1924 - Great Cheverell
This account is one of several which are on record following local press coverage. In this instance, Constance Wheeler belatedly reported a circles event in the Devizes area, which took place in 1924 but which was not published until seventy years later.
By then, Mrs Wheeler had seen contemporary reports of crop circles and was unhappy with the repeated claim that the circles were a modern creation. Consequently she put pen to paper, the Reading Evening Post working her letter into a brief article - frustratingly filled with inaccuracies. (The account confuses events with some details from the earlier 1904 circles - see separate page on this site for details of those - and also wrongly suggests that the term "fairly circles" was in use by her family members.) These inaccuracies, and several additional details were discovered by Paul Fuller, who visited Mrs Wheeler in November of that year. Thanks to his interview, we can significantly correct the press report, which describes four large and two smaller circles. In fact, that describes the circles of 1904 - what we have here is two circles in wheat, which are casually referred to as "rings" by Mrs Wheeler, but are believed to be regular circles. It is possible to accurately date these circles. Since Mrs Wheeler recalls being eight years old, they appeared in 1924. And she was on holiday from school at the time, so they date to August or very close. They appeared at Great Cheverell (see map below). Mrs Wheeler never saw these circles for herself; she reports that a spell of harsh weather left them almost obliterated in the field and that she never visited them. However she did recall the descriptions given by her aunts at the time, and in Fuller's interview he notes, "she was adamant that according to her aunts all the crop pointed in one direction." This is strongly suggestive of a distinct rotational swirl in the circles. |
Article from Reading Evening Post, August 4, 1994 |
Circle location
We include a map here to show the proximity of these two circles to the six-circle formation of 1904.
The earlier circles appeared at Cornbury Farm, where the family lived (lower circle), whereas these ones were found around Great Cheverell (upper circle), one of a cluster of villages a couple of miles to the north.
The exact site is unknown however.
historic old crop circles - UK circles
