Longstone (East Worlington) forum 1 room
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Longstone (East Worlington)

Hi Jimit.

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I've just been looking at your photos of the Longstone, and I was wondering what you thought about its age. It looks almost square in cross section, and <I>pure joy's</I> note about the crosses made me wonder whether it may be Medieval.

For the benefit of HH peeps:
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/browse.php?site_id=3511

Did you see any sign of the crosses? I recently visited a stone that turned out to be Medieval (Maen Serth), and that too had a cross on it, or so I found out after my visit. The square-ish shape of the Longstone reminds me of Croes Faen, which is also near a road junction:

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/browse.php?site_id=2420

Croes Faen is the remains of a stone cross, the head bit no longer attached. Just thought I'd share these observations, and see what you thought.

Kammer x

I think the Longstone's real - just because of the natural shape of the rock, and the way it fits the ground. It suggests 'fullness' - fertility.

It's difficult in the field to know whether a stone has slipped - is slipping - or has been originally paced at that angle.

The second, Welsh, stone has certainly been well-worked by iron chisels - I would guess in Victorian times. Whether it is a megalith is a balance of probabilities. I'd suggest 60/40 in favour of an earth religion placement. It's just a guess.

This is what I'm up against -

http://www.north-yorkshire-moors.freeserve.co.uk/ceremony.htm

- but I've just found a small leaning pillar, maybe half of a pair with the other fallen. I'll look further at them. I've got a small fallen slab with clear grass marks showing its original angle and I should - just about - be able to set it on the Solstice - Sunday morning. There's two curricks on the horizon before it and the slab faces diverge slightly to align with them. Easier said than done ! But the vegetation mark indicates an 'arrow in the ground' setting.

The night of Solstice eve I should be able to dismantle a replica Viking burial cairn - it may even be in the Knarsdale library at that other website. (The picture got to number 36 in the summer photograph competition !)

I could do with some some smokescreen, in the lower valley, if anyone could fancy doing impressions of filmic archaeologists. Just print this map out -

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/image.php?image_id=13019 -

and start with the cupmarked rock nearest to the farm named Far House. I know it's a crap map. If you can find that first stone, which was buried until very recently, then there's a cluster of rocks due South, across a field, into the next one, and up a hill a bit. Dr Maria Von Strudel, University of Hamburgh, expert in paleologistics (hear my plea !)

The digger's coming for the Wogglestones next.