A stop-off after a visit to Sutton Walls (28.1.2010). The stone is in a field alongside the River Lugg next to a busy B-road. It is cut off from the road by a deep drainage ditch and has been surrounded by an unsightly box-like fence. Not very welcoming sadly, perhaps I'll come again for a proper look when it's not raining!
"at noon on Wednesday 16th February 1642 an extraordinarily strong wind dragged the upright Wergins Stone 120 yards away, making an 18" dent in the ground the whole distance, and carried the base stone 440 yards away through the air; a satanic black dog was seen running before one of the stones"
From "Stone Spotting In Herefordshire" - Jonathan Sant (2000 Moondial), referring to "Civil War in Herefordshire" - John Webb (1879)
This stone is nearly 5ft high and stands (according to the Herefordshire SMR) in a pentagonal base - maybe a cross base. But they do say it's prehistoric. Bar the cross base.
Gough's 1806 'Camden' mentions two stones, perhaps the remains of a cromlech. The meadow where they were was called 'Wergins', hence the name. An alternative title - the Devil's Stone - comes from a strange incident in the 17th century:
Between Sutton and Hereford, is a common meadow call'd the Wergins, where were plac'd two large stones for a watermark; one erected upright, and the other laid a-thwart. In the late Civil Wars, about the Year 1652, they were remov'd to about twelve score paces distance, and no body knew how; which gave occasion to a common opinion, That they were carried thither by the Devil. When they were set in their places again, one of them requir'd nine yoke of oxen to draw it.
Alfred Watkins thought the Wergins Stone (top right in the picture) was an ancient marker, the flat face pointing out the direction of a 'ley'. This photo is part of his 'Early British Trackways' book, online at the Sacred Texts archive.
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