Oh my goodness, I'm really shocked and sorry. I only met Stu once but he was so amazingly knowledgeable, kind and helpful. He knew more about the prehistory of the Peak District than anyone. What a great loss this is xxx

Where do you start?

I remember my first meeting with Stu, i wanted to find the elusive Bunkers Hill rock shelter, he wanted to come along to be sure i did, and as he did he showed me numerous other sites along the way that i hadnt visited before. In those days we'd both receive many enquiries each week regarding sites and that's how the Pecsaetan site was born. I began adding sites myself, but where i lacked in info you could rely on Stu to know all there is to know, so after a year or so he joined me at my request. He'd probably laugh reading this, but he'd often pm or email me in the early hours thinking he'd fucked up the website trying to add something, and he often did! A far better pre-historian than computer user, but we always got there in the end.
The site was supposed to cover South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, but in his never ending enthusiasm he wanted to cover Staffordshire too, and so we began.

Humble selfless and quiet, you'd never know at a glance one man could carry so much site info in his head, often reeling off fact after fact in relation to some unassuming cairn or other and the finds found there, that was him all over.

The world hasn't only lost a superb pre-historian, but one of the jolliest most genuinely friendly people you could ever meet, he'll be missed deeply by those who knew him and those who didn't but took advantage of his great knowledge of the Peak and surrounding areas, which he was all too willing to share with anyone having even a fleeting interest.

Sleep soundly my friend, till i can walk with you again some day.

Geoff. (Megadread/Harestonesdown)

That is sad news. He was always friendly to me on here. Funnily enough I was at Memsie and the White Cow Wood Cairns today so I hope he was looking down from wherever keeping me right.

Safe journey to him and all the very best to his family.

Many Thanks to all of you.

I'm Stu's eldest brother and seeing these words left in the forum have certainly been heartwarming and I know they will be welcomed by his Mum and Dad.

He was certainly amongst friends who shared the same passion as him and I know, that one of his greatest enjoyments in life was meeting up with people from this website and others, so that he could could share and swap knowledge about these pre-historical sites.

Once again, many thanks for thinking of Stu at this time.

I'm so sorry to hear about Stu. Although I never met him in person, I had lots of online conversations with him and had tremendous respect for his encyclopedic knowledge of Peak District sites.

I thought about him just a few weeks ago, when on Hathersage Moor trying (again) to find the elusive ring cairn near Winyard's Nick and came away thinking, "I must ask Stu for some clues."

Both this site and the Peak District has lost a great friend. Although I didn't even really know him, I will miss him.

Just saw summat on Facebook - I hadn't heard. I can't quite believe it. :o(

So sad. Stubob was a lovely man with incredible knowledge of megalithix & his patch. I can't remember whether I met him more than once (damn my old man memory!) but I certainly corresponded with him a lot in the 'old' days.

He was so friendly, kind & generous with his knowledge. Jane & I had a memorable day out in Derbyshire with Stu & a few other TMAers back in 2003 blogged by Jane here: http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/21501/six_of_the_best_with_a_wounded_knee.html (Unfortunately the link to a photo sited on her old website that would have had Stu on it is missing.)

Here's another shot from that day tho http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/21461/eyam_moor_barrow.html

Walk on, lovely Stu.

love

Moth

I have written and deleted my entry to TMA forum repeatedly over the past week or so, with respects to my Husband Stuart, or Stubob as you know him. That is because there is so much I could say about him, which is quite the opposite of him you may agree! He was more of a ‘King of the One Liners’ kinda guy, which I see by your comments of how ‘unassuming ‘he was had clearly been picked up on.
I think his funeral on Thursday just gone was a fitting tribute to him, although he would have shied away from being the centre of attention. I think the 50 or so people that came to pay their respects to him, would have blown his mind! Also the many tributes from well-wishers too on top of that, especially from this site, did him proud. In fact a few of them were shared at his funeral, and I asked that a message sent to me from Fitz be included as it was an especially well worded, personal account of their ramblings together, which summed up perfectly his nature. It raised a couple of knowing laughs too, as I hoped it would.
I can’t thank you enough for your comments and tributes, which I posted a link to so that friends and family alike could appreciate the effort he put in to his passion for ancient history and the sentiments shared by so many like-minded people or perhaps I should say friends over the years of posting to this site.
I’m pretty sure a few eyes have been opened to his knowledge and expertise, people who only really knew the quiet but quick witted, happy go lucky side to him. His retention for facts was astounding whether it be for history in general, or motor sport, especially Moto GP – His other obsession! He could recall years, dates, makes, placing’s, names and other quirky snippets of info. too!
Stuart rekindled his love for visiting ancient places, in particular Bronze Age sites, over 10 years ago, following a back injury. Drs Orders were to take a light stroll, and keep mobile as this would help reduce pain. Needless to say as Stuart’s quest to research and find even the smallest sign of a forgotten place grew, so did the distance and difficulty of his expeditions. He suffered a lot physically for his art. The deeper the heather the longer he would have to take to recover, often needing to lie down for days at a time. But at least it focused his mind and lifted his spirits.
I am proud of his efforts and his postings to TMA are a lasting tribute to him, also the knowledge he shared means that his spirit still lives on through the people trekking off to find one of his hidden gems.
Me and the boys will be taking his ashes up to Minninglow one day next week, to say our farewells and set him free in the place he loved the most. His chosen place. So if you happen to find yourself upon that sacred ground, you might wanna say ‘A-up’, to Stubob. Nowt else needed, he would be fine with that, and take in the views all across the land he knew so well.
Thanks again folks, Karen xx
Any Donations to: www.biscuitfund.org

I first met Stu when I began exploring the more obvious sites of the Peak District and discovered this site about 18 years ago. It then became apparent that there many more less 'glamorous' sites to locate so I bravely contacted Stu who was more than happy to take me around with him using his brilliant GPS...

As others have stated he was just such an unassuming, kind, generous man and we would meet up regularly in those days as he was in Matlock and me not far away in Nottingham. I dare say I was with him when a lot of his Derbyshire photos were taken that now appear on this site. I'm not a big website contributor but always looked out for his new uploads...

Big memories of Stu will always be him getting out his roll-ups and lighting up when we reached a site and then discussing what we were looking at. That and his mild fear of heights when we were searching for some obscure cave on a steep hillside or other...Stu used a walking stick in those days because of his bad back and would patiently walk as far as he could before stopping and then give me his camera to take a photo if he couldn't make it all the way!

when the peaks were done and dusted we still kept in touch and met sporadically when something new came up in Derbyshire or close by.....but Stu never changed. I will never forget that quiet knowledgeable voice off his...

I last saw him about 18 months ago when he took me to see a possible new standing stone, ironically not far from his home and we were discussing a trip to the South lakes.....something we always discussed but life got in the way as it always did.....I see that he finally made it!!

I will be making the short trip to Minninglow shortly,,,,,probably sit in one of the open cists and have a smoke with my mate Stu and say goodbye..

Cheers mate..I will see you there...