Grid Ref.: TQ319099

Location: north of Patcham, East Sussex 

Description: 2km of lines criss-crossing an entire field 

Crop: Wheat (bearded) 

First seen at the very end of June 2023 

First spotted at the very end of June, some photos were forwarded to Barry Reynolds a couple of weeks’ later. Andy Thomas then took some additional photos late in the evening of 16^th July, prompting Barry to visit the site, a well-known crop circle haunt, on 17^th July. 

The lines are approximately 50cm / 20” wide and criss-cross the entire field of wheat which is situated just to the east of Tegdown Hill, north of the A27 and Patcham, East Sussex. The field is extremely steep being approx. 100m above sea-level at its lowest point, rising to 140m in the northwest corner, in an area of field approximately 250m x 250m. A height increase of about 40m in 250m gives the field an incline of around 16% (1 in 6.25). The lines total almost 2km in length. 

Ordinarily these lines may be written off as a trials bike or people larking around, but before we do that, let’s look at the evidence for or against anything:

• It’s a single track about 50cm wide with sharply defined edges. That’s the distance from your elbow to finger tips. So it’s not a four-wheeled vehicle and no two-wheeled vehicle has tyres that wide. I think this alone precludes them from being created by a vehicle of any kind
• 50cm is a sensible width for a garden roller. This would mean very strong and extremely fit people would need to take the roller to the field by rolling it across the carpark, across the road, carry it over at least two stiles, down the hill and up the other side to the corner of the field (it’s basically across a valley). The shortest distance for this is 500m. Then they need to drag it about 2km through a field of bearded wheat knocking it all flat before finally taking it 500m back to their vehicle. I’m not saying that’s impossible just that you need to consider how difficult this would be as the field is on a 1 in 6.25 slope. You would also need to ask why on earth would you bother doing that? What did it achieve?
• In the last fifty years, eight crop formations have appeared within 500m of this field (see diagram). Three of these formations have appeared exactly under the area where the lines now are
• Whilst there are many more documented, I have personally been in two previous crop formations which consisted solely of lines across a field and nothing else. One of these was 4km to the west of this site. They were both very similar to these lines
• The lines are by no means straight or regularly curved (see photos) but equally they do not appear to be totally random. Look really closely at the detail and maybe you’ll see this too.

In summary, it is not impossible that someone did this with a garden roller, I just think it’s highly improbable. Instead, I feel it’s far more likely that this is just a different manifestation of a crop circle. What I would like to see though are some drone shots, so if anyone lives in the Brighton area and would like to take some then I’d love to see them. 

The area of the field in question is highlighted in red on the maps. The nearby car park is highlighted in blue. 

So, what does everyone else think? 

Barry Reynolds 18^th July 2023

Images Barry Reynolds & Andy Thomas Copyright 2023