I’ve mentioned, before, that nobody knows how dowsing works, and also some different rods I have used. Every dowser will have their own opinion as to the best material. The important thing is that you believe that what you are doing and the method you use works for you.
The best scientific theory is that it is ‘ideomatic’ - that is, that the brain sends signals to the dowser’s hand to make microscopic movements that the rods amplify. Interestingly the word ideomatic seems to come from the same root as ‘idea’ - but also ‘idiot’. I make no judgement.
However, I have a theory which I haven’t read anywhere, that our very earliest ancestors, just after the Amoeba stage must have needed to be able to locate their basic needs, and if you are drifting in a deep ocean some sense of location would have been a survival advantage.
In the Bible, God created man and woman and said ‘Go forth and multiply’ and early man needed to know where ‘forth’ was.
So every organism that survived may have carried that ability. Fast forward 50 million years or whatever, and many birds migrate huge distances, for example, cats always seem to find their way home, and whales migrate huge distances from near one pole towards the other. That inner sense has been swamped in modern humans by technology, but I think we all have it in us even now.
That’s enough theory.
The old Roman road from Chichester passed just South of the Church (although it wasn’t there then) and it was a days march from Chichester, and took a slight change of direction so Havant was a significant place.
The Romans built a sort of Travel Lodge at such places. They called it a Mansio, and provided a temple to thank their gods for a safe arrival, and a baths to wash the dirt and grime off, as well as sleeping accommodation and probably a stables, too.
Those developed into farm estates (called Villas) so would have become more than simple Inns.
It is possible to detect where these were. I dowsed in Havant park and similar structures. The main building is where the children's play area now is. The temple etc. are shown on a map which was created initially by Laurie Booth, my mentor, and appear about halfway along the central path in the park.
This estate and the area round it which has become Havant over the centuries also had roads running roughly North and South which I shall double check before my next article.