Ley lines in Hampshire

In Alfred Watkins' classic, The Old Straight Track, we learn that he believes that there is a ley line running from the church in Mortimer to the church in Silchester (which of course lies on the ruins of a pagan temple). It runs from the church at Mortimer West End, through one of the four Silchester temples, then the church (St Mary's) before intersecting with a moat.

A closer inspection of the church of St Mary's reveals what looks to be part of a column – could this be from the old pagan temple? Some of the church has been built from the stones of the old building currently there are renovations on-going. Curiously, as I moved away from the column and towards a new extension on the church, I was quickly struck with a headache and was left with the impression that the ongoing renovations were disturbing the energy in the area.

But back to the ley line; certainly the church is well sited; it is located on a hill and thus offers a lovely vista of the fields and the defensive roman walls.

I just had a funny feeling today that I wanted to get out and about an visit Silchester. Initially, I had a mind to try and dowse Watkin's Ley but this impression got lost at some point because I left the house without my dowsing crystal! Heading towards Silchester, I took a wrong turn and ended up going towards Mortimer – but this meant that I did have the opportunity to go up and down the road that links Mortimer to Little Heath. This goes past a St Catherines Hill – a road which leads up a fairly steep embankment.

Now hills that are names after St Catherine are very interesting. I can recollect two which are crowned with chapels. One of them, located at Winchester had a fairly large chunk of it carved out by work on the M3. This hill is crowned with a 'Miz-Maze'.

In her book, Ancient British Goddess, Kathy Jones equates St Catherine with the Goddess Bridget. A quick look at an OS map for the area shows that in the woods that bound the road, there are located several tumuli. A little further on and we can see part of 'Grim's ditch' a bronze or early iron age defensive embankment which is found in Berkshire and Hampshire. The name Grim meaning Odin or Woden, 'the masked one'. Could this site be a location of pagan worship, perhaps venerating the Goddess in Her maiden form?