Tony draws attention to this para in the Burl article:
"The theory for the transportation of the stones by glaciation is not without supporting evidence. There are unsubstantiated reports of bluestones having been found on Salisbury Plain not far from Stonehenge, at Seend and at Edington, and there is proof of at least one substantial dolerite deep in the mound of Boles long barrow, a Neolithic burial-place blocked up and abandoned centuries before the ring was contemplated. William Cunnington, the antiquarian and fair geologist who found it in 1801, also wrote something pertinent, implying that he had recognised not only the bluestone but other types of Preseli stone in the barrow: "a great variety of the stones found in an oblong barrow near this place that are of the same kind with several of those at Stonehenge."
Does anybody know anything about these purported bluestones at Seend and Edington? The former is W of Devizes, and the latter SW of Devizes.
11 comments:
Sorry to be negative, but, despite having lived locally for over 30 years, I have heard nothing of purported bluestones at Seend or Edington. Interestingly, Edington's parish boundary to its south takes in part of Salisbury Plain. Edington is, coincidentally, usually identified as the site of King Alfred The Great's victory over the Danes, and the battlefield is assumed to have been somewhere on The Plain thereabouts.
Seend is a good distance from Salisbury Plain, although Burl states there are unsubstantiated reports of a findspot to that effect. The Kennet & Avon Canal passes nearby, and there were ironworks near the canal in Seend parish.
here's is google street view of the stones in seend.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=seend&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Seend,+Melksham,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ll=51.346832,-2.084378&spn=0.006433,0.013626&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.347639,-2.087463&panoid=ZijlpUXcgcl1lbm6-f3sFw&cbp=12,8.28,,1,24.6
and
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=seend&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Seend,+Melksham,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ll=51.348695,-2.090814&spn=0.006433,0.013626&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.3487,-2.091451&panoid=quOc6LiD8OBgfDCxR3-cMg&cbp=12,167.92,,1,10.46
PeteG
Edington Stone
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=seend&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Seend,+Melksham,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&sqi=2&ll=51.276857,-2.106221&spn=0.006443,0.013626&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.276915,-2.10646&panoid=9nCjPl-pVjWaMOF4ZH9KTA&cbp=12,128.84,,1,14.65
PeteG
a local historian told me this evening that there is report of a Bluestone being found at Worton also.
PeteG
More and more interesting..... was this an ancient report, or a recent one?
I have been told all these have been reported in WAM either as letters or as Notes & Queries.
I had heard about the Seend and Edington one's ages ago.
I have someone trying to get a photo of the stone in Salisbury museum.
PeteG
I know you have been tracking "anomalous stones" for a long time, Pete. There do seem to be rather a lot of them -- presumably many of them having been reported in the literature. Why, therefore, do the archaeologists insist on repeating, over and again, that there are NO strange stones in the Salisbury Plain area other than those at Stonehenge? Answers on a postcard please.......
Surprising, perhaps, that Isobel Geddes does not mention any 'wild' bluestones in her "Hidden Depths: Wiltshire's Geology & Landscapes"
(2000). She does discuss human effects on the landscape through time there. Are you aware of any of her other publications, etc, or her further thoughts, Brian?
Yes, I met Isoble and have exchanged assorted messages with her. She knows her geology, and I would certainly trust her stone identifications!
I have just found out that Isobel is running a course at the Marlborough College Summer School on the 'Prehistoric Landscapes of Avebury & Stonehenge'. Info on the web.
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