The stripes seen across the Weald Stone in this picture are shadows being cast by the street fencing on the roundabout that this stone rests by. There are many roundabouts that try to dress themselves up with would-be stones and stone circles and yet this one hides its very own stone with a fence. Still, at sunset it makes for interesting patterns. I guess the others just collect chip wrappers. 07/09/2005 CE
The Weald Stone seen in relation to the the Weald Stone Inn with it’s sign paying homage. What you don’t see in the picture is the suburban roundabout it rests by. The area became known as Wealdstone after the railway was built close by in Victorian times. The local station, built at the time of the modern railroad, is the site of one of Britains worst rail disasters which, in 1952, killed 112 people. As seen on 07/09/2005 CE
The only picture I have of the Weald Stone isn’t very revealing as it is from the cover of a fundraising CD from the local football club Wealdstone FC.
Maybe more to follow.
A short cycle ride south, down Brooks Hill, across the roundabout on the Uxbridge Road, past fast food outlets and something called a Homebase, we find on the left hand side, at the junction with College Road, The Weald Stone public house; proud guardian of the Weald Stone from which it takes its name. A hefty pub sign announces the lozenge shaped Stone to be a “boundary stone”; its image beautifully picked out in gold. Across the red brick suburban architecture of the adjacent hostelry is simply emblazoned ‘The Weald Stone’. Borough planning has incorporated the Weald Stone into the road side, gutter and pavement, like a curb stone on steroids. (OS TQ1507 9082) Folklore frequently tells the story of wandering Stones, such as the Diamond or Swindon Stone of Avebury which is said visit the River Kennet “for a drink at midnight”, returning by day break to sleep off it’s aerobic jaunt. The Weald Stone went missing for a time too; between a mention in 1549 and its re-appearance in 1834 we can only assume that the Weald Stone was either buried, sank into the ground, or went walk about for some 285 years! According to an article entitled “Some Thoughts on the Wealdstone” in the Harrow Civic Bulletin (1951), a certain Thomas Toumor “widened the runnel (stream) in his meadow against the Stone before the feast of Pentecost (Wit Sunday)” in 1523. Suggestion is made that the Weald Stone was subsequently either pushed into the runnel as a prank, or that its undermined foundation simply resulted in its collapse. It seems quite within the realm of possibility that it simply slumped into the mud and silt following Toumour’s digging and with no practical importance, was allowed to slumber until its re-appearance in 1834; when local builders dug it up. Walter Druett states in his book Harrow Through The Ages (1938) that “There is some doubt concerning the purpose of these stones which were brought from a long distance, but they were probably used as direction points and may also have indicated the burying place of some chieftain”. The Weald Stone Inn, now in its fourth recorded incarnation as a pub, was known for many years as the Red Lion Hotel. Prior to it’s re-building in 1935, the Weald Stone was apparently embedded in the corner of the “old house” which was constructed around 1834, if indeed the Weald Stone used was the original. It therefore seems unlikely that the Weald Stone was ever used as either a coal marker or a step up to ones horse and/or carriage. It may have been set upright in the ground or it could be a fragment of a much larger Stone; it would be interesting to find a drawing of the original Red Lion Hotel circa 1834, showing the Stone in situ.
As a bit of a spoiler, the NMR (National Monuments Record) report on the Weald Stone reckons “(Any) suggested association with prehistoric man must … be treated with reserve. It was a recognised land mark in Tudor times”. Strangely, the summary concludes “A standing stone, possibly a Medieval or later stone not in situ.”
The area around the Weald Stone is rich in Neolithic and Bronze age history ... Stanmore Common houses one of the largest known longbarrows in the country ... although it has suffered from erosion ... few records of this wonderful barrow exist ... likewise the Bronze age barrow nearby.
You will gather that the Weald Stone is much reduced from it’s previous described measurements.
The Weald Stone is located in College Road, off High Road, Harrow Weald outside the Wealdstone Inn (Formerly the Red Lion) within the Borough of Harrow, Middlesex (Greater London). The area of Wealdstone is named after it.
To quote some brief information compiled by Sateesh Khanna.
“In pre-Saxon times an area of thick woodlands covered the northern region of Middlesex and was known as the “Great Weald” or “Wold” . Weald meaning forest. The whole of this area was uninhabited, until the 6th century, when Saxon farmers began felling trees to clear the ground for crops and cattle. The landmark “Stone” itself some 3 ft tall, 2 ft thick and about 5 ft wide, is believed to be a Sarson stone and geologically is not of local origin.
It is believed pre history inhabitants of the region brought the stone over for religious purposes and then later used as a direction stone or boundary marker.
This Stone of antiquity, that the village of Wealdstone derives it’s name from, lies outside The Weald Stone Inn, (formerly the Red Lion.) High Road Harrow Weald (Junction College Road)
As an ancient relic the “Stone” also has a documented history in the Borough archives going back to the reign on Henry VIII where there are court scrolls that make references to the “Weld Ston”"
