Lydney Temple - Sacred Geometry and Orientation

THE SACRED GEOMETRY AND ORIENTATION

of Lydney Romano-Celtic Temple:

(Forest of Dean)

by Charles E S Fairey

September 2024

See also:- Church Orientation, Alignment and Solar Worship: with Examples from Cheshire and North Staffordshire, Charles E. S. Fairey, 2018, available online @ https://www.mysticmasque.com/history-mystery/church-orientation-alignment-and-solar-worship

INTRODUCTION

In Lydney Park in the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire, there is an important prehistoric and Roman site. It originally consisted of an Iron Age hillfort, although a few Mesolithic and later worked flint tools have been recovered. During the Iron Age period a promontory hillfort was constructed, which also housed a Celtic shrine, of which an altar now remains. 

A Romano-Celtic Temple, Bathhouse and Guesthouse, was built in the late third or early fourth century AD. It became one of only a few important Romano-Celtic Temples in Great Britain. It was built in the Classical-style. It was a very important healing centre, supported by wealthy cult worshippers, with a long block of dormitories, as well as the Guesthouse, for the sick pilgrims to stay in whilst seeking healing.

The Celtic God, Nodens, is believed to be the main deity worshipped here. Nodens may be represented by a dog, because the main focus of the temple seems to be healing, and dogs are also known for their healing attributes, because they are known to lick their wounds to heal themselves. Nine dog figurines have been recovered from the temple site.

The Celtic God, Silvanus, of the River Severn was also likely an important local deity worshipped here. He is associated with the unusual Severn Bore, which is a tidal wave that travels upstream along the river from the sea. He is often associated with woodland and hunting, which is especially relevant here, as we are on the edge of the Forest of Dean. My friend Clive Barrett likens him to the Green Man, which is ever so apt. The Bore may be viewed from the Temple.

The ruins were excavated in the Victorian period and then again by the famous archaeologist, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, in the 1920s. He excavated and recorded the ruins of the complex, recovering thousands of finds, as well as uncovering beautiful remains of Roman mosaic floors. He published his findings in ’Reports on the Prehistoric, Roman, and Post-Roman Site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, R. E. M. Wheeler and T. V. Wheeler, The Society of Antiquaries of London, No. IX, 1932'. It was again excavated in the 1990s, which proved a slightly earlier date for the Temple.

J. R. R. Tolkein also visited the excavations, and was very much interested in the votive offerings. It is likely some of his ‘Lord of the Rings’ was inspired by Lydney, and the ‘Vorrest of Dene’s’ (local dialect), sites, history, and folklore. The hill itself is known as ‘Camp Hill’, but was also once known as ‘Dwarf’s Hill’, and there are remains of an iron mine within the hillfort enclosure.

Puzzlewood, and the Secret Forest, near Coleford, as well as woods near Bream, to the north of Lydney, were also Iron Age and Roman surface iron workings / mines, known as ‘Scowles’, and they are very suggestive of Tolkein’s ‘Middle Earth’.

The many ancient trees in Lydney Park give you the sense, like in the Lord of the Rings, that they (the 'Ents') may just stand up, and bellow about the goblins and other dark beings, trying to destroy the sacred Vorrest, for the acquisition of the metals below!

A plethora of votive offerings, artefacts and coins have been recovered, and are displayed in the on-site museum situated within Lydney Park House.

The site is often open to the public for an affordable entrance fee, during the month of May each year, which gives access to more than just the Temple, its associated ruins, and the museum; because there are also gardens, a café, and earthworks of a Norman castle.

To visit, please see Lydney Park and Gardens Website @ www.lydneyparkestate.co.uk/opening-times.

 *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 In this small article, I am going to mainly deal with the Sacred Geometry and Orientation of the Temple building, because it does have a form and position relative to the sun, which must be explored.

As many will already know, the ‘ancients’ knew much more than many bless them with, and they knew all about sacred building forms, the positions of certain sunrises and sunsets during the year, the cycles of the moon, and nevermind the positions of the stars in the night sky!

LYDNEY TEMPLE

(FOREST OF DEAN)

ORIENTATION 

According to the SunCalc Online Application (https://www.suncalc.org/), which allows you to see the position of the sun in the sky throughout the year, for recent decades, we find that 2023’s Summer Solstice Sunrise aligns with the line of the back wall of the Temple.

IE. the Temple has been built with its front and back walls, of both the Ambulatories and Central Cella, orientated to the Summer Solstice Sunrise.

Please note, that due the Temple being built in the late 3rd or early 4th century, it is very likely, the alignment was even closer or actually exact, when it was built. We have to take into account the curvature of the Earth itself which has a slight effect. We also have to take into account that the ‘SunCalc’ app also shows the Sunrise or Sunset as if at sea level. If there are surrounding high hills, which there is, this delays the rising of the sun, and makes its rising a little later, as well as the sunset, setting a little earlier.

This means that the entrance to the Temple and its main axis, therefore sits at a right angle to this alignment.

As some people will know, the Summer Solstice Sunrise, is also in the exact same alignment, to the Winter Solstice Sunset, as shown below.

The Ancients certainly loved and venerated the lifeforce of the Sun!

This is especially relevant because a bronze diadem or crown was found during excavations of the Temple, which depicts the Sun God riding in his Chariot of Fire. This mythical symbol represents the Sun as it traverses the sky, and may have been worn by the Temple Priest.

The Temple’s outer ambulatories would have had window openings, and the Central Cella, also had a clerestory, a windowed arcade to its top. This means that the Summer Solstice Sunrise or Winter Solstice Sunset, could have been seen streaming in light into the Temple, from its sides, or in its each side, ‘side chapels’.

The Temple is also orientated towards ‘Blestium’, the Roman name for Monmouth, to the north-west. It’s not exact, but it is close.

The Temple’s entrance and steps are also in close alignment with Stonehenge, Durrington Walls, and Amesbury, and its associated prehistoric structures, to the south-east.

In Google Earth Pro we can create:

• the Longitudinal Axis, i.e. the straight line which travels through the centre and longest part of the building;

•  the Transverse Axis, i.e. the straight line which travels at right angles to the Longitudinal Axis, and runs parallel with the front and back walls of the building.

This is important because it shows the line across the landscape the Temple:

• faces, i.e. its Altar, as well as its Entrance, re the Longitudinal Axis; we know faces to the north-west, Monmouth (Blestium); and to the south-east, Stonehenge, Durrington Walls, and Amesbury.

•  and its sides face, i.e. the front and back walls are parallel to, re the Transverse Axis: we know is aligned with to the north-east, the Summer Solstice Sunrise; and to the south-west, the Winter Solstice Sunset.

Hence, we find that the Longitudinal Axis:

• to the south-east, it not only aligns close to Stonehenge, Durrington Walls, and Amesbury, but also in between, to Horton Roman Camp and Little Sodbury Hillfort. It also aligns with Southampton and the River Solent’s estuary, and Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight. Further, into France, it lies close to Le Havre, Chartres, Nevers, Lyon, and Cannes.

•  To the north-west, it not only aligns close to Monmouth (Roman ‘Blestium’), but also to the water well at Clearwell, the site of an ancient tree once known as ‘The Newland Oak’, the Iron Age sacrificial altar at ‘The Buck Stone’, but also to ‘The Kymin’, which is a hill sitting high over the River Wye and the Roman town of Monmouth. Interestingly, this line extends close to Kentchurch Bridge (linked with the Devil), as well as unbelievably, in the vicinity of the Source of the River Severn, as well as the Source of the River Wye (in the heart of Wales), the Forest of Dean’s natural boundary rivers, and their mouths. Extending this further, it passes close to the town of Armagh in Ireland.

We also find that the Transverse Axis:

• to the south-west, it aligns closely with Chepstow and Caerwent (the Roman town built for the tribe known as ‘The Silures’, aptly named ‘Venta Silurum’). This line extends into Cornwall, and passes through ‘Hawk’s Tor’.

•  To the north-east, it aligns closely to the City of Gloucester (Roman ‘Gelvum’), Stratford on Avon, Rugby, and then on the North Sea Coast, Skegness.

In 2009 I wrote a poem about my experiences at Lydney Temple, so those of you who like poetry, please read my homage below:-

Nodens Of Lydney

by Charles E S Fairey, 2009

On a hill above the Severn

In a place called Lydney,

Where Tolkien visited and ‘Rings’ told

An Iron Age Dwarf’s stronghold,

With a shrine to a Celtic divinity

A place shrouded in Druid mystery,

Where a Triadic God was loved,

Great God Nodens we worship thee

Deity of healing, hunting and the sea.

When the Romans came from land afar

They saw the sacred site upon the hill,

Its magical essence and defensive position

Built a temple about this fortification,

A pilgrim’s hostel, bathhouse and Temple nave

Where roman might come, worship and bathe,

And be healed by the Celtic Deity,

Great God Nodens we worship thee

Deity of healing, hunting and the sea.

These pilgrims left gifts and offerings

Their plentiful remains now uncovered,

A greyhound who helps the dying or sick

The Lydney Dog and his healing lick,

The smith and his work bought by Roman purse

Inscribed sheets of lead, of prayer and curse,

Altars times three to the holy Triad,

Great God Nodens we worship thee

Deity of healing, hunting and the sea.

Dwarf’s Hill an inspiration for “The Rings”

Home to nether worldly hobgoblins,

Where iron was mined through history

The Great God Nodens we worship thee,

The Sea, The Rivers and their monsters lure

Sea Gods, Titans and Severn Bore,

Patron of the Fishermen and of silver hand,

Great God Nodens we worship thee

Deity of healing, hunting and the sea. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• Clive Barrett (For exploring Lydney Temple, etc, with me) and Proprietor of the Greenman Gatekeeper Shop, Lydney, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire (https://www.greenmangatekeeper.com/)

• Michael C. Oakes (For exploring Lydney Temple, etc, with me)

• Stephen Simpson (For exploring Lydney Temple, etc, with me)

BIBLIOGRAPGHY

• Reports on the Prehistoric, Roman, and Post-Roman Site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, R. E. M. Wheeler and T. V. Wheeler, The Society of Antiquaries of London, No. IX, 1932.

• Exploring the World of the Druids, Miranda J. Green, 2005.

• The Tribe of Witches: the Religion of the Dobunni and Hwicce, Stephen J. Yeates, 2008.

• A Dreaming for the Witches: a Recreation of the Dobunni Primal Myth, Stephen J. Yeates, 2009.

• SunCalc Online Application @ https://www.suncalc.org/

• Sunrire / Sunset Calculator @ https://gml.noaa.gov/grad/solcalc/sunrise.html

• Google Maps @ https://www.google.com/maps or https://www.google.co.uk/maps/

• Bing Maps @ https://www.bing.com/maps/

ASSOCIATED ARTICLE

Church Orientation, Alignment and Solar Worship: with Examples from Cheshire and North Staffordshire, Charles E. S. Fairey, 2018, available online @ https://www.mysticmasque.com/history-mystery/church-orientation-alignment-and-solar-worship