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Comments on Walking Ancient Landscapes (British History)
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Hatty
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In: Berkshire
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Feel free to write in with comments. No need to hold back.
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Ishmael


In: Toronto
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So far, it's excellent! Really.

A worthy follow-up to THOBR.

Two chapters in and ready for chapter three.

I will give it a more critical read second time through. I think I notice a point come up in the footnotes that was out-of-place (will explain later).
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Ishmael


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One of the questions that has come up in Walking concerns the origin of the term "St. Michael Line". The question is left unanswered as to why the line came to be associated with so many places named for St. Michael.

I think the Bible may have the answer for us.

St. Michael slayed the dragon.

Why would churches be built over-top established sacred sites if not to replace and usurp those sites? It would appear to me that the Church was a competing organization -- a rival trade organization? It preserved the St. Michael line only by obliterating it.

The churches certainly would have the power to prevent the use of the line by its builders, perhaps leaving it free to use by the locals.

We should not assume that this aggressive act was one of conquest. It may well have been one of liberation. For all we know, "Megalithic Inc." might have been run by an oppressive, monopolistic cabal of slave-traders. Their association with serpents, dragons, trolls and giants certainly suggests a less than symbiotic relationship with the locals.
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Mick Harper
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I had not thought of this. As the book got written and we became more familiar with the material, so more and more saints got drawn into the "Megalithic net". In the end we were finding quite obscure Belgian saints turning up in Yorkshire in circumstances that were patently Megalithic. It is unlikely that the Church would have acted in this way.

Most of this material is presented in the 'When You Get Home' sections which is (uniquely, as far as we know) the first time that ordinary joes-researching-the-Internet has become a central feature in a work of exposition. You, Ishmael, are being sent a special diet of theory-only sections, so you won't be up to speed on this. Other people will get the normal unfolding unless we/they think otherwise.

However in general we are anxious that people let us know whether our novel arrangement works, especially since notoriously conservative publishers might urge us to recant.
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Hatty
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Ishmael wrote:
One of the questions that has come up in Walking concerns the origin of the term "St. Michael Line". The question is left unanswered as to why the line came to be associated with so many places named for St. Michael.

At some stage, can't remember the exact page, St Michael is 'proved' to be Hermes.

It would appear to me that the Church was a competing organization -- a rival trade organization? It preserved the St. Michael line only by obliterating it.

Yes indeed, though it wasn't until the Protestant Reformation that ancient sites and practices were actually outlawed for having pagan associations so a degree of cohabitation between Christian and Megalithic 'saints' had been going on.

For all we know, "Megalithic Inc." might have been run by an oppressive, monopolistic cabal of slave-traders. Their association with serpents, dragons, trolls and giants certainly suggests a less than symbiotic relationship with the locals.

We tend to see dragons etc. as 'iron foundries' which are usually unpopular because dangerous and unsightly even today.

Chapter Three (theory) on its way to you...
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Ishmael


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Mick Harper wrote:
You, Ishmael, are being sent a special diet of theory-only sections, so you won't be up to speed on this. Other people will get the normal unfolding unless we/they think otherwise.


So I am not reading the book in its standard format?

That may explain the out-of-place reference I encountered in the footnotes.

Why make an exception for me?
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Mick Harper
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Yes, sorry, this was a deliberate decision on our part to see whether you would particularly notice. [Consult the Index Page for what you are missing.] We are assuming that real buyers of the book will not actually go on the walks at the time of purchase so might not wish to plough through them. This in turn makes the When You Get Home section (which deals with places and things encountered on each walk) hard to follow. Hence people might just read the theory bits in sequence ...as you are.

Of course the obvious step is to put all the theory stuff together but this defeats the 'unfolding mystery' aspect of the book -- which both of us experienced while writing the book and which we'd like if possible to convey to the reader. Who is, remember, a walker not a megalith-fancier.
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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I'm going to enjoy reading this.

Although the target readership is less likely to have been exposed to orthodox analysis of the subject matter than that of THOBR, it's good to see (in the first 15 pages at least) that you haven't ''dumbed down'' the content too much... even though it's tempting to regard all recreational walkers as brain-dead automatons. You may even awaken some of them.

By the way, it looks like I'm being fed the expurgated version too. (Perhaps you should include a companion video for us armchair ramblers.)
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Hatty
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Some people like to put down others to big themselves up so dumbing down would be irritating. (One comment, from a non-AEL person, was 'she wants to feel clever' by the end of the book).

It's no more use to generalise about people who walk than about people who read but, generalising anyway, they tend to be middle-class, middle-income, white professionals or married to same and often with a rather impressive knowledge about the countryside.
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Mick Harper
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Nobody is being fed an expurgated version. Ishmael was given some sections out of sequence for technical reasons but nobody else will get theory-only unless they particularly request it (or we change the policy for some inscrutable purpose of our own not to be vouchsafed to guinea-pigs).

Chad, it would be useful to hear why you think you are being shortchanged. You will now receive a coupla Dorset Walks and a When You Get Home section that comments on places passed on the walks, eg Swans become a major (Megalithic) item because of the Abbotsbury Swannery. The whole is supposed to flow from the theory bit you have just read. As a northern armchair walker, please say whether Dorset Walks and comments thereon cross the fascination threshold for you.
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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Chad, it would be useful to hear why you think you are being shortchanged.


Sorry, I was jumping to conclusions.

Since I was initially fed only the theory bit of chapter one, when I was greedily anticipating the whole caboodle, I thought... but never mind... now I've received the remainder I have a warm, glowing feeling inside.

(Not had chance to read it yet... but will report back later.)
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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This jumped out at me:

And we haven't even mentioned the corvée, which must be as old as the village.


Corvée > corvus (raven)

So we were right about corvids being put to work for man's benefit.
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Mick Harper
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Corvéeblimey, I never thought of that one! Since the work practice is given a French word we need to know when it got its name in England. Obviously we'll also need Froggy stuff on corvids. If they haven't shot them all. Or is that the Italians.
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Hatty
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That's brilliant, Chad, it must be right. Long straight lines of workers methodically pulling or picking things fits the bill.

Corvées and straight lines of string go back to at least the Ancient Egyptians.
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Ishmael


In: Toronto
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Hatty wrote:
Corvées and straight lines of string go back to at least the Ancient Egyptians.


Didn't we talk about crows arranging things in lines?
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