Tag: antiquities

Kinnell, Killin, Perthshire

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Stone Circle:  OS Grid Reference – NN 57699 32805

Also Known as:

  1. Killin P1/3 (Thom)

Getting Here

Kinnell stone circle, with Mheall Clachach rising

At the pub by the bridge which crosses the Falls of Dochart (aptly called the ‘Falls of Dochart Inn’), walk downstream following the dirt-track which runs parallel with a section of the river for a good 5-600 yards.  In the field that appears on your right, watch out for the rise of the stones as you approach the large gates which take you into the ground of Kinnell House.  You can climb over the gate just into the field and go straight to the stones.

Archaeology & History

Found on the field called Kinnell Park in the grounds of Kinnell House, less than a mile out of Killin, this is a well-preserved site consisting of six stones. It appears to have been described first of all by Thomas Pennant in 1772, in the same breath as the megalithic remains at Lawers on the other side of Loch Tay.  Pennant wrote:

“In going through Laurs observe a Druidical circle; less complete indeed than one, that should have been mentioned before, at Kinnel, a little southwest of Killin; which consists of six vast stones, placed equidistant from each other.”

Coles’ 1910 plan of Kinnell
Thom’s geometric plan

It would seem that the site has changed little since Pennant’s visit.  Sitting on a reasonably level grassy plain, the hills rise and surround the small ring of stones, with the lower horizons running along the south.  Due west (equinox) we have the large pyramidal hill of Meall Clachach; whilst to the north are the legendary hills of Creag na Cailleach and Ben Lawers, each with their own rich mythic archaeological legacies.  Legendary stones and wells are also close by, some with rites still enacted by old local people keeping truly ancient traditions alive.

The first detailed archaeological survey of the Kinnell site was done by Fred Coles and published in 1910.  It has yet to be superseded.  Mr Coles wrote:

“Taking the Stones in the usual order…I here give their dimensions and characteristics: Stone A, 6 feet 3 inches high, springs from an oblong base which girths 11 feet 4 inches, to a rough irregular top; Stone B leans forward towards the centre of the Circle, and measures along its sloping back 6 feet 9 inches, the present height from the ground to its upper edge being 4 feet. It is of smooth garnetiferous schist, and free from the deep fissures and rifts so common in these Stones. Stone C, a very rectangular but narrow block of schist, has a 15 Feet-girth at the base of 9 feet, but tapers up from both ends to a pyramidal summit, 5 feet 4 inches above ground. Its inner face is over 6 feet in breadth. Stone D, 4 feet 6 inches high, is a broad, flat-topped, very massive block, measuring 9 feet 5 inches round the base, but near the middle of its height 11 feet 2 inches. Stone E, the shortest of the group, is only 4 feet high, has a rough, uneven top, and a basal girth of 8 feet 11 inches. Stone F, the tallest, measures 6 feet 4 inches in height, but in girth only 7 feet 3 inches. It is very rough, vertically fissured in many places, and full of white quartz veins.

“Neat, well-defined, and comparatively small as this Circle is, it is to be noticed that the positions of the Stones do not conform to perfect regularity as points on the circumference. On working out the plan, the measurements prove that a diameter of 29 feet exactly bisects three of the erect Stones, B, C, and F, but leaves the other two untouched. The interspaces of the settings are not all quite equal, a space of 14 feet 8 inches dividing the centres respectively of F and A, A and B, F and E, and E and T); but between D and C it is 13 feet 8 inches, and between 0 and B I S feet 5 inches. Yet, the Stones stand proportionally near enough to each other to give one a satisfying impression that these six megaliths represent the group in its completeness, and that there were no smaller blocks between any two of them. The space enclosed by these stones is quite smooth and level, bearing no indication of having at any time been disturbed.”

Many years later, the late great Alexander Thom came here and, with his geometric perspective, gave a more precise ground-plan and lay-out.  Thom (1980) defined the site as a “Type B flattened circle, or possible ellipse,” with a perimeter of 35 megalithic yards and diameter of 11.8 MY.  Aubrey Burl’s commentary described Kinnell as:

“Six stones of schist stand evenly spaced on the circumference of an ellipse 32ft 7in x 27ft 5in (9.9 x 8.4m) in diameter.  The stones are graded in height towards the SW where the two tallest are over 6ft (1.8m) high.”

One of the upright stones was said by Hugh MacMillan (1884) to have had cup-markings on it in the 19th century, when he told of the circle possessing “some seven or eight tall massive stones, with a few faint cup-marks on one of them.”  But these appear to have faded, or were cut into the one of the missing stones.

Folklore

Close to the Kinnell circle could once be found a curious large boulder, covered in moss, but with a large cavity in which water gathered.  Local lore ascribed the rock to actually be a well, as it was known as ‘The Well of the Whooping-Cough’, or Fuaran na Druidh Chasad, measuring some eight feet long and five feet high. Local people visited the site to be cured of the said disease, but Hugh MacMillan also suggested that the miraculous well-in-the-stone was connected with ancient rituals once enacted at the Kinnell circle, saying:

” it is a reasonable supposition that the Fountain of the Whooping-Cough may have had some connection in ancient times with this prehistoric structure in its immediate neighbourhood…”

He may have been right!

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, New Haven & London 1995.
  2. Coles, Fred R., “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire (Aberfeldy District),” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 44, 1910.
  3. Fraser, Duncan, Highland Perthshire, Standard Press: Montrose 1973.
  4. Gillies, William A., In Famed Breadalbane, Munro Press: Perth 1938.
  5. McKerracher, Archie, Perthshire in History and Legend, John Donald: Edinburgh 1988.
  6. MacMillan, Hugh, ‘Notice of Two Boulders having Rain-Filled Cavities on the Shores of Loch Tay, Formerly Associated with the Cure of Disease,’ in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 18, 1884.
  7. Pennant, Thomas, A Tour in Scotland, 1772 – Part 2, Benjamin White: London 1776.
  8. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.
  9. Thom, A., Thom, A.S. & Burl, H.A.W., Megalithic Rings, BAR: Oxford 1980.
  10. Wheater, Hilary, Killin to Glencoe, Appin Publications: Aberfeldy 1982.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Horncliffe Well, Hawksworth Moor, West Yorkshire

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Healing Well:  OS Grid Reference – SE 13214 43326

Also Known as:

  1. Horncliff Well

Getting Here

Horncliffe Well – as it once was

From the famous Dick Hudson’s pub on the south side of Ilkley Moor, take the road right (east) for a half-mile until you reach the large Weecher Reservoir just off the roadside on your right.  Less than 300 yards past the reservoir, a footpath takes you onto the moor itself.  Walk up the path for about ⅔-mile — crossing one wall, then walking roughly parallel with another on your right — until you reach a crossing of paths where there are 2 gates or stiles.  Take the lower of the two stiles, through the wall, but below the fence.  You’ll see an awful Yorkshire Water cover, which has just about destroyed the once-fine well that had always flowed here.  Below this, by the wallside, are the trickling remains of our old healing spring.

Archaeology & History

When I was a young boy, Horncliffe Well was the site we would visit every weekend as our first stopping-spot on our regular ventures exploring these moorlands — “from Wrose to Rombalds,” as we use to call it!  The old well was always very plentiful, strong-flowing, cold and truly refreshing.  It was undoubtedly the best water source on the entire Rombalds Moor region, never drying up.  Even in the great droughts of 1976 and 1995, after all others had just about failed, the waters at Horncliffe were still flowing as strong as ever, as they had always done.  But not anymore…

Edna Whelan’s old drawing

First described in land records of 1273 CE, this has always been a well of great repute and oral tradition told that this great old well never ran dry. It marked the ancient boundary point where the moorlands of Hawksworth, Burley and Bingley all meet.  By name alone it is associated with the nearby and curious Horncliffe Circle, whose status itself is unclear (the circle seems more a place of refuge or living than a true ritual site).

Horncliffe House around 1801

The remains of old buildings on the flat just above where the waters once flowed were built in much more recent centuries.  The building appears to have been started around 1799, for E.E. Dodds (1985) told that in 1800 it was used as a school for several years by local teacher Joshua Briggs.  J. Horsfall Turner (1907) published a copy of an old drawing of the school, as it was soon after construction.

Horncliffe Well was dug into by the privatized water company known as Yorkshire Water (owned by rich greedy fuckers) in the 1990s, who channelled most of its endless supply away for commercial benefit.  When their company was stealing the water from the moors, the workmen snapped an old markstone at its base next to the adjacent Horncliffe House (in ruins).  The waters had always flowed fast and freely, but after Yorkshire Water had finished their ‘work’ here, the great majority of Horncliffe’s water supply subsided considerably, leaving walkers, birds and animals to suffer from its demise.  In all sincerity, it’s to be hoped that good people someday will visit this once-fine site and return it to its previous healthy status.

Folklore

When we were kids we came here every weekend and got to know the old ranger who we’d meet either here or at the adjacent Horncliffe Circle, 250 yards NNE, where we’d sit and eat.  In the mid-1970s, he told us that the old well was once a site where the fairy-folk would play, around Mayday (beltane).  And though in later years I’ve sought for any information about this in all early antiquarian books that cover this area, I’ve never found any mention of this tale in print.  The old ranger knew the moors and its history better than anyone I’ve ever known and many old stories died with him after his death.

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Chieveley 2003.
  2. Dodd, E.E., Bingley: A Yorkshire Town through Nine Centuries, M.T.D. Rigg: Guiseley 1985.
  3. Laurence, Alastair, A History of Menston and Hawksworth, Smith Settle: Otley 1991.
  4. Turner, J. Horsfall, Idle Upper Chapel Burial Registers and Graveyard Inscriptions, Harrison & Son: Bingley 1907.
  5. Whelan, Edna, The Magic and Mystery of Holy Wells, Capall Bann: Chieveley 2001.
  6. Whelan, Edna & Taylor, Ian, Yorkshire Holy Wells and Sacred Springs, Northern Lights: Dunnington 1989.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Knock Hill, Dunblane, Stirlingshire

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Hillfort:  OS Grid Reference – NS 7825 9845

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 45987
  2. Gallow Hill

Getting Here

The snow-covered old fort

You can come here from either Dunblane to the north, or Bridge of Allan immediately south: either way you reach the site by going along the A9 road until you reach the Lecropt Church, a half-mile north of Bridge of Allan.  On the other side of the road is a somewhat battered wooden gate.  Go through here and up towards the tree-covered hill, following its edges to the right for a few hundred yards, until you come to another very large mound covered in trees.  That’s what you’re looking for!

Archaeology & History

Described on early OS-maps as a “Supposed Roman Camp,” this large fortified stone hillock has more recently been considered a creation of indigenous Scots.  Hemmed in and hidden on most sides, by the rises of Knock Hill to the west and Gallows Hill to the east, the only lines of visibility out of the fortress is along a northwest to southeast corridor, keeping the site quite secret to outsiders.  It would have been a fine place for a small community in ages not-so-long-ago, keeping the people hidden from the pestilent invasions of both Romans and english in bygone times.

The tree-clad fort, through blizzard

The large raised oval enclosure was walled around its sloping sides and edges, with remains of a walled embankment still visible running around the top of the slopes.  What may have been traces of hut circles were on top of the hillock until recent times, but these have been much reduced by some digging near the middle of the site.  It would appear that an ‘entrance’ was once visible on the southeastern side of the fort, but when we came here the other day, a lovely blizzard covered the place in snow, so this was difficult to see.

When the Royal Commission chaps came to visit the place in 1979, they didn’t really say much about the place, merely telling of its dimensions, saying:

“This fort measures 48m by 32m within the remains of a single rampart 4.5m thick and 1m high.”

I’m sure there must be much to be said of this lovely old site by local antiquarians, but I haven’t found much as yet.  But if you’re wanting a nice quiet spot to sit for a while on the outskirts of Stirling and Dunblane, I’d heartily recommend visiting this place.  Badgers and deer also seem to like the place!

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Duncroisk 6, Glen Lochay, Killin, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 53466 36485

Getting Here

Position of ‘Duncroisk 6’ cup-marked stone

Follow the same directions to reach the Duncroisk Crosses stone.  From here, look up the slope to your right and you’ll see the line of fencing running uphill.  Follow this until you reach the ruined remains of the old sheepfold building.  From here, look towards the tree-lined gorge of Duncroisk Burn, a few hundred yards west and walk towards it for about 50-60 yards.  There’s a group of three rocks hereby, two are large, but the carving’s on the smallest one in the middle.

Archaeology & History

This cup-marked stone was rediscovered as a result of the fine archaeological survey work by that Glasgow bunch of Certified Field Archaeologists, in their assessment of remains in and around Duncroisk Farm.  As well as mentioning — albeit briefly — the carvings of Duncroisk Farm and Duncroisk Crosses, Dugald MacInnes (2001) and his team came across another that hadn’t been recorded before.  Described in their survey as ‘feature 2’, he told,

“Some 20 metres downslope from the sheep fank and about 60 metres NW from it, there is a group of large boulders.  On the southeast sloping face of one of these there are three previously unrecorded cup-marks.  These are oriented vertically on a northeast to southwest alignment and are no more than 4cm apart.  They are all about 7cm in diameter and 2.5cm deep.”

The carved rock is a relatively small one sitting roughly in between two much larger rocks, both of which are easily visible from the Duncroisk Crosses stone less than 100 yards down the slope.  It’s probably only gonna be of interest to the rock-art purists among you and some may even question its veracity, particularly the bottom of the three cups, which gives the impression of being unfinished.  If you visit the site in summer and autumn it will be much harder to find, as it gets overgrown with bracken. (we did take a number of photos of this stone, but managed to somehow delete them all before saving to disk – so have gotta check it again when we next visit here)

References:

  1. MacInnes, Dugald, An Archaeological Field Survey of a Deserted Settlement at Duncroisk Farm, Glen Lochay, Association of Certified Field Archaeologists: Glasgow 2001.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Corrycharmaig (4), Glen Lochay, Killin, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 52768 35504

Getting Here

‘Corrycharmaig 4’ cup-marked stone

Follow the same directions to get to the Corrycharmaig 3 carving; and just a yard or two to the right of the far western edge of the rock, you’ll see another smaller slightly sloping rock, closer to the fencing, with faint cup-markings.  That’s the one! (note that the 10-figure grid reference given here might need adjusting slightly)

Archaeology & History

This small slightly sloping piece of exposed rock is on the western extremity of the Corrycharmaig cluster of carvings, but is a distinctly separate piece of rock from the Corrycharmaig 3 stone (though part of the same outcrop).  The stone itself has two sections to it, with a natural crack in the rock defining eastern and western section — both of which possess cup-marks.

The easternmost section of the stone has seven cup-marks, some of which were only recently uncovered.  A large single cup-mark sits near the middle of this portion of the rock; this is probably what Mr Cormack (1952) was talking about when he told that, “further west (of the Corrycharmaig 3 carving, PB) is one isolated larger cup of 4-inch diameter.”  On the western side of the stone, we find just two or three cup-marks, though one large cup-marking here would seem to be Nature’s handiwork.

It is highly likely that beneath the excessive vegetational growth around this carving and others along this ridge, other sections of prehistoric carvings remain to be found.

References:

  1. Cormack, E.A., “Cross-Markings and Cup-Markings at Duncroisk, Glen Lochay,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 84, 1952.
  2. Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR 86: Oxford 1981.
  3. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.

© Paul Bennnett, The Northern Antiquarian


River Balgy, Shieldaig, Ross & Cromarty

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NG 849 533

Getting Here

Standing Stone nr Shieldaig

From Shieldaig, take the A896 road east to Torridon and Kinlochewe (a bloody superb part of Scotland – perhaps the best!) for a couple of miles, round the stunning bay of Ob Mheallaidh, till you reach the tiny hamlet of Balgie.  From here, walk upstream following the small River Balgie until you hit Loch Damh.  At the edge of the rugged and boggy flatland shortly before the loch itself, amble about in the rushes on your right (west).  You’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

This is a small but chunky standing stone was rediscovered by Dr J. Havelock Fidler in the 1980s.  Less than four-feet tall, it stands alone at the edge of the boggy landscape, with superb views all around (the hill in the background photo is An Ruadh-mheallan). There are other human remains scattered amidst the rocky landscape close by, including the remains of old buildings not far away, but this prehistoric monolith seems to be an isolated example.  However, the landscape here is so vast that it’s highly likely that other standing stones remain hidden in these ancient mythic hills…

References:

  1. Fidler, J. Havelock, Earth Energies, Aquarian: Wellingborough 1988.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Samson Stone, Callander, Perthshire

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Legendary Rock:  OS Grid Reference – NN 60399 07820

Also Known as:

  1. Samson’s Putting Stone

Getting Here

Samson Stone on Bochastle Hill

Go west out of Callander on the A84 road and after a mile or so turn left at Kilmahog, down the A821.  After a few hundred yards, past the parking spot by the roadside, look up the small Bochastle Hill on your right and you’ll see a large singular boulder resting on top.  That’s it!

Archaeology & History

When I first wandered up to this giant rock, I was hoping there may have been cup-markings on its surface, but none could be found.  The stone is a glacial erratic.  The Iron Age hillfort of Dunmore is 370 yards (338m) to the southwest.

Folklore

Samson Stone, close-up

In Mr Rogers’ (1853) fine historical tour of the region, he notes the Samson Stone “on the summit of one of the eminences of Bochastle,” a couple of miles west of Callander, but wondered “how it came to occupy this remarkable position.”  If he’d have asked some of the old locals they may have told him what Rennie McOwan (1996) came across and described in his excellent work on the folklore of Scottish mountains.  For the Samson Stone was traditionally thrown here by one of the Fingalian giants in ancient times.  It was originally located upon Ben Ledi, nearly 3 miles northwest, and was one of several stones being thrown in a competition to see who was the strongest of the giants — and Samson was the name of the one who threw this huge rock.  Another version of the same legend tells that the stone was originally thrown from Ben Lawers, 21 miles (34km) to the north.

References:

  1. Bain, William, Around and about Callander, Callander & District Round Table n.d. (c.1978).
  2. McOwan, Rennie, Magic Mountains, Mainstream: Edinburgh 1996.
  3. Roger, Charles, A Week at Bridge of Allan, Adam & Charles Black: Edinburgh 1853.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


West Woods 01, Calverley, Leeds, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1970 3731

Getting Here

On the A657 road, a half-mile past Greengates towards Calverley, just before the road starts going uphill, take the lower dirt-track of Eleanor Drive on your left into Calverley Woods (here known as West Woods).  About 150 yards along the track, note the small footpath on the right which goes up diagonally further into the trees.  Go along here until you reach the remains of a dried-up pond on your left.  The carved stone is about 10 yards before the pond, just above the footpath.

Archaeology & History

Rubbing of the 2 cupmarks

Another stone only for the puritans amongst you!  This (and the West Woods 2 carving) was one we found in 1985 when we were exploring the woods looking for the Calverley Woods cup-marked stone reported by Sid Jackson in the 1950s.  The stone is a small roughly oblong, earthfast rock, about 2ft by 1ft across, and has two distinct but faded cup-marks on its slightly sloping face. That’s it!

Soon after first finding this, we made a couple or rubbings of the stone, one of which I reproduce here and which shows the two cup-marks.  You’ll note the measurement and note of the cups being 2 megalithic inches (MI) in diameter.  The MI was a statistical unit of measure suggested by the late great Alexander Thom, who found regular integers of 2.07cm in many of the cup-and-rings he examined, and so surmised it as a deliberate numeric system.  At the time when we found this cup-marked stone, I was exploring Thom’s idea and was very much taken up with it.  However, after a few years doings numerous rubbings of the many cup-and-ring stones in West Yorkshire, and exploring the simple size of the human hand and how we execute cup-markings on rocks, I found Thom’s idea didn’t seem to be realistic. (though I still love Thom’s works: the man was an outstanding researcher, far exceeding all the archaeologists of his period in terms of his exploratory methods)

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, “The Undiscovered Old Stones of Calverley Woods,” in Earth 2, 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Nottingham Hill Carving, Gotherington, Gloucestershire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SO 9875 2825

Archaeology & History

Nottingham Hill cup-and-ring

A rare find this!  In October 1981, in deepest Gloucestershire on the edge of the Nottingham Hill Iron Age hillfort, archaeologists sifting through what they ostensibly called “occupational debris” along the western edge of the huge enclosed monument, found a singular piece of local oolitic limestone etched with an archetypal cup-and-ring design!  The carving was on a typical ‘portable’ piece of stone and would not have been amiss had it been uncovered in a neolithic or Bronze Age cairn in our more northern climes.  But this southern example is something of an anomaly.

In Morris & Marshall’s (1983) description of the stone they told how,

“it was found as a loose block lying with the worked surface uppermost, and half-embedded in the plough-soil, together with other slabs and irregular lumps of oolitic limestone of similar size, and of closely related rock-type.  The object is a discreet slab with an unworked under-surface weathered by percolation of ground-water along a joint.”

Drawing of the carving

They found that the carved stone was typical of other rocks making up the ramparts at the outer-edges of the hillfort, and at some point in its history may possibly having been included in the walled structures of the fortress itself.  However, this is unlikely to have been the original use of the carving.  Its inclusion in the Iron Age ramparts would more be a likely consequence of it being appropriated from another, much earlier archaeological site in the area — a chambered tomb or long barrow for example.  This re-use of cup-marked stones in the Cotswolds is known to have occurred in the village of Salford, on the church cross-base, 18.75 miles (30.2km) east of here.

The Nottingham Hill cup-and-ring was described in some detail by Morris & Marshall (1983).  The rock on which it was carved measured one square-foot in size and barely 3 inches thick.  The central cup-mark measured,

“approximately 15.5cm in diameter, and a shallow radial groove (channel 1) leads from it to the edge of the stone.  The central cup-mark is surrounded close to its lip by a penannular channel or ‘ring’ (channel 2), which has a small depression at one end.  This end of channel 2 appears to be discontinuous with channel 1, but there is a very lightly pecked connection at the other end.  Outside channel 2 is a second shallower ring or channel (channel 3) but because of its shallowness it is difficult to determine whether it links with the radial channel 1.  Channel 3 contains a clear, small cup-mark part-way along its length, and is quite definite on one side of the central cup-mark, and on the other side it is possibly mirrored by a rather indistinct depression or cup-mark and length of channel.  Channel 3 is not continuous throughout its length, ending where it meets the edge of the stone beyond the small cup-marks.”

It is obvious that the carving, whenever it was made, was not subjected to long-term exposure to the outside air, as the carved design would have eroded quite quickly on the oolitic limestone.

References:

  1. Morris, Ronald W.B. & Marshall, Alistair, “A Cup and Ring Marked Stone from Nottingham Hill, Gotherington,” in Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Transactions, volume 101, 1983.
  2. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England, Ancient and Historical Monuments in the County of Gloucester: Volume 1 – Iron Age and Romano-British Monuments in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, HMSO: London 1976.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Tarry Stone, Cookham, Berkshire

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Legendary Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SU 89745 85392

Also Known as:

  1. Cookham Stone
  2. Tarrystone

Getting Here

Old postcard of the Tarry Stone

Dead easy!  Just about in the middle of the village, by the side of the road where a seat allows the weary walker a chance to sit and rest, the Tarry Stone stands before it, with a plaque on the wall above the seat.  The old postcard here shows its situation clear enough!

Archaeology & History

The history of this large rock near the middle of Cookham village is important in the history of the old village, though there is no direct evidence to give it a prehistoric pedigree.  It was known to be an ancient boundary stone and is included in perambulation records of the area, where local people would annually walk and redefine the landscape of Cookham: a pastime known across the land, but which fell into disuse in Victorian times.  Such perambulations are thought to trace way back into the mythic lands of prehistory — so the Tarry Stone here may well have an archaic provenance.

The known history of the stone was gathered and described in Stephen Darby’s (1899) rare work on the place-name history of Cookham.  He wrote:

“A stone 3½ ft high, by 4 ft long, and 2½ ft thick. This formerly stood in Cookham village, about two feet from Dodson’s fence, where the roads parted to the church and the ferry. It is now in the Mill Garden at Cookham, where it was removed by the late George Venables when he was church-warden. This stone was formerly known as Cookham Stone.

“A.D. 1506: The tithing man presents that the Warrener ought to hold sports at Cookham Stone on the day of Assumption; and he has not done so (Cookham Manor Court Rolls).

“The stone was originally a boundary stone to the property of the Abbot of Cirencester, whose house was close by, as is shown in the will of John Luffenham, A.D. 1423.”

An old plaque that was once attached to the rock told, “The Tarry Stone at which sports were held before 1507 AD, stood formerly 50 yards NNE and was replaced here AD 1909 by order of the parish council.”  The position described “50 yards away” was next to an old pub with the fascinating legendary name of ‘Bel and the Old Dragon’!

Folklore

Dennis Curran’s 1976 drawing

One of the main reasons this site has been included here is the legendary attachments.  When the stone was moved from its original position in 1839 by a certain George Venables, to nearby Mill House Gardens, local people told how the Venable family thereafter were cursed.  It was thereafter moved back to its earlier site!

The stone has been suggested as a meteorite — a theme that was echoed in Peter Ackroyd’s Thames (2007), but the Tarry Stone is a regional sarsen rock, albeit peppered with erosion holes, giving a more ‘foreign’ look to it!

Cookham was also the village where the spirit of the god Herne “winds his horn and the music of his hounds can be heard from across the common.”  (Yarrow 1974)  The stone was also the focal point of village games in earlier centuries.

References:

  1. Ackroyd, Peter, The Thames: Sacred River, Chatto & Windus: London 2007.
  2. Darby, Stephen, Place and Field-Names of Cookham, Berkshire, privately printed: London 1899.
  3. Hallam, Elizabeth, Domesday Heritage, Arrow: London 1986.
  4. Yarrow, Ian, Berkshire, Hale: London 1974.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian