Miscellaneous

Boxwell stone
Standing Stone / Menhir

Details of stone on Pastscape

(ST 819 923) Stone (NAT) (1) (ST 81959237) Stone (NAT) (2) Megalith on a barrow. (3)

Megalith standing on a circular mound 15ft in diameter by 3ft high. The stone, of much-weathered oolite, stands with its long axis approx N to S, and slightly to the E of the centre of the mound. It is 7ft high by 5ft wide at the base, tapering towards the top and 6 in thick. The stone stands at the end of a vista, and may have been moved from its original position, a view held by some of the Boxwell estate workers. Another elderly employee; however, believed the site to be sepulchral, and could not remember the stone being moved. (4) The Directory (a) describes a barrow at Boxwell, "whereon is a large upright stone above 6ft high", and there is little doubt that this refers to the megalith surrounded by traces of a barrow (probably round) beside the road to Boxwell House. (5) It is possible that this feature and the nearby mound (ST 89 SW24) were originally part of a single long barrow. (6)

This stone has clearly been moved and it now stands at ST 81959238 some 10.0m SW of its original position. It stands at the position shown in the photograph (authority 4) ie atop a small mound 5.0m in diameter and 1.0m in height.

The Kellys Directory entry of 1856 states that the stone was on a barrow so the inference is that either the mound was considerably larger at that date, large enough to accommodate a move of 10.0m, or the stone stood at the edge of the barrow in the manner of a peristalith. In either case the identity as a barrow remains; only the true nature of the stone is in doubt. (7) The standing stone and barrow referred to above (1-7) were not visible on aerial photographs viewed as part of The Cotswold Hills NMP survey. This stone and barrow may be related to the stone and long mound recorded to the northwest (Monument Number 209203). (8)

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