The truth behind crop circle 'graffiti'

CROP circles seem so passé these days – especially after the mystery which hit Exmoor National Park recently.

The park's community newspaper, Park Life, ran an article on the work of the National Mapping Programme of Exmoor, which included an aerial photograph taken in 1979.

Hardly the most captivating of reads, you might think, but on the picture, a set of initials could clearly be seen in the landscape.

It was, in effect, "landscape graffiti", the article claimed.

The large initials on the Fortescue Estate read "JW" and "SC" – but mystery surrounded the offending artists.

"Are you JW or SC?" the article enquired.

No-one quite expected to get a response, so the staff of Park Life were more than a little surprised when they received a call from a slightly hesitant John Watts, who revealed that he was indeed one of the guilty pair.

Mr Watts, who used to work on the Fortescue Estate, told the paper: "In 1978, my friend and fellow worker Stan Curtis and I were cutting bracken, and for a couple days a light aircraft circled over us."

In fact, the plane was quite innocent and was simply taking part in a national aerial photography project mapping out the nation's terrain.

Mr Watts said: "After a while, Stan got a bit annoyed about this and suggested we gave them something to look at, so we marked out our initials in big letters."

Sadly Mr Curtis has since died, and so the truth had remained with just the one surviving member of the prankster duo.

But as with all graffiti artists, Mr Watts was not sure it was a good idea to own up to it.

He said: "I was a bit worried about admitting that it was me and sadly Stan is no longer with us, but the National Park Authority was delighted to have solved the mystery.

"It's amazing what you can see in an aerial photograph."

The job of the National Park Authority is to "conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage" and "to promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the park".

Luckily the handy work of a younger Mr Watts and Mr Curtis did not undermine these aims and the authority saw the funny side.

A park authority spokesman said they were just happy they had managed to "provide an answer to an intriguing mystery".

Now the revealing images of Exmoor taken for the National Mapping Programme in 1979 are to be the subject of the eighth Exmoor Archaeology Forum in the talk: Exmoor's Past – An Aerial View.

The presentation will be held in Dulverton on Thursday, September 25.

For more information and tickets call Katherine Toms or Cristina Orchard at English Heritage on 01392 824901 or e-mail katherine.toms@english-heritage.org.uk.