1999 saw over 140 formations making it one of the best years ever. Some were obviously by the hand of man, (or woman), some were undecided, and some were so good they must have been from elsewhere. All the usual associated phenomena were there, lights, energies etc, but what grabbed my attention most was the spread of them over the country. Not only were formations located in the traditional Wiltshire, Hampshire, Sussex area, but appeared as far afield as Yorkshire and the Midlands. Are the circles spreading as part of some grand plan, or are people becoming more aware and reporting them more often? A formation will only truely be known if it is reported. I would like to thank all those involved in the crop circle field, the researchers, the makers, (whoever you are), the farmers who (mostly) leave formations intact and put up with gangs of people tramping round their fields, the staff at the Barge, and the people behind the Crop Circle Connector and The Noiseroom websites.
Penton Grafton, Hampshire - Barley - Reported 30.5.99 - Visited 5.6.99This superb formation of nested crescents was first reported on May 30th. Situated on a sloping field, it was difficult to spot from the road, and it was only by luck I glimpsed it whilst driving round the village some quarter of a mile away. The lay of the crop was wonderful, though it had been much visited, leaving a number of broken stems, and there was a lot of mud due to the wet weather at the time. The young barley had started to grow back by the time I reached it, but it was still a wonderful sight in a beautiful location.
East Field 1 & 2, Wiltshire - Barley - Reported 12.6.99 - Visited 19.6.99
These two formations apparently appeared on the same night in the famous East Field at Alton Barnes. Visible from Knapp Hill they were six tramlines apart. The longer of the two (1), was an enormous 700ft in length, and contained many of the elements seen in formation if the last ten years of so. Whilst it was very mechanical in construction, with the centre line on two tramlines, it was certainly impressive. East Field 2, which was dubbed The Sunserpent was of a much more impressive construction, with the barley flowing beautifully along the formation. If these two were both man-made, how was it managed in the same night without an army of very noticable people? East Field 1 on it's own would have been a monumental task. Was that one man-made and the second an answer? Was No.2 pointing the way to the construction of formations in the future?
Update 26.10.99 - East Field was being watched on the night of 11/12th June until approximately 0230. Nothing was seen during that time. This would have left about two hours maximun to create two formations totally around 1500 feet in length before the amount of available light would have made any human perpatrators visible in a field that has roads on two sides, one of them running running uphill and providing an excellent view of the area. Farmers, cowmen, etc get up very early.
Figheldean, Wiltshire - Barley - Reported 12.6.99 - Visited 19.6.99
On the same night as the goings-on in East Field this small formation consisting of seven small circles within a larger ring appeared in a field next to the A345. Though neatly constructed, it's situation just down the road from Netheravon Barracks was slightly suspicious. Having said that, anyone construcing it would have been working just yards from a road that is busy even at night.
Chilbolton, Hampshire - Barley - Reported 13.6.99 - Visited 19.6.99
Forming around the same time as several other formations in Wiltshire, this amazing diamond-shaped construction turned up in a field at Chilbolton near Andover. When I visited it only six days after it was first reported, the young barley had almost grown back in many places, as can be seen in the pictures. Better shots can be found at The Noiseroom website. The whole formation is based on a fractal dimension called the Sierpiniski Gasket, which involves creating an equilateral triangle within an equilateral triangle, and then splitting the result infinately. The Chilbolton formation constisted of two triangles in a diamond shape made up of 138 10 foot diameter circles linked by pathways, and was 350 feet long. The crop within the circles was twisted down in a strange manner that suggested the whole of the circle had been done in one violent twisting motion. There were several strange things about this formation. Firstly it's location was reported as having been dowsed, and secondly the field was underneath the Chilbolten Observatory. Whilst standing on the gate of the observatory access road scannning the area with binoculars looking for the formation, (it's a wonder I wasn't arrested as a spy), I noticed a planning permission notice requesting an extension to the microwave experiments conducted by the observatory. Quite what these are I don't know, but it has crossed my mind that the formation could have been a representation of the Alaskan HAARP array. The have been various reports of strange things seen in the sky in the area over the years, and in April 1996 the well-known circlemaker Rod Dickinson witnessed with a friend a glowing red orb over the observatory. His photos of that incident can be seen on the Circlemakers website.
Finally a word about the location from an archaeological perspective, with the area being an old airfield, complete with several original buldings and concrete access roads. How many formations are constructed where one can park the motorbike in sight and on a level surface off a main road? Well done to all concerned wherever you may be.
Sompting, West Sussex - Wheat - Reported 14.6.99 - Visited 26.6.99
One of two formations in the Sompting area, (I couldn't find the other), that appeared around the same time. This one was in a field overlooking the A27 between Worthing and Brighton. It appeared in two distinctive phases over consecutive nights. Firstly a centre circle with a ring, followed by four satellite circles the next night. The four satellites touched the ring, and amazingly the ring lay appeared to be over them rather than underneath as should have been the case. Very strange. The construction was very good with a good lay and fluidity. The only down side was the damage to the rest of the crop by visitors rampaging through it to reach the formation when a short walk would have allowed access via tramlines. Please be careful.
Stanton St. Bernard, Wiltshire - Wheat - Reported 23.6.99 - Visited 18.7.99
The first of the formations to appear in the Stanton St. Bernard area this year, it was similar to, but smaller than East Field 1. Laid with the centre line across a tramline it was another example of what I like to call retro crop circles. Located next to the road it was easily accessable.
Allington, Wiltshire - Wheat - Reported 26.6.99 - Visited 18.7.99
Named the DNA Symbol this 230 foot diameter formation appeared near to the village of Allington, and below the earlier Escher box formation. The lay of the crop was impressive, even when viewed three weeks later, and the general opinion was that hoaxing such a lay would very nigh impossible at night. Which is when it appeared of course. Very powerful energies were detected initially, with some people being adversely affected, and I detected energy flows three weeks later, though by now they were considerably less powerful. One of the highlights of the year.
Hackpen Hill, Wiltshire - Wheat - Reported 4.7.99 - Visited 18.7.99
This formation has had a profound effect on me. Maybe it was the extreme fluidity of the lay, or just it's position in the landscape, but somehow I cannot get over the beauty this formation. Now I realise what Steve Alexander and Karen Douglas are saying when thay talk about Temporary Temples for the Modern Age. The Hackpen Hill formation appeared amid stories of searchlights scanning the field from the nearby farm on the night it appeared, which may or may not have had something to do with it's formation. When studied in the light of day the lay of the crop was incredible, with a beautiful combing effect. This is the first formation where I have come across blown and swollen nodes. At 400 feet in diameter the Crescent Vortex will stay in my memory for a long time.
Rockley Downs, Wiltshire - Wheat - Reported 10.7.99 - Visited 17.7.99
Similar in design to the earlier Allington DNA formation, this formation was located on the hillside near the road between Marlborough and Hackpen Hill. Though it bore similarities to the Allington formation it was simpler and less well executed. I have a theory here. If Allington was the real thing, is this a human attempt at a copy, which proves that humans can't do as well as the real circlemakers?
Bishop Cannings, Wiltshire - Wheat - Reported 22.8.99 - Visited 30.8.99 
This formation appeared next to the A361 around Auguast 22nd. It quite clearly resembled the familiar Grey Alien head. As if they would announce their arrival by leaving their image scattered all over the countryside! Having said that the construction was quite nice, despite many broken stems. I found a curious alien artifact in the centre of the main swirl. (See photo). This curious broken metal ring was amazing as it seems that an alien race has developed a piece of equipment that looks amazingly like a spacer from Earth-bound scaffolding equipment or something similar. I do wish they wouldn't leave broken bits of kit lying around in field, they could get caught in the blades of a harvester and do serious damage.
Avebury Trusloe, Wiltshire - Wheat - Reported ? - Visited 30.8.99
This one's a bit of a mystery. I spotted it whilst parked in the bus stop at Avebury Trusloe. It was lying in wheat at the bottom of Waden Hill. For some reason I confused it with the Doug Bower circle which was in fact at Milk Hill. Not being really interested, I took one picture at long range and left. When I later found my mistake I searched all the usual websites without luck to try and find what I had seen. Having drawn a blank, I have to assume I was the only one to notice it, or that it was so insignificant as to not deserve a mention elsewhere? Was it really a crop formation? It looked too regular to be storm damage. Could it have been a blank patch in the field? I'd love to know.
Thanx to Sarah for scanning the photos. One day this woman will get her site sorted. Honest.
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All photos ©Neill Wood - 1999 © N.Wood - Last updated 26.10.99
