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the Holy Grail on A - Austr!
HAS THE MYSTERY OF THE GRAIL FINALLY BEEN SOLVED? |
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CLUES TO THE LOCATION OF THE GRAIL
The Holy Grail, the chalice or cup which Christ supposedly drank from at the Last Supper was thought lost, or at least securely hidden for all time. There have been recent newspaper reports of a code which might point to the wherabouts of the Grail. These clues are being examined by a variety of code breakers, both here in the UK (at Bletchley famous for breaking the Enigma code in World War Two); and in the USA.
Just as in The Da Vinci Code, a popular book all about the search for the Grail, there may be plenty of clues, but still no actual discovery of the lost chalice. However,
there may now be a solution. At precisely this time, November 2004,
Mike Levon, (owner of Holyground Records), was scanning a 10 by 10
inch photograph taken in 1970.
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The photograph shows Cass Yard and the archway leading out to the main street, Kirkgate. It was taken by Mike's brother, Kevin, one Saturday in 1970. The final cover used a black screen print on a bronze card, only showing the four women in the photo shoot: Yvonne Carrodus, her sister Gail, Gail's friend Denise, and Shirley Levon, Mike's partner. The picture also featured Mike (on the left) & Chris Coombs (right). Bill Nelson turned up on spec and is seen at the rear brandishing his Gibson guitar. |
IT WAS THERE ALL THE TIME
The scan suffered from several dust marks and blemishes, Mike enlarged it and started to work on the image erasing small spots and marks.When Mike looked at the view of this archway, he became curious to know what could be seen through it, and was astounded to see a large, very clear and unmistakeable image of a goblet or cup of the sort used in christian chrurches for communion. HAS THE GRAIL BEEN FOUND?
So: is it the Holy Grail? Mike Levon : "Well, I don't believe in God, religion, or the Last Supper, The label's name doesn't come from a religious connection, being the title of an Irish folk song about a brothel, (but also I believe an allegory for Auld Ireland herself)". Holyground's songs though, many of which I wrote the words for, are often about spiritual matters: The Astral Navigator, for instance.
Mike continues: "Do I think it is the Holy Grail? It could well be. I have to say it is a very strange state of affairs. There is a great deal of folk legend in England, Wales and Ireland, some of it about King Arthur and his knights and their search for the Grail. Also, it does seem a bit of a co-incidence that we were making an album about Arthur in 1970. The album was released a year later: it was called A - Austr. Several tracks refer to Arthurian legend and stories from the Mabinogion: Essex Queen, Change For Arthur, and out-takes such as Pretty Anne and Melanie: Merlin Est." The very last track is a Chris Coombs song called Grail Search. Just a coincidence? Or serendipity? Hmm . . ."
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opposite a map of Cass Yard showing the camera and locations
shown in the photograph.
for details of the view through the archway,
click on the photograph below
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1 Peterson Road 2 Advertisement hoarding
3 Archway to Cass Yard 4 Bill Nelson
5 entrance to 5 Cass Yard - Holyground
6 Mike Levon, Chris Coombs, Shirley Levon,
Denise, Yvonne & Gail 7 camera |
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