Strange Map Feature - Is It Worth A Cache?

[+The Time Lord]

Does anybody have any idea what the feature is on the 1:25,000 map for Shrewsbury at grid SJ 534 223? It too big for a crop circle.

[+MarcB]

Anyone have a Streetmap.co.uk link?

MarcB

[+Daisy&me]

Does anybody have any idea what the feature is on the 1:25,000 map for Shrewsbury at grid SJ 534 223?  It too big for a crop circle.

What's that in lat/long Jim?

Edited March 10, 2004 by Daisy&me

[+stu_and_sarah]

Does this help? I don't think multimap does the 25000:1 maps, but on the aerial photo there seems to be a huge circle in the middle of a field, and it's almost in the right location.

 

I make the lat/long of Jim's grid reference to be N52 47.800 W2 41.516 (although the 6-digit accuracy of the grid reference means this may be too precidse).

 

Cheers,

 

Stu

[+Friendly Flyer]

As it's right next to the airfield at Shawbury and it's obviously a circle of well cut grass I'd say that it was probably the antenna for a radio navigation aid.

[+Papakas]

Hi Jim,

 

I'm still working on this but so far I've established that the feature is outside the boundary for RAF Shawbury and may fall within the Acton Reynald hall boundary or possibly something to do with New Ho which is a farm to the south. I may get a call back from one of the aircrew based at RAF Shawbury (operational helicopter station) if they can find someone who knows what the feature is. The feature is quite possibly a mound of some sort, obviously man-made. If I find out anything more I'll post it here.

 

No reply from the RAF yet but the nearest I've got is the name of Crow at New House Farm (shown as New Ho on the map) which is 500 metres south of the feature. I've been advised that New House Farm works the fields in the area of the feature so someone there may know the answer. Unfortunately I've been unable to dig out a phone number for either the name or the farm.

 

Rgds Paul

Edited March 10, 2004 by Pyoung1s

[+Daisy&me]

I don't think it can be a mound or structure. The tree and buildings in the photo have a clearly visible shadow, but the circle does not.

[+Papakas]

Hi Jim,

 

I've not given up on this one. As usual once I get my teeth into something like this I'll not let go! I've just emailed the Shawbury website to see if someone there can throw some light on the subject.

 

Rgds Paul

Edited March 10, 2004 by Pyoung1s

[+Stuey]

Bunging SJ534223 into the www.getamap.co.uk OS web site gives you the 1:25000 scale map. It shows on the map clearly. It's about 150 metres in diameter. Not sure if this helps though?

 

I love stuff like this

Edited March 10, 2004 by Stuey

[+The Wombles]

Bunging SJ534223 into the www.getamap.co.uk OS web site gives you the 1:25000 scale map. It shows on the map clearly. It's about 150 metres in diameter. Not sure if this helps though?

 

This map clearly shows the outside ring of feature as permanent rather than temporary, whilst Stu's aerial photo suggests that the surface is mostly green (grass?) rather than concrete.

 

Jim, I think you'll have to visit before you know if it's a good location for a cache - and get permission of course

 

Dave Edwards

Edited March 10, 2004 by The Wombles

[+choccymandm]

that's really, really wierd, I've zoomed in on the aerial photo and there's definately something there, you can see the the way the field has been cut around it, whether its got a mound or a hedge around it is difficult to tell, but whats gets me is why the hedge seperating the two fields grows straight thru the centre of it and why its darker on one side and not the other? perhaps something is growing on only one side.

 

the plot thickens ......

[Leoness]

Do you think the trees cut a tangent across it slighty which would imply that it's older than the wood ?!

[+The Time Lord]

Wow I never thought this would cause such interest. The map would seem to indicate that it is a perfectly circular track of some kind with a wall running through it. The only time I have ever seen anything like this before was on a site map in saudi Arabia where the mappers reproduced the stain from a coffee cup!

Thanks a lot for the thoughts and help. I will go and look at it on the ground over the weekend.

Cheers Jim

[+Team Paradise]

Could well be a radio antenna. There's a similar huge "crop circle" at N51 16.422 - W0 38.870 which is indeed a VHF antenna for air traffic. Here's a photo from Multimap.

 

Steve

[+minstrelcat]

I wonder why the thing isn't marked on the 1:50,000 map. Its certainly big enough.

Lisa

[+The Time Lord]

Maybe we should start a new type of caching - not only benchmarks and trig points bagging we could now have strange circle bagging Jim

[+choccymandm]

Jim, i like your idea ... can we log these we saw as we flew over the US?

[+Martyn B & April A]

Jim, i like your idea ... can we log these we saw as we flew over the US?

Steady folks, posting admissions like these might prompt a visit by two geezers in dark suits with mirror shades.... !!!

[+Pharisee]

Jim, i like your idea ... can we log these we saw as we flew over the US?

There's quite a few like that in the middle east. It's where they're irrigating areas of desert and growing crops. There's a water spray pipe rotating around the central point.

[+The Hornet]

Don't be a spoilsport John They're clearly ill disguised flying saucers.

[+Learned Gerbil]

I think it is darker on that side because the circle is a dome and the sun is low to the SW.

[polar69]

Looks like some sort of enclosure for an airfield beacon

Anyone with access to a nav map should be able to verify it

 

Unless it IS a flying saucer landing site of course

[+choccymandm]

It's where they're irrigating areas of desert and growing crops. There's a water spray pipe rotating around the central point

 

we sorta guessed thats what it was when we saw these a few thousand miles later .... but boy did it have us going for a while!

[+minstrelcat]

Adam doesn't think it is a radio antenna as it would need an access road.

 

Lisa

[polar69]

I tend to disagree , I'm sure I have seen ariels in the middle of airfields with no access roads

[+Learned Gerbil]

I agree - the radio beacon at Detling in Kent is a large circular object, with an obvious access road which is marked on the OS map.

[+Bill D (wwh)]

Odd that it appears to sit across a fence, and in fact seems to be centred on the fence.

 

For what it's worth, the feature isn't shown on the 1891 map at old-maps.co.uk. (Enter grid ref as 353400,322300). The fence was there then, though.

[+Gazza&Girls]

No shadow of a antenna or building makes this a real puzzler.

I am eager to here what it could be.

[+aisledog]

For what its worth, my guess is that its a camouflaged wartime aircraft hanger. There are a lot of them around that area....although the shape is unusual. For obvious reasons they are disguised from aerial view.

[Obi Wan]

I asked my brother-in-law to have a quick look at the photo as he is a former photographic interpreter with the RAF. He only looked at the blown up photo, not the maps or the original. I also didn't point out the airfield close by.

 

He wasn't sure but he said he had seen similar features before that were former railway tuntable sites. However, there is nothing on the OS map that shows any evidence of a disused railway but it remains a possibility. There is a railway a short distance to the west.

 

Will anyone finally solve this mystery?

 

Is it the work of the dark side of the force??

 

Obi.

Edited March 13, 2004 by Obi Wan

[+Stuey]

He wasn't sure but he said he had seen similar features before that were former railway tuntable sites.

From the scale of the map, it looks like it is over 100 metres across. Someone is going to have to pay a visit

[+Fayrewood Foragers]

could it be an old bomb site? - a bomber discarding an unused bomb from the war prior to landing at the airfield

[MCL]

Hmmm...Looking at the zoom-in, and taking note of the way the shadows fall for the surrounding trees etc, it seems to me that the thing is not a dome at all, but rather the opposite, ie concave, a dip, and hole-in-the-ground. Working on this theory, then a crater of some sort would seem a likely possibility. Either a bomb crater, or maybe a small meteorite. The only other thing that springs to mind is some kind of bowl-shaped roman amphitheatre, which might explain the path around the top.

[+MarcB]

He wasn't sure but he said he had seen similar features before that were former railway tuntable sites.

From the scale of the map, it looks like it is over 100 metres across. Someone is going to have to pay a visit

No access footpaths by the look of it...

MarcB

[+Team Maddie UK]

I've been wondering about the suggestions of it being a radio nav aid. The only circular type of beacon I can think of would be a VOR beacon but these look quite different and I don't think quite as wide. I wonder if this could be an earlier type of the same thing which has now been abandoned hence no access required etc. On what appears to be the circular track in the bottom left quadrant there are regular radial features crossing the track (a little like railway sleepers). Perhaps these are shadows of short arial masts?

 

Definitely a fun little puzzle to ponder on. Thanks Jim, it makes sitting out here in the North Sea in a howling gale a little more interesting

 

Martin (Martin + Lynn = Mady)

 

PS: Just noticed something else. If you go to multimap

 

http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?clie...=700&height=410

 

You may notice that there appears to be the beginning of a track leading from the Shawbury airfield in the direction of the circle which stops abruptly at the edge of the field which contains the eastern half of the circle. Perhaps this was indeed the access road which, no longer necessary, has given way to the agriculture.

Edited March 15, 2004 by Mady

[+The Time Lord]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions.

 

I must admit I tend to think that is is the remains of some sort of large circular Antenna Site (over 150 metre across) but the siting bothers me.

 

Who would put it there - its half way up a hill and next to a wood neither of which would make it a good transmission site, there are far better locations close by. It also still has the original fence/hedge running straight through it.

 

Jim

 

PS did not visit it at the weekend as I went up Brown Clee to get the trio of caches there - was it wet and windy.

[+Icenians]

I would just like to say that as an ex RAF radar and navigation aids technician I worked on the navaids in and around airfields for 14 years. While many of the naviads were circular, I don't remember any of the sites they were on being circular. It's a lot easier and cheaper to build a straight fence.

[Obi Wan]

Anyone solved this yet?????

 

I can't sleep at night wondering!!

 

Obi

[+Naefearjustbeer]

I know what it is

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

its a circle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

ducks and runs for cover

[+Papakas]

Naefearjustbeer, I know a good assassin who can resolve your problem!

Obi Wan, I recommend a bit of night caching, that'll take your mind off it!

 

Come on, there must be a cacher living nearby who can solve this one. Or have I got to call by on my next journey from Manchester to Southampton?! Any excuse to get away from the M6!

[+Haggis Hunter]

I believe I know what it is just going by the aerial photograph. I think it is a Henge as in Stonehenge. Henges are circular in shape with a ditch or wall going around it. They usually have 2 entrances, which 1 of them will have a line of site with a prominent feature when the sun reaches a particular area or when a certain set of constalation stars are in line. (learnt this all from watching Time Team). They do have sometimes a path running straight through them. If you look closely at the areal picture you can make out what may be buildings, which you could find inside them and there are 2 structures to the East of it that also may be buildings or burial grounds. There are hundreds of them in the country and most of them you can only see from the sky.

 

There again I may be wrong.

 

Haggis Hunter

Edited March 23, 2004 by Haggis Hunter

[+Mr & Mrs Hedgehog]

Just been chatting to our GIS guy here. He think that someone has dug a pond... I'm of the thought that its something that sunken rather than raised

[+The Time Lord]

Well

 

Eventually I went to see the farmer at "new house farm" just South of the feature and talked to him. He hhad never heard of Geocaching and wondered which planet I had come from!

 

Eventually after showing him the field and the map he told me what it was and I could not believe it - none of us were even close .

 

He would not let me go and see the feature and you cannot see it from the road, he also would not entertain the idea of a cache anywhere on his land .

 

So let me tell you what it is -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh hang on Lyn is calling me for tea - back soon

 

Jim

[+The Time Lord]

OK cachers - its a circular all weather horse gallop.

 

How boring I wanted it to be something realy exotic or alien - maybe it is alien and the farmer is one of them .

 

Anyway its kept us amused for a while - thanks to everybody.

 

Jim

[+Team Paradise]

You want something exotic... Try this !

[+The Time Lord]

You want something exotic... Try this !

Brilliant - I really like that

[Obi Wan]

So, my idea of a turn-table was closest...... only for horses not trains!

 

Thanks for solving the mystery. I can sleep soundly again.

 

Cheers.

 

Obi.

[+Stuey]

OK cachers - its a circular all weather horse gallop.

Well I never! It's a big one. Thanks for going to check it out for us.

[+MarcB]

lol it was a bit of a let down but at least the puzzle is solved!

MarcB

[+Simply Paul]

You want something exotic... Try this !

Looks a tricky spot for a cache. Do we know anyone with a two seater jet, a long length of rope and some really strong glue?

 

Very funny picture, thanks!

 

SP

 

P.S. I was going to say that feature looked like an animal exercise track, but never got around to it! dadgum, I would have been everyone's hero too. Gurrr.

Edited March 26, 2004 by Simply Paul