Heatwave reveals historic footprints
A perfect ring of scorched grass on the flat summit of a hill might suggest the aliens have finally landed, with Dudley their chosen destination.
And though the explanation is a bit more down-to-earth, it’s still a strange and exciting one.
The recent spell of prolonged hot weather and almost complete lack of rain have dried out the grass in Dudley’s castle courtyard to such an extent that the lines of ancient buildings have reappeared in the grass. And they’re so distinct that there’s no need to point them out in this photograph, taken last week from the castle keep.
Parched
“Our history experts explained that the scorching sunshine has produced crop marks indicating where buildings stood as far back as the 16th century,” the zoo’s Jane Thomas told the Bugle.
“The long spell of hot weather has revealed prominent parch marks in three areas, revealing a wall line from the 1500s, an elaborate garden water feature from the early 1900s and a unknown building near the base of the keep.”
The markings have been seen before, but it takes freakish weather conditions like the ones we’ve enjoyed this year to bring out the patterns in the grass. Former Castle Keeper, Adrian Durkin, said:
“I haven’t seen the wall line across the far end of the courtyard for about thirty years!
“The wall would have enabled food and provisions to be bought to the kitchen without having to go through the main courtyard and is probably John Dudley in date.
“The large circular feature in the centre will be remembered by some as a garden feature but for the rest it is, of course, where the UFOS land!
“But it’s the third marking near the base of the keep which is a real mystery. I’ve never seen it before, we have not excavated the area and I don’t know what it is.”
Dudley Zoo’s Education Assistant Amy Hickman, who runs Horrible Histories workshops and ghost walks, said: “We have seen some of these crop marks or parch marks faintly in the past, but they have never emerged so prominently.
“It’s all down to this exceptionally hot weather which is causing history to re-emerge. These markings are like footprints from the past.”