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Folklore
| Some additional folklore: There was a standing stone near the barrow*, which disappeared in the 1990s, which had the following associated with it: "'when hanging was meted out to sheepstealers, a man was found one morning dead, leaning up against the stone, with a sheep tilted over the upper edge, with its four legs tied together for carrying'. The man had rested and the sheep to which he had tied himself had somehow slipped or struggled and strangled him. This was told to explain the bronze age cup marks on the stone, looking like imprints of a pair of sheep's trotters. The road is said to be haunted by the ghost of the man, with the sheep on his back; he crosses the road and disappears into a yew tree." As told in "Stone Spotting in Herefordshire" - Jonathan Sant (2000 Moondial) *The stone was listed in "Herefordshire Register of Countryside Treasures" - E.C. Davies/County Planning Department (1981) published by H&W County Council: "Standing Stone, St Weonards A pillar of red sandstone lying N-S. 1m high with base section 0.6 x 0.3m. Two cupmarks discernable on the E side. At roadside near to crossroads S of St Weonard's on A466. (497235)." I wonder if anyone has any pictures of this before it went missing? |
Posted by thesweetcheat7th January 2009ce Edited 12th January 2009ce
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| Just out of curiousity, I have been looking into this folklore a bit further - if you look at numerous sites with names like "Hangman's Stone", "Hanging Stone", etc in various counties (Leicestershire, Berkshire, etc) they almost all seem to have an similar tale of a sheep (or deer) thief associated with them, albeit without the reference to cupmarks/sheep's hooves. This appears therefore to some kind of an antiquarian urban (rural?) myth! |
Posted by thesweetcheat 13th January 2009ce |
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