This stone is not easy to find as a field hedge has been planted around it. Just off the busy Swindon to Highworth road past the turning for the Honda car factory. The village of Stanton Fitzwarren is situated behind Stanton Park – as you go into the village (by foot) follow the footpath sign to Sevenhampton.
A single sarsen standing stone on the edge of a field, possibly an ancient boundary marker, it stands 5’4” high.
Edit:
Acknowledgements: Terence Meaden (archaeologist/author) and PeteG for mentioning on a forum about three years ago. Also my walking friend MC who spotted it on a walk about a month ago and kindly helped me find it again last weekend.
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Could it even be, tjj, that you've found the stone that the name 'stanton' refers to? Possible, innit?
books.google.co.uk/books?id=FkYOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q&f=false
How big is it by the way?
Thanks for that link Rhiannon, I believe there was a forum discussion a while back about places named Stanton ... like to think it might have been part of some no longer existing stone circle or monument that gave Stanton Fitzwarren its name (I believe the Fitz bit is Norman).
Just edited my fieldnote to indicate the height of the stone which at 5'4" was the same as me.
From the local plan:
Stanton is referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Stantone which might be interpreted2 as “an enclosure fenced by stones” or “farmstead by the stone”. St Leonard’s Church retains a fine Norman nave and chancel arch. After Domesday the manor passed through the hands of many families including the Fitzwarren family who gave their name to the village. In 1394 the settlement is named Staunton Fitz Waryn.
swindon.gov.uk/stanton_fitzwarren_feb_2009-2.pdf