In later days our first English poet was one Layamon, and in his time were men called Ley-cester, Leye, and Ley-land.
In the Oxford Dictionary is given the obsolete word cole as meaning in the 16th century a false magician, a juggler, and cole-prophet (or cold-prophet) with a similar meaning, and there is a cole-staff or cowl-staff also mentioned, which, although then meaning a carrying stick, was—I surmise—originally the working sighting staff of the cole-man, who was the magician of the ley. The word still survives in colporter, a walking seller of books, who carries his wares slung over his shoulder on a stick.
We have in our district Coldman’s Hill, Coldstone Common, Coles Tump (Orcop), and Coles Mountain (Presteign). In other parts of England are Coley, Colbury, Colebatch, Colestock, Coleshill, Coleford, Coleham, Colchester, and Coleridge, which last has an alternate name Coldridge, confirming other instances of the intrusion of the d. I surmise Cold Harbour (Kentchurch) to have been Cole Harbour.
Colmanswell in Ireland possesses to-day a “sacred” well, and this name, together with our own ancient Colewelle in Herefordshire, now altered to Colwall, is probably nearer the original root meaning than is the case of the three Coldwells at Holmer, Kingston, and English Bicknor.
A Bishop’s name Colman is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and Cole is also a common surname to-day.
There are other names for a ley-man indicated in the two Derbyshire place names, Totmans Low and Laidmans Low, the Low being a sighting mound.
HINTS TO LEY HUNTERS.
Keep to the discovery of lines through undoubted sighting points, as artificial mounds (including castle keeps), moats and islands in ponds or lakes. In practice churches can be treated as sighting points, but in some cases a ley passes through a tump or well close to the church. Avoid for a time the temptation of taking every bit of narrow straight road and extending it into a ley. Scrap every ley you think you have discovered if it does not pass through at least four undoubted sighting points exclusive of roads.
You must use Government ordnance maps. One mile to the inch is the working scale. Other maps of two or four miles to the inch are quite useless, save for checking long leys.
The (B) “Popular edition, mounted and folded in covers for the pocket,” is the most convenient for field work and is the cheapest, as it contains over double the area of the older (C) 18 x 12 edition; but I have found the latter (uncoloured, in flat sheets) necessary for transferring leys from one map to the next on drawing boards in the office.