A few weeks ago I was walking on Beacon Hill taking random panoramic photographs. When I got home and put them up on the computer I was zooming in on the horizon to see what the resolution and quality was like when I noticed a remarkable similarity in the shapes of Woodbury Hillfort and nearby beacon with the shapes of two tors right in the distance on Dartmoor.It appeared to me that the siting of the hillfort and beacon was chosen specifically to reflect the shapes of the two distant tors (which I think are Haytor and Rippon tor) although the only place that this is observable from is a stretch of hilltop on Beacon Hill; from anywhere else the siting of Woodbury hillfort and beacon appears to be random though obviously they are on the top of the hill.I was certain that because this was fairly apparent that someone else must have noticed this before but just in case I fowarded the picture and observation to the author Paul Devereux who is an expert on these sort of things.Not really expecting a reply as I was sure someone must have noticed this before I was surprised to receive an email from him the next day saying that it was "A keen observation" so unless anyone knows different I am the first person to have noticed and this would explain the siting of Woodbury hillfort and beacon.
This sort of thing doesn't happen much to me (although I did find two stone age handaxes in two days when I was a teenager) so I have been feeling a bit pleased with myself today.
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