Cuckoo Stone

Also known as:
Cuckold Stone
Nearest town:
Amesbury (2km SE)
OS reference:
SU146433
OS sheet:
184
Latitude:
51° 11' 17.43 N
Longitude:
1° 47' 27.84 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Cuckoo Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by thesweetcheat

Looking over the Cuckoo Stone towards Woodhenge, with Beacon Hill beyond.

Image credit: A. Brookes (25.11.2017)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 18, 2017
Image of Cuckoo Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by jimit

Stonehenge Riverside Project.
Complex markings by the stone. The excavators have been surprised at the finds at this site as they include three pottery urns and a child burial with a dog’s skull at its head.

Image credit: Jimit Sept 07
jimit
jimit Sep 10, 2007
Image of Cuckoo Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by jimit

Stonehenge Riverside Project.
The dark linear feature approaching from the top is believed to be an IA boundary ditch and the fact that it kinks around the stone seems to suggest that the stone pre-dated it. The original socket for the stone is just out of sight behind it.

Image credit: Jimit Sept 07
jimit
jimit Sep 10, 2007
Image of Cuckoo Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by jimit

Stonehenge Riverside Project.
Early excavations at the Cuckoo Stone.
It is suggested that.....The rectangular mark centre, is a Roman mini metalworking area and will not be excavated.....The small square above it is a modern test pit......The dark area to the right of the stone may be the ramp used to raise it....the parallel lines are plough marks.
Other obvious traces are a mystery.
(All errors are mine!)
Jim.

Image credit: Jimit Aug 07
jimit
jimit Aug 28, 2007
Image of Cuckoo Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by baza

The Cuckoo Stone. Photo taken from Fargo Road, 120 metres away, with zoom.

baza
baza Dec 25, 2003

Articles

Miscellaneous

Cuckoo Stone
Standing Stone / Menhir
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Aug 29, 2007

From a letter to The Times, Wednesday August 13, 1930:

I feel that topographical sighting or alignment is certain in the near future to become an important agent – preceding the spade – in antiquarian research[..]

Five years ago I saw on the 6in. Ordnance Maps near Stonehenge the almost straight 1 3/4 mile northern bank of the Circus aligned through a stone – the Cuckoo Stone – quite near. I marked this line on the map, but, not visiting the spot, did nothing further.

Then last year I found by the maps in Mrs. Cunnington’s brilliant book on Woodhenge that my line not only went through the centre of [that] monument, but was marked by Mrs. Cunnington on her map, for she had found proof in certain “extra post holes” of an alignment (possibly seasonable) which went to the Cuckoo Stone. [..]

Yours truly, Alfred Watkins.

Miscellaneous

Cuckoo Stone
Standing Stone / Menhir
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jan 16, 2003

Colt Hoare recorded this sarsen near Woodhenge. He didn’t know it was near Woodhenge at the time of course, because Woodhenge hadn’t been discovered :) It’s 2 metres long (though it was standing when Hoare saw it) and it seems to be in line with the Cursus. As a single standing stone it would be very unusual in this part of the country. Maybe it’s called the cuckoo stone because it’s out of place here?

Its position has been used as the extent of the parish boundary.

Apparently the National Trust are in the process of turning the field where it lies from intensive arable farming into a wildflower meadow.

Topics

Corrected location for Cuckoo stone 1
P
pelms
Nov 2009

Sites within 20km of Cuckoo Stone

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