green
and
dandelions
are
scattering
gold
on
the
grass,
the
10
stars
of
Perseus
lie
in
the
north
at
midnight
as
the
star
Algol
brushes
the
horizon
beneath
them.
It
was
the
time
of
a
total
lunar
eclipse
and
I
was
camping
with
friends
in
a
field
in
the
West
Country
when
a
series
of
serendipitous
coincidences
led
me
to
some
significant
insights
into
the
units
of
measure
used
by
the
ancient
people
who
laid
out
the
megalithic
circles
of
western Europe.
In
the
afternoon
the
shadow
of
the
earth
darkened
the
face
of
the
moon.
Altair
rose
in
the
East
at
sunset,
a
companion
for
the
dusky
faced
lunar
bride.
Later,
after
the
ruddy,
eclipsed
moon
had
risen,
the
wedding
veil
was
drawn
back
and
her
bright
gaze
fell
on
the
dancers
and
the
fire
that
celebrated
the
renewal
of
the
energies
of
the
Dragon
and
the
Bull
at
Beltane…
The Druids Cord.
As
a
result
of
this
I
promised
to
make
such
a
“cord”
and
send
it
to
a
friend
who
wanted
to
be
able
to
set
out
a
pentagram
quickly
and
easily
without
complicated
measurement.
So,
a
few
days
later,
I
sat
down
to
start
knotting.
Immediately
a
decision
had
to
be
made
about
the
length
of
the
divisions
in
the
cord.
Three
inches,
six
inches
or
even
ten
of
the
very
modern
centimetres?
The
overall
size
of
the
circle
drawn
by
the
stretched
cord
would
have
to
be
a
convenient
one
for
use
on
the
ground
and
a
diameter
of
about
eight
feet
felt
right.
After
some
work
with
the
compasses
it
seemed
that
a
unit
spacing
of
knots
on
the
cord
of
three
and
¾
of
an
inch
was
needed.
Then
I
remembered
Atlantis
and
the
ancient
and
traditional
measure
of
a
“hand”
with
which
horses
are
measured.
Twice
13x4”
is
104”
or
8
feet
8
inches;
not
a
bad
diameter
for
a
circle.
The
cord,
with
the
two
bits
beyond
the
end
knots
was
4’
8”
long.
This
is
about
the
length
of
a
dressing
gown
cord
and
handy
for
tying
round
the
waist
or,
when
tied
in
a
loop,
hanging
doubled
round
the
neck
or
even
sixfold
round
the
wrist.
All
in
all
a
very
practical
object
based
around
the dimensions of the average person’s body.
The
way
of
setting
out
Megalithic
“circles”,
described
by
Alexander
Thom
in
his
important
books,
based
on
his
lifetime’s
study
and
accurate
surveys
of
hundreds
of
sites
in
Britain
and
France,
requires
the
use
of
right
angled
triangles.
I
wondered
whether
there
was
a
connection
between
my
“hand”
and
his
Megalithic
Yard.
The
MY,
he
says,
is
32.64
inches.
Four
into
that
goes
8.16,
approximately
eight.
So
I
tried
32.64
divided
by
eight.
It
equals
4.08”.
So
perhaps
there
were
8
megalithic
hands
in
a
Megalithic
Yard.
Thom
had
established
the
value
of
the
MY
by
carefully
measuring
every
megalithic
structure
he
could
get
to
and
by
plotting
all
these
measurements
on
a
graph
he
showed
that
where
certain
dimensions
clustered
on
the plot they were multiples of a particular length.
On
page
45
of
his
Megalithic
sites
in
Britain
he
draws
attention
to
the
concentration
of
“ring”
circumferences
at
12.5,
25,
37.5,
50,
62.5,75
and
87.5
MY.
All
multiples,
he
points
out
of
12.5
MY…
The Dalmore bone.
She
has
spent
a
lifetime
doing
invaluable
work
uncovering
and
recording
the
archaeology
of
this
Scottish
“Stonehenge”.
It’s
a
most
remarkable
and
visually
romantic
example
of
the
widespread
practice
of
creating
solar,
lunar
“observatories”
during the Neolithic era in these islands.
The
small
piece
of
bone
which
she
discovered
has,
inscribed
on
it,
regular
subdivisions
looking
like
part
of
a
small
ruler.
These clearly relate to the Megalithic measurement system.
The
gradations
appear
to
be
very
close
to
.204”.
This
represents
one
fourth
of
a
M
Inch
or
one
fifth
of
one
of
my
M
Thumbs,
a
repetition
of
the
same
ratio
that
appears
between
the MY and Martin’s C measure or cubit…
Jon Appleton
String of Ideas
Adapted from a magazine
article in 1985…
Click the audio play button above to hear me talk about String of Ideas.
In
May,
when
leaves
are
dressing
the
trees
in
fresh
bright
green
and
dandelions
are
scattering
gold
on
the
grass,
the
10
stars
of
Perseus
lie
in
the
north
at
midnight
as
the
star
Algol
brushes
the
horizon
beneath
them.
It
was
the
time
of
a
total
lunar
eclipse
and
I
was
camping
with
friends
in
a
field
in
the
West
Country
when
a
series
of
serendipitous
coincidences
led
me
to
some
significant
insights
into
the
units
of
measure
used
by
the
ancient
people
who
laid
out
the
megalithic
circles
of
western
Europe.
In
the
afternoon
the
shadow
of
the
earth
darkened
the
face
of
the
moon.
Altair
rose
in
the
East
at
sunset,
a
companion
for
the
dusky
faced
lunar
bride.
Later,
after
the
ruddy,
eclipsed
moon
had
risen,
the
wedding
veil
was
drawn
back
and
her
bright
gaze
fell
on
the
dancers
and
the
fire
that
celebrated
the
renewal
of
the
energies
of
the
Dragon
and
the
Bull
at
Beltane.
By
chance
I
had,
a
couple
of
days
earlier,
spent
an
exciting
and
magical
hour,
at
dusk,
helping
to
catch
a
lively
carthorse
called
Atlantis
who
was
more
inclined
to
remain
free
in
his
five
acre
domain
than
be
collared
and return to a life of work.
On
the
following
day
I
had
been
drawn
into
a
discussion
about
how
to
construct
a
regular
pentagon
with
just
compasses
and
a
straight
edge.
(Durer’s
construction)
and
how
this
related
to
the
significant
and
sacred
Vesica
Pisces
formed
by
overlapping
two
circles
This
led
on
to
consideration
of
the
Druids
Cord,
a
length
of
knotted
string
of
13
equal
divisions
which
can
be
used
to
set
out
on
the
ground
a
variety
of
significant
and
useful
forms
such
as
right
angles,
pentagrams
and
seven pointed stars.
.
Durer’s construction.
The Druids Cord.
Setting out a right angled triangle
The pentagram was the emblem of
the School of Pythagoras and a symbol of the Mysteries.
Radius 13 Diameter 26 Perimeter of pentagon 10x8
Setting out a Pentagram
Setting out a Heptagram
Alexander
Thom
has
also
suggested
that
a
length
of
2.5
MY,
which
he
called
the
Megalithic
Rod,
was
used
by
the
builders
of
the
stone
circles
mounds
and
dolmens
of
the
Neolithic
and
early
Bronze
age.
Two
and
a
half
MY
is
6’
9
1/2”,
a
handy
size
for
a
surveyors
rod.
It
would
look
like
the
ones
seen
in
the
hands
of
the
Long
Man
of
Wilmington
and
is
also
20
M
Hands
long.
I
can
clearly
visualize
such
a
staff
or
rod,
marked
with
hands,
subdivided
into
thumbs
being
carried
and
used
by
one
of
the
“wise”
women
or
men
four
or
five
thousand
years
ago
Reproduced from The Ley Hunter article in issue 101
by Margaret Ponting.
1 Corn = 0.204” 4 Corns = 1 M Inch 5 Corns = 1 M Thumb5 M I = 1 M Hand 4 MTh = 1 M Hand20 M I = ½ M H 20 MT = 1 M Cubit (C)40 M I = 1 M Y 8 M H = 1 M Yard2½ MY = 1 M Rod20 M H = 1 M Rod1 Corn = MY ÷ 160 1 MI = MY ÷ 40 = 4 Corns = 0.816”1 MTh = MY ÷ 32 = 5 Corns = 1.020”1 MH = MY ÷ 8 = 20 Corns 1 MCubit = MY ÷ = 100 Corns 1 MY = MY = 160 Corns 1 MR = MH x 20 = 400 Corns 1 MR = MY x 2½ = 400 Corns
Click continue to follow the String from the Meg to the Mile
As
a
result
of
this
I
promised
to
make
such
a
“cord”
and
send
it
to
a
friend
who
wanted
to
be
able
to
set
out
a
pentagram
quickly
and
easily
without
complicated
measurement.
So,
a
few
days
later,
I
sat
down
to
start
knotting.
Immediately
a
decision
had
to
be
made
about
the
length
of
the
divisions
in
the
cord.
Three
inches,
six
inches
or
even
ten
of
the
very
modern
centimetres?
The
overall
size
of
the
circle
drawn
by
the
stretched
cord
would
have
to
be
a
convenient
one
for
use
on
the
ground
and
a
diameter
of
about
eight
feet
felt
right.
After
some
work
with
the
compasses
it
seemed
that
a
unit
spacing
of
knots
on
the
cord
of
three
and
¾
of
an
inch
was
needed.
Then
I
remembered
Atlantis
and
the
ancient
and
traditional
measure
of
a
“hand”
with
which
horses
are
measured.
Twice
13x4”
is
104”
or
8
feet
8
inches;
not
a
bad
diameter
for
a
circle.
The
cord,
with
the
two
bits
beyond
the
end
knots
was
4’
8”
long.
This
is
about
the
length
of
a
dressing
gown
cord
and
handy
for
tying
round
the
waist
or,
when
tied
in
a
loop,
hanging
doubled
round
the
neck
or
even
sixfold
round
the
wrist.
All
in
all
a
very
practical
object
based
around
the
dimensions of the average person’s body.
The
way
of
setting
out
Megalithic
“circles”,
described
by
Alexander
Thom
in
his
important
books,
based
on
his
lifetime’s
study
and
accurate
surveys
of
hundreds
of
sites
in
Britain
and
France,
requires
the
use
of
right
angled
triangles.
I
wondered
whether
there
was
a
connection
between
my
“hand”
and
his
Megalithic
Yard.
The
MY,
he
says,
is
32.64
inches.
Four
into
that
goes
8.16,
approximately
eight.
So
I
tried
32.64
divided
by
eight.
It
equals
4.08”.
So
perhaps
there
were
8
megalithic
hands
in
a
Megalithic
Yard.
Thom
had
established
the
value
of
the
MY
by
carefully
measuring
every
megalithic
structure
he
could
get
to
and
by
plotting
all
these
measurements
on
a
graph
he
showed
that
where
certain
dimensions
clustered
on
the
plot
they
were
multiples
of
a
particular
length.
On
page
45
of
his
Megalithic
sites
in
Britain
he
draws
attention
to
the
concentration
of
“ring”
circumferences
at
12.5,
25,
37.5,
50,
62.5,75
and
87.5
MY.
All
multiples,
he
points
out
of
12.5
MY.
These
figures
had
always
left
me
feeling
uneasy
because
it
seemed
unnatural
to
have
a
half
unit
included.
Experimentally,
at
this
point
I
tried
multiplying this series of perimeter lengths by 8.
To
my
surprise
and
delight
out
popped
the
following
set
of
numbers.
100,
200,
300,
400,
500,
600,
700.
So
12
½
MY
=
100
M
Hands.
That
looked
like
a
more
rational
and
intentional
sequence
and
unexpectedly
showed
a
use
of
a
decimal
system.
So,
despite
the
fact
that
the
MY
seemed
to
be
divided
into
eighths
(MH)
and
thirty
two
M
Inches,
some
of
the
calculations
were
done
in
tens
and
hundreds.
It
looked
as
if
the
measuring
system
was
based
on
halving
and
rehalving
a
basic
unit
but
the
calculating system was different.
However
this
was
not
the
end
of
my
journey
of
discovery.
A
few
years
previously
I
had
met
Martin
Brennan
with
John
Michell
at
the
Leyhunter
Moot
in
Hereford
and
had
become
very
interested
in
the
work
Martin had done in the Boyne Valley in Ireland.
Part
of
his
work
led
him
to
propose,
in
his
first
book
Boyne
Valley
Vision,
that
the
builders
and
carvers
of
the
beautiful
and
enigmatic
designs
on
the
stones
of
the
mounds
and
chambers
at
New
Grange,
Knowth
and
Dowth
had
used
two
short
and
interrelated
measures
which he called A and B.
A
measured
1.0125”
and
B
was
1.4464”.
Both
subdivisions
of
a
larger
“C”
measure
of
20.25”.
Now,
because
his
A
measure
was
quite
close
to
my
MI
or
“thumb”
of
1.02”
and
the
ratio
between
that
and
Thom’s
MI
of
.816”
was
exactly
5:4
perhaps
there
was
a
similar
relationship
between
the
ancient
Irish
measures
that
Martin had identified and the British ones.
As
I
examined
a
series
of
Pythagorean
triangles
some
interesting
figures
began
to
appear.
If
a
3,4,5
triangle
is
drawn
with
an
hypotenuse
of
one
MY
the
opposite
side
is
20.4”.
Not
far
from
Martin’s
C
and
exactly
twenty
of
my
M
Thumbs.
If
the
C
measure
was
really
20.4”
and
the
A
was
1.02
then,
by
the
root
2
calculation
that
Martin
used
B
would
be
1.4425”.
Pretty
close
to
the
value
that
he
proposed.
However
the
two
important
common
dimensions
remain
the
“thumb”
of
1.02”
and
the
“cubit”
of
20.4”
which
relates through the 3,4,5 triangle to the Megalithic Yard.
However,
we
now
have
to
take
into
account
the
Dalmore
bone
which
was
excavated
near
Callanish
stone
circle
on
Lewis in the Hebrides by Margaret Ponting.
She
has
spent
a
lifetime
doing
invaluable
work
uncovering
and
recording
the
archaeology
of
this
Scottish
“Stonehenge”.
It’s
a
most
remarkable
and
visually
romantic
example
of
the
widespread
practice
of
creating
solar,
lunar
“observatories”
during
the
Neolithic
era in these islands.
The
small
piece
of
bone
which
she
discovered
has,
inscribed
on
it,
regular
subdivisions
looking
like
part
of
a
small
ruler.
These
clearly
relate
to
the
Megalithic
measurement system.
The
gradations
appear
to
be
very
close
to
.204”.
This
represents
one
fourth
of
a
M
Inch
or
one
fifth
of
one
of
my
M
Thumbs,
a
repetition
of
the
same
ratio
that
appears
between
the
MY
and
Martin’s
C
measure
or
cubit.
A
suitable
name
for
it
might
be
the
“corn”
because,
although
it
is
smaller
than
the
barleycorn
which
was
.37
of
an
Imperial
inch,
I
think
it
was
likely
that
a
corn
or
grain
of
cereal
might
have
provided
the
conceptual
basis
of
such
a
small
measurement.
I
did
toy
with
the
idea
of
giving
it
the
name
“Meg”.
That’s
short
for
Margaret
and
also Megalithic, take your pick.
So,
unless
some
archaeological
discoveries
are
made
in
the
future
which
reveal
artefacts
with
even
finer
subdivisions
we
seem
to
have
got
down
to
the
smallest
common
denominator
for
all
the
measurements
used
in
the Neolithic era.
In
the
tables
below
both
the
MY
and
the
corn
are
used
as
a
base.
They
express
all
the
lengths
as
fractions
and
multiples
of
them
and
clearly
show
their
interrelationships.
The Druids Cord.
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