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Blowing Stone

Standing Stone / Menhir

Miscellaneous

What do you think happens when you leave a blowing stone outside a pub? Yep, every drunk staggering home at 1 in the morning thinks they'll have a go. So there's only one thing to do - lock it up.
The aperture to the mouth-piece is closed with a wooden trap upon rude hinges. This is fastened with a padlock and chain [..] The landlord of the inn made great difficulty about permitting us to have a blow upon the Sabbath-day, 'because' said he, 'it do so tease the Squire at Kingston Hall' (which is three-quarters of a mile from the stone). However, he perceived we were odd folk*, and that we had a sketch of the Berkshire wonder, upon the exchange of our silver key for his iron one, we had liberty to unfasten the lid.
Needless to say, at the terrible racket everyone came out of the ale house, and so the perpetrators retreated, everyone "looking after our trail wrathfully and gloomily, as if we had committed a sacrilege."

from p271 of 'The Wanderings of a Pen and Pencil' by FP Palmer and Alfred Forrester (1846) - at Google Books.

*perhaps a familiar response to modern visitors of tma-type spots the country over.

You can see the security arrangements in Wysefool's photo here
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/21097/images/blowing_stone.html
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
6th October 2007ce
Edited 6th October 2007ce

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