Stöckheim

Latitude:
52° 42' 16.31 N
Longitude:
10° 59' 32.53 E
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Image of Stöckheim (Chambered Tomb) by Nucleus

Wow – what a capstone...
Visited March 2019

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 03/2019
Nucleus
Nucleus Mar 10, 2019

Articles

Stöckheim

Nucleus
Nucleus Mar 10, 2019

Stöckheim is a grand dolmen consisting of seven pairs of supporting stones and an enclosure. The current state of preservation is good, capstones partially collapsed, most enclosure stones are missing, two supporting stones are fallen over, two supporting stones are missing. Most of the enclosure stones were already missing in 1843 at the time of Danneil, according to his statements they were unusually small. The trapezoidal chamber is north-south orientated and 9.2 m long and 1.8 – 2.2 m wide.

The northern capstone, which is the largest surviving capstone of all megalithic tombs in the Altmark, is still in situ. It is 4.5 m long, 2.9 m wide, 0.8 m thick and weighs about 22 tons. At its southwest corner, it has a deep groove (referred sometimes as blood groove). In its surface over 80 cup marks were incorporated.

The tomb is located about 100 meters behind the village exit of Stöckheim in the direction of Lüdelsen, left of the road and easily accessible via a field path.

Visited March 2019

Folklore

Stöckheim
Chambered Tomb
Nucleus
Nucleus Mar 10, 2019

When the giant Goliath was no longer able to endure it in his grave in the holy land, where he was teased there as a bigmouth, which had ultimately been defeated by a small shepherd boy, he decided to look for another resting place. At some point he came to Stöckheim, where he liked it quite well. He collected a few large stones, which he set up to fit his grave. He then went back to retrieve his tombstone and his golden coffin. He took the coffin under his arm, wrapped a golden chain around the big stone and tied it to his back. On its long way back, the chain was constantly rubbing itself deeper into the stone. That’s the reason for the rill, which is still visible on the stone today. Arrived in Stöckheim he put the big stone on the prepared support and lay down to rest under it. But he did not really get any rest either, because on every New Year’s Eve the giant Goliath climbs out of his golden coffin and scrapes three round holes in the stone, which are just as big as the wounds the shepherd boy David caused with his slingshot. The village has long held the opinion that the three holes formed on New Year’s Eve form the shape of a triangle and close again when new holes are formed next year.

Alfred Pohlmann: Sagen aus der Altmark. Stendal 1901

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