SLIMBRIDGE DOWSING GROUP REPORTS

As regular readers know by now, it is possible to dowse for a variety of things, not just for water, but dowsing for ghosts, corpses, spirals and ley lines is certainly something different. So when the Slimbridge Dowsing Group had the opportunity to visit the renowned Ram Inn in Wotton-Under-Edge on Saturday 15 March to investigate psychic phenomenon, seventeen members arrived with divining rods, pendulums and cameras at the ready.

They were welcomed by the owner and custodian for the past forty years, John Humphries, who talked about the history of the place and divulged that TV’s Time Team are in negotiations to visit too. There are possible links with William the Conqueror, and the property belonged to the church for a thousand years. Bishops have slept in the Bishop’s Room.

After protecting ourselves by dowsing, we explored the grounds and gardens, discovering several hidden archaeological features, and the outline of barns and outbuildings.
Members of Slimbridge Dowsing Group at the Ram Inn, Wotton-under-EdgeA pile of masonry was identified as an old mortuary, and a vertical white cross marked the resting place of three sixteenth-century females at a depth of 8 to 9 feet. Buried as pagans, i.e. north-south, they were aged 67, 8 and 69 years.

Nearby was a clear water well, 35 feet deep, vital for any property in those days. The site is at the intersection of two ley lines, also very important to ancient ecclesiastical builders. One ley line goes south towards Ley Farm, Kingswood, and north through St. Mary’s Parish Church over Rushmire Hill towards Hetty Pegler’s Tump, then through Gloucester and Worcester Cathedrals, both former monasteries.

Dowsing further we found negative and positive energy spirals as well as the old barrel of a cannon dated at 1670. It had been fired in anger, perhaps during the Battle of Nibley Green or the Siege of Wotton Manor House? We also found a passage under the road, linking the Ram to the rear of the church.

Indoors the Victorian parlour was warm and cosy, and through a stone doorway into the oldest part we found public bar and lounge and a large inglenook fireplace. The taproom behind the fireplace should have been warm but it felt cold and eerie. We soon discovered why - about 1600 a lady had been murdered there by her brother.

Ascending a creaky wooden staircase we saw many artefacts and the Bishop’s Room. Then turning the corner we found an ultra-modern bathroom, complete with corner shower. It was good to know that in such an historic building, with its ghosts and still with wattle and daub from the original wood-framed building, John enjoys a degree of 21st-century comfort. He deserves it.