Places named after Stones

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scubi63 S
scubi63 Nov 26, 2009 17:46:07
Replying to tjj

The Gull Stone, now destroyed, was supposed to be part of a stone circle near Gorlestone in Suffolk (or Norfolk depending on who you ask).

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/8048/gull_stones.html

I often wondered whether the name of the town of Gorlestone had any connection to this?

I am interested in this as my dad's side of the family originated from this area, and it would be nice to have some sort of megalithic connection in this otherwise barren area.

:o)

M moss
moss Nov 26, 2009 18:29:19
Replying to scubi63

scubi63 wrote:
The Gull Stone, now destroyed, was supposed to be part of a stone circle near Gorlestone in Suffolk (or Norfolk depending on who you ask).

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/8048/gull_stones.html

I often wondered whether the name of the town of Gorlestone had any connection to this?

I am interested in this as my dad's side of the family originated from this area, and it would be nice to have some sort of megalithic connection in this otherwise barren area.

:o)

'This otherwise barren area'; too true, trying to find somewhere last night (Norfolk and Suffolk) that had stones to visit produced nothing. Notice that Arminghall henge, which is hardly visible, had enormous timber post holes in the archaeological report but that was all....
Alphamstone, which looks as if it might have had a stone circle was named after the Saxon who founded his settlement on a bronze age barrow..
Gorlestone-on-sea (according to the place-name book) is Gurl's farmstead 1086....

F FourWinds
FourWinds Nov 27, 2009 08:30:26
Replying to scubi63

scubi63 wrote:
The Gull Stone, now destroyed, was supposed to be part of a stone circle near Gorlestone in Suffolk (or Norfolk depending on who you ask).

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/8048/gull_stones.html

I often wondered whether the name of the town of Gorlestone had any connection to this?

I would say that it's most likely the other way round. The place is probably Gorle's Town. Someone probably saw the stone at some point and said "that must be Gorle's Stone" (possibly where he was buried) and the name got perverted into The Gull Stone.

Place names ending in 'stone' are tricky ones. The vast majority will have probably come from "Someone's Town". You'd have to go back through the records and see if they ever ended in 'Stan' or 'Sten' from the old Anglo/Saxon roots of the word stone. Etymology is wonderful!