It must have been a slow news day at The Herald’s office in Plymouth last week. Sorry this story is so late. I might have missed it altogether had I not been in my doctor’s waiting room where the only reading material was last summer’s South Carolina Fishing Quarterly and the water company’s Environmental Impact Statement for 2007. So out came the old iPad. You can read this summary or the whole article (if there is nothing else to read):
Burgh Island has an air of mystery to it . . . one local resident is convinced the tidal island near the mouth of Devon’s River Avon holds the answer . . . to the greatest mystery of all time. Ted Harrison reports
There are bodies hidden on Burgh Island, Michael Goldsworthy says, although the exact location he is keeping to himself for now. He has however informed the Torquay coroner of his suspicions as, alongside the human remains, he believes there could also be priceless treasure.
[ . . . ]
And Mr Goldsworthy makes one more even more extraordinary claim that could place Burgh Island at the centre of a controversy that would horrify Christians and rock the core teaching of the church. . . . ‘
[ . . . ]
Mr Goldsworthy’s claims concerning Burgh Island are based on his interpretation of a 1,500-year-old Latin riddle attributed to a monk named Melkin. . . .
[ . . . ]
Understanding Melkin, Mr Goldsworthy claims, involves an understanding of ley lines. These are, supposedly, invisible lines of energy in the landscape, which had been known to the Neolithic inhabitants of Britain and were rediscovered by amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins almost 100 years ago.
They can, it is said, be plotted on maps by linking ancient and holy sites or detected on the ground by dowsers. The St Michael line, for instance, runs for 364.5 land miles from near Land’s End to East Anglia.
By drawing ley lines on maps of southern Britain and examining the geometric shapes created, Mr Goldsworthy says that he can make sense of the ancient clues. . . .
The last two paragraphs say it all:
What undermines Mr Goldsworthy’s claims, as far as the sceptics and mainstream scholars are concerned, are their all-embracing nature. To suggest Joseph of Arimathea is on the island is one thing, but to say so is Jesus, the Holy Grail, Templar treasure, possibly the Ark of the Covenant, that his discoveries solve the mystery of the Turin Shroud – and Leonardo knew all about it – might stretch the credulity of even the most ardent conspiracy theorist.
Ya think?
And that’s not all. Once the tomb is unveiled and the Ark of the Covenant and the body of Jesus are found together “it may bring peace to the nations”, says Goldsworthy. To solve several of the world’s greatest religious mysteries and resolve the Middle East crisis all in one. Worth a try, surely?
Here is the link: Michael Goldsworthy believes Joseph of Arimathea and Jesus Christ could have been buried on Burgh Island in Devon | This is Plymouth
I read goldsworthy’s blog regarding the turin shroud and if he is right about the bodies on the Island, then why not about the Shroud. No one has come up with a reasonable explanation for the caramel varnish found on the threads exterior. Why not consider the image was formed in a liquid over an extended period and the residue encrustation is from cedar or other oils.
Goldsworthy does over extend his thesis into the irrelevant but I find his explanation of the melkin prophecy very convincing. All previous attempts to explain certain details seem perplexing. The prophecy contains directions and each detail is too accurate to ignore. The few instructions act as an indicator that locates an island upon which the uncle of Jesus may have previously visited. The shroud is never very far from Joseph of Arimathea in any account.
If Joseph is on the Island and Goldsworthy’s theory of a coffin containing cedar oil is correct, then it is possible that the shroud image was formed in this way and is until disproved a hypothetically good explanation. I personally always thought it a coincidence that the shroud surfaced straight after the demise of the Templars. A test should be conducted to see if the Cedar oil theory is correct because as you have stated the carbon dating of the Shroud was suspect. I think the shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus, I just need to understand how the figure was made. If the solution was easy someone would have an answer.
You know, it is very curious about ley linens. In the last years my research activities also involve the intensive use of GPS and at this moment, I tend to put virtually any information on a map.
I came across the paper by Scavone in the 1988 Ohio Canference titled BESANÇON AND OTHER HYPOTHESES FOR THE MISSING YEARS: THE SHROUD FROM 1200 TO 1400. He suggests that before coming to France, the Shroud was in Athens so I made in R a quick map connecting Jerusalem (were for sure the SHroud once was), Athens and the final destination (Lirey). WIth an error of about 5% the three places are aligned and the proportion of their distances follows the golden ratio.
I mean you can find anything you want when you start drawing lines on a map!. If Dan agrees I can provide a figure .
Ley lines are an ancient geographic reality. Check “Sacred Geometry”, Stephen Skinner, Gaia Books, 2006, pp 106-111. Old Sarum for example is the convergence point of 10 ley lines, the most notable of these connects: Stonehenge, Old Sarum, Salisbury Cathedral, Harnnum Bridge (Avon River), a major crossroad, Clearbury Ring, Breamore Priory, Frankenbury Camp. The practical limits of a ley line is the visible horizon, about 35 miles. As mentioned there are nine other ley lines focussed on Old Sarum.
The legend of Joseph of Aramathea being associated with Glastonbury Cathedral, together with other myths about the Holy Grail etc, I’ve found are sometimes favoured by some High Church Anglicans. They may be related to a misreading of some ancient medieval texts, mentioned by Jack Markwardt, ‘A sixth-century entry in the Liber Pontificalis records that Pope Eleutherius, whose papacy extended from approximately 174 to 189, “received a letter from British King Lucius [Britannio rege Lucio] asking that he might be made a Christian through his agency.” ‘ Venerable Bede in 731 AD repeats this. Markwardt quotes Adolph Harnack 1904 that the misreading should be: “… that the Liber Pontificalis entry had been intended to reference not Britain, but, rather the Britio Edessenorum, Edessa’s citadel, and not King Lucius, but King Lucius Ælius Septimius Megas Abgarus VIII of Edessa, otherwise known as Abgar the Great”
The Burgh Island posting above includes the comment: “Indiana Jones meets Dan Brown”, which is probably not far off the mark!