Waverley Abbey, Farnham; click to enlarge
Thanks to Tales of Old Surrey by Matthew Alexander, we learn that an underground passage supposedly ran for over two miles to the Waverley Abbey; plausibly, such legends were often early, but distorted, commemorations of Ley Lines.
Mother Ludlums 'Hole', 'Cave' or 'Well'
Mother Ludlum's 'Hole', an artificially widened outflow cave with a spring stream running through and from it.
Folklore submits that in the 13th century the ‘Ludewell’, (other spellings through history include ‘Ludwell’ and ‘Luddwell’) was once home to a White Witch known as 'Mother' who supplied the monks of nearby Waverley Abbey with fresh water and cooking utensils in return for food.
Origins of the name ‘Ludwell’ or ‘Luddwell. A modern ethnographer would identify ‘Lud’ as a Celtic god: A temple dedicated to Llud once stood at the site of St. Paul's Cathedral in London near Ludgate, which was named after him.
He replaced the Goddess Tamesis as God of the River Thames.
Llud was also notorious as the Celtic god of healing.
The quaint little story of ‘Mother’s’ arrangement with the monks may be just folklore; and looking at the legend another way, (from a Pagan, living earth belief angle) the 'Mother' reference might just as easily be considered as alluding to the 'Earth Mother’, (rock womb of) and the 'Hole', a symbolic reference to the opening where the water emerges from 'her' cavernous vagina... now there's a thought!
Mother Ludlum's 'Other Hole' is in Guildford.
Records show that there is a small, narrow opening in Guildford, (a 'hole' if you like) leading to a natural subterranean rock passage.
Although barely big enough for an adult to squeeze through, this 'other hole' falls directly on the ‘spine’ of our landscape Hog.
So, what exactly is this 'Hog' we keep on about?
Above: Recently (12-09-2021) I captured this over The Hog using an IR camera
Below: And, a little later this - (although neither of these are in our book from last year).
And then there's this 'unseen' below: again taken in IR, just over our house, and we are located fairly near 'The Hog' f. 10/10/2021, so, too recent for the book! Click/Enlarge.
There’s a Hog in the landscape! and we are convinced that historically, this natural feature would have initially been skirted by cart roads and footpaths; then likely maintained, (perhaps even enhanced) kept in shape over time with the use of buildings, hedges, tracks, trenches, field boundary fences, stone indicators, etc.; but despite using the same route, our Hog is now denoted by motor roads; from the A31, (the Hog’s Back) A246, A245, A320, A319, B383, B3020, A30, A325 and the ‘tail’ is the A287 to Newnham, Hampshire.
These roads now fully encompass the Hog; within and nearby, it’s all about mystical sites, energy hotspots, UFOs, dragons, dragon-slaying associations, superhumans… even a flying witch on her stick – together with up to a thousand wild boar roaming the countryside inside our hog, (yes, right now as you read this) + pig keeping and much more! Long story, best read the book - as a free PDF download.
Cover for The Hog's Back – A Hog in The Landscape: Surrey’s Greatest Mystery: Lost Sites of Wonder, Forgotten Ancient Knowledge and UFOs
