Wayland’s Smithy – Nine Lights Quest Site
On 2nd January 1981, Graham Phillips and Andrew B Collins visited Wayland’s Smithy as part of the Nine Lights Quest. By then, the previous year had already taken its toll on the Parasearch group—financial pressures mounting, and psychological strain increasing as the months stretched towards autumn.
In The Green Stone, Graham later described that first encounter with Wayland’s Smithy in vivid detail:
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Wayland’s Smithy. The stones of the long-chambered barrow stood tall and proud as they approached. Surrounded by a copse of trees the low earth mound is about fifty yards long and ten yards wide, an ancient barrow over 5,000 years old. One end is higher and here stand the erect standing stones, the gateway to a small chamber within. Graham had no idea that the chamber was inside the copse, and Andy had only heard of Wayland’s Smithy during his studies of Megalithic sites. The barrow derives its name from Wieland the Smith, the blacksmith of the gods in German and Scandinavian mythology.
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Excerpt and photo from The Green Stone. Copyright 1983 Graham Phillips & Martin Keatman reproduced with permission. All Rights Reserved.
The photo of Graham standing atop Wayland’s Smithy was taken by their friend and associate Jean Astle in 1982. Interestingly, while she is credited first in the acknowledgements of The Green Stone, it omits a crucial detail—it was Jean who painstakingly typed the original handwritten manuscript for both The Green Stone and The Eye of Fire before publication.
Fortunately for me, Andy had progressed onto A4 Collins diaries by this point, and his copious, if somewhat sporadic, notes hold a mass of information from this time. Of course, he didn’t stick to the calendar dates in the diary, but he did record the dates of these entries meticulously.
A later photo—showing Graham and Andy together at Wayland’s Smithy—was taken on 3rd September 1989. In the front row stand Charles, Angela, and Jean.
While digging through Andy’s archive, I located his diary entry for that day, confirming that Debbie was also present during the visit, not long after their infamous first meeting on Shenfield Common, a day covered with traditional tabloid flair by the Brentwood Gazette.
