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Christianised Site
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Some notes from a book called "Harlyn Bay and the discoveries of its Prehistoric remains" by R. Ashington Bullen 1912
The ruins of Constantine church stand near a kitchen midden. It was built in a hollow in the sand . Underneath the ruined tower is a large boulder of Cataclew stone (plate 20) weighing apparently nearly a quater of a ton. The nearest locality for this rock is Cataclew (fig 14) about a mile and a half distant in a straight line.
This stone seems to have been a sacred object around which the tower was built, perhaps 1600 hundred years or more ago. We have a similar instance at Maplescombe Church near Faringham, Kent in which is a large mass of tertiary conglomerate at the N.E. corner. And Prof T. Rupert Jones F.R.S., considers the so-called Chair of Bede at Jarrow Church to have been a sacred stone of an early date, but known to have been chiselled by modern masons into its present rectangular shape.
If the whole surrounding mound at Constantine Church is a continous kitchen midden, as it seems likely, consisting of successive accumulations, the great boulder marked the meeting point for whatever religious or ceremonial rites were practised. the Christian Missionaries who built Constantine Church made the spot the centre for the new religion, including the stone within their edifice in a position of honour.
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Posted by phil
8th October 2003ce
Edited 8th October 2003ce
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