BRIEF REPORT ON THE CROP FORMATION AT ATHERINGTON,
WEST SUSSEX, JULY 2017
This crop formation at Atherington/Climping, near
the seaside town of Littlehampton, is the closest one to the sea that
has ever been reported in East or West Sussex – Climping Beach is
literally just over the field boundary.
The overall diameter of the formation, which was
actually measured on the ground, was reportedly 169 feet between the
furthest points of the two most outer rings in both ‘arms’ of the
cross, suggesting a degree of accuracy in its construction. The main
outer ring of the design was 123.5 feet in diameter.
Reports from visitors suggest some interesting and
often impressive flows in the lay of the crop. Some of the rings
display counter flows – strips along the edge going one way and
central areas going the other. Largely neat, just a few edges are
curiously blurred, as if the crop-flattening process lifted up
slightly as it skimmed some of the curves. The central circle seems
to have been laid with an outer ring and four internal standing strips
which were then alternately flattened in blocks to give the ‘basket
weave’ effect. There are some neat angular corners and curious stem
splays on some of the other corner points in the intersecting rings.
Some areas of randomly downed crop subsequently
appeared near the eastern end of the field, which some visitors
apparently mistook for the formation itself, not realising that was
further up the field. This looks more like lodging rather than people
splurging about – if it was the latter then they weren’t very good
about it.
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