Thursday, 24 March 2011
The Seend and Edington stones
Thanks to Pete's brilliance with that Street View thing, I was able to look at the stones in question from a great distance! Here they are:
The top two images are from Seend, and the lower one is from Edington. It's impossible to say from this distance what they may be made of ---- I await a diagnosis from some enthusiastic geologist!
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But what exactly do we know so far, apart from having photos of 3 stones in the 2 villages? Have they been put there, for instance, as part of the extended street furniture by an enthusiastic Parish Council, or alternatively by a local citizen? Is there any known local history?
Amesbury has a bluestone in its centre, admittedly with a plaque attached.
Somebody will know the answers... we know about the Amesbury bluestone, imported from Pembrokeshire some years ago as part of a Rotary Club stunt, as I recall.
Yes, I noticed that there was a Pembrokeshire Club connection when I came across it whilst on a brief foray for food-gathering after an excellent day's walking in the Stonehenge greater landscape (organised by National Trust from 'Stonehenge Cottages')
In the days of Antiquaries i.e. broadly before Archaeologists, it seems that the bluestones suffered at the hands of 'souvenir-collectors'(and, Darvill & Wainwright would have us believe, Medicine-Men). Could it be that from the beginning of the 20th Century, a deviation of this practice has seen holiday-makers to south-west Wales coming back with whole blocks of rhyolite and dolerite from Pembrokeshire, so as to place them 'on show' on the edges of their gardens, as evidence of "trophies", or forced cultural exchanges, with the South Wales Celts? You never know. To paraphrase someone from a different 'sport', Jimmy Greaves, 'It's a funny old game'.
I had hoped there might be something on any Edington - parish - alleged bluestone in a little book seen in Westbury library. This is "Edington 2000: a celebration of village life". Unfortunately, no, despite it containing quite a bit on prehistory & history. There are two photos of Edington's Millenium Stone 2000, including one of its installation. But I am still trying to track down any "bluestones" by other means.
Nothing would surprise me! But one always has to be on the lookout for "adventitious" or "suspicious" stones -- Rob Ixer has reminded me that there are many such stones (usually quite small) brought into the area in connection with road-building and other construction projects. Who knows what went on when they were putting all that concrete into stabilising the big sarsens? Even on the coast one has to be careful -- when I have been looking for glacial erratics on Pembrokeshire beaches, I always have to bear in mind that stone was often used as a ballast in the old days of coastal trading ships.....
All info on those stones gratefully received! Maybe next time we go to Nunney, to visit the family, I'll pop over and take a look at these suspicious stones in Edington and Seend......
Worton Devizes.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=worton+devizes&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Worton,+Devizes,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ll=51.316357,-2.043867&spn=0.00081,0.001703&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.316329,-2.04367&panoid=lhYnH-zc7259OQhEZnNYaw&cbp=12,304.83,,1,11.16
I found another Odd stone on Hillworth rd, Devizes today.
PeteG
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