The idea of ley lines was first proposed in the 1920s by the amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins. In his book, 'The Old Straight Track', Watkins suggested that many ancient sites in Britain - such as standing stones, barrows, and old churches - could be joined by drawing straight lines across the landscape. He believed these alignments were not accidental but reflected a deliberate system of connecting key points across space, which might once have served as navigational or trade routes.
A distinctive part of Watkins’ theory was his belief in dodmen, or ancient surveyors, who supposedly laid out these lines across the countryside with surveying rods. He imagined that these early engineers intentionally aligned sites to create a coherent network of straight tracks. One crucial aspect of Watkins' theory is often misunderstood: he did not believe people physically walked in perfectly straight lines. Instead, he argued that the straight "ley" was a conceptual line of sight between prominent landmarks. While travelers still had to navigate around natural obstacles like hills and rivers, they would use the visible monuments as a series of beacons to guide them toward their ultimate destination.
I have no doubt that throughout history people have used prominent ancient landmarks as navigational aids. Even today, with GPS and mobile maps, we still navigate primarily by sight. Prominent topographic features such as rivers, valleys, and mountains have always been used to help navigate the landscape, and ancient monuments like hillforts and megaliths have undoubtedly served as waymarks for travelers.
However, while I think it’s very likely people have used landmarks as practical aids for finding their way, the idea of a prehistoric surveying class (dodmen) systematically imposing straight alignments seems improbable.
In recent decades ley lines have taken on a different life altogether. Rather than being viewed mainly as old trade routes or alignments, they have become part of a spiritual and mystical interpretation of the landscape. Many people today see ley lines as channels of earth energy, linking sacred sites into a web of unseen power. This belief that ley lines are natural channels of energy ignores one fundamental fact. You can find straight lines connecting ancient monuments everywhere and anywhere you look.
To illustrate this point, I created an interactive map that allows you to plot straight lines between ancient sites. The way it works is simple: you can click anywhere on the map, draw a line across the landscape, and almost inevitably that line will intersect with a castle or standing stone(s). This isn’t because the sites were all deliberately aligned in prehistory, or were built on a channel of natural Earth energy, but rather because Britain is so densely dotted with ancient and historic features that some degree of alignment is bound to occur purely by chance.
When you click on the Ley Line Locator map, the code looks for the two nearest sites - either castles, ancient stones, or both - that line up most closely in a straight line with your chosen point. It does this by calculating the angles formed between your click and pairs of nearby sites, searching for the combination that produces the angle closest to 180 degrees (a perfectly straight alignment). Once the best match is found, the map automatically draws a line through your location and the two sites, and highlights them so you can see the alignment. This means that no matter where you click, even with only a few hundred locations, the map will almost always be able to produce a “ley line”.
