Wade’s Stone (South) forum 2 room
Image by David Raven
Wade’s Stone (South)

The Giant has fallen :-(

close
David Raven D
David Raven Mar 24, 2008 23:55:38

I drove past this stone on February 15th 2008 and it was still standing then, but was reported as having fallen by March 8th 2008. So we went to check it out today... unfortunately the giant is indeed on his back.
(I've uploaded some pics).

I thought that the crop in the field looked like last autumn's sowing, so I doubt that it was knocked over by a tractor within those three weeks.

The stone didn't appear to have been deeply planted originally, judging by the shallow socket left in the earth. Also, there was a wider depression around the stone, much like the ones found when stock animals use a standing stone as a rubbing post.
Maybe a combination of constant rocking by stock in wet ground made it unstable, and the earthquake on the 27th February finished the job?!


Who's responsible for the stone? Is there a chance it will be re-erected?


Cheers
Dave

S StoneGloves
StoneGloves Mar 25, 2008 06:41:54
Replying to David Raven

There's a chance it'll get re-erected if you get on the case and 'don't let it drop'. It looks to me as though it's been pulled by the farmer. That would explain the herbicided strip and the packing stones being scattered. If you can get back with four tentpegs mark the corners of the hole the stone was sat in - that'll give you the original position further down the line when that hole has eroded. If the stone's scheduled as an Ancient Monument then it's E.H. you need to get in touch with and if it's just on the SMR then it's the County Archaeologist. The stone and site will be owned by the farmer and he is the first contact - obviously he doesn't know it's a valuable object. And when you phone the officials be prepared to be underwhelmed by their response.

Like all websites everywhere, we use cookies.