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We've had fun finding the sites that make Yahoo! UK & Ireland one of the best places to find UK or Irish sites, so we thought we'd share a few with you. If you have any suggestions, please send us a note about them. Also send any general thoughts or comments about Picks of the Week or even suggest sites you'd like us to consider for the next issue. Click here if you only want to view the list of sites.

Nothing, in the considered view of Picks Central, demonstrates the spectacle of the uneducated in pursuit of the unedifying better than Conspiracy Theories. We staunchly hold to the view that the simplest explanation is generally (though admittedly not always) the correct one. Thus while it is quite possible that the earth is governed by an elite drawn from the military/industrial complex, the state of affairs has arisen as the result of the unplanned confluence of political and economic factors rather than a small self-elected group sitting in a smoky room and pulling strings over generations. The X-Files is a television show, not a historical document. Anyone, given enough time and a little imagination, can concoct a conspiracy about anything.

Proof, if it were needed, is offered by Peter Fox’s An Essex Mystery. He posits the question: "Why should three pubs in Essex all called The Compasses be in a straight line 10 miles long?" and comes up with an answer that includes geometrical diagrams, the Knights Templars and a possible link between the Peasants Revolt of 1381, Geomancy and the Masons (we knew they’d rear their secretive little heads sooner or later). Whether true or not we have to say that we did enjoy the read. Our answer cuts straight to the simplest solution -- the pubs are on a straight line because that meant that drunken revelers could clamber aboard their horses, point them in the right direction and pass out, secure in the knowledge that before long they’d arrive at another hostelry.

Conspiracy theorists have been immensely helped by the fact that it is in the nature of human beings to a) lie and b) scheme. History is littered with those who sought to bring about change in devious, underhand ways. Only last week the nation celebrated the 393rd anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot when, as any child can tell you, Guy Fawkes sought to demonstrate his unhappiness with the political process by reducing it to its component atoms. The Gunpowder Plot Society seeks to explain what led Fawkes and his 12 co-conspirators to this rather drastic action. There are sections devoted to the plot itself, along with biographies and genealogies of the chief participants. There is also an exhaustive collection of archive material offering contemporaneous accounts of the discovery of the plot, the statements and letters of the accused, and proclamations by King James I.

We move from conspiracy through the doorway marked ‘mysteries’ for our next Pick: No-one knows why ancient Britons felt the need to erect circles of standing stones or menhirs like Stonehenge. Some say it was for religious reasons, while others argue that it is all the fault of aliens. We at Picks, using the inexorable Forrest Gump logic that "simple is best," have come to the immutable conclusion that Stone-Age man was having a laugh and winding up his credulous descendants. Andy Burnham’s excellent Megalithic Mysteries doesn’t attempt to answer the "Why?" question, but provides a more than adequate response to the "Where?". He lists literally hundreds of stone circles in England, Wales and Scotland with directions, pictures and his family’s reaction on seeing them. Thus we find out that his wife Ruth found Scotland’s Ring of Brodgar eerie and refused to go near it. This personal tone gives his site a warmth that is often missing from more professional efforts.

Cornwall is a prime location for standing stones -- more than 90 are to be found in the vicinity of Land’s End alone, and the description ‘menhir’ comes from the Cornish words for ‘long’ and ‘stone’. Inevitably these stones have become enshrouded in myths, some of which are recounted in Myths and Legends of Cornwall, part of Cornish Connexions, a local directory. Here you can read about the area’s notable ghosts (it is reputed to be Britain’s most haunted county), its legends (Jack the Giant Killer is thought to have hailed from there), the mermaid of Zennor and much more.

Cornish people are, it appears, a superstitious lot. For proof just visit the index of Cornish folklore. There you’ll find the answers to such diverse questions as why it was considered catastrophic if a robin entered the house, why one should never be rude to a Cornish miner and what purpose did a groaning cake serve. When (if!!!) you get past what we can only describe as the ... erm ... individualistic look and feel of this site, you will find plenty of odd information to keep you going. There are sections devoted to the Occult -- including tales of local exorcists -- wreckers, shipwrecks and smuggling and places of interest. Site author Bill Rowe says: "the Cornish have a peculiar slant to life that is charming and refreshing, with a dash of devilishness to add spice, so as to avoid a bland one-dimensionality to their culture. The Cornish had their Celtic saints, but the devil had a role to play out in Cornwall as well."

We're off to have a closer look so we'll see ya next week ...

Sites featured in Picks of the Week

• An Essex Mystery - the mystery isn't why anyone would want to actually live there!.
  
• Gunpowder Plot Society - The truth about Guy Fawkes and his cohorts.
  
• Megalithic Mysteries - visit Britain's rich array of standiong stones.
  
• Myths and Legends of Cornwall - stories and beliefs from ancient Albion.
  
• Cornish Folklore - eyepopping, in depth look at Cornish superstitions.
  

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