Hurdle Stone

Also known as:
Hurdlestone and Monument No. 200220
Nearest town:
Radstock (7km N)
OS reference:
ST677480
OS sheet:
183
Latitude:
51° 13' 46.97 N
Longitude:
2° 27' 45.53 W
Added to TMA by

Articles

Folklore

Hurdle Stone
Natural Rock Feature
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jul 24, 2010

Another version of the stone’s origins:

There is a farm near Wrington called Hailstones Farm, but some folk say it should really be Hurlerstone Farm, on account of the Devil picking up a great rock lying there and throwing it right over the Mendips to hit Cranmore Church. Of course, he missed, but it was a tidy throw even for “the Old Boy”.

Some say it was a giant dropped it or made a bad shot of it. Anyhow, the rock lies on the edge of a cliff in the woods and they call them Hurdlestone Woods. And there is a Giant’s Grave there too.

From Ruth L. Tongue’s 1965 ‘Somerset Folklore’. She heard it in Frome and Cranmore in 1945.

Folklore

Hurdle Stone
Natural Rock Feature
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Mar 10, 2005

Is this a genuine site? It merits a place in the Somerset sites and monuments record. Their website info says:
“In Hurdlestone Wood is a very erect large boulder of millstone grit, in a line with several but smaller ones. It measures about 18ft by 4ft by 20ft high and seems to have been placed on end artificially, though perhaps in the course of quarrying. The group seems to have been given the name “The Hurlers” and the large stone “The Hurdle Stone”, though these could be inventions of Skinner who first drew attention to the group [c.1820]. H.E Balch compares the big stone to a stone at Avebury. ”

They are also mentioned in the lavishly-illustrated ‘Reader’s Digest Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain’ – they are the result of a game of quoits between the giant of Grabbist and the Devil. Predictably the devil started cheating (well, what can you expect?) so the giant picked him up by his tail and hurled him into the Bristol Channel. There’s another story that suggests it was thrown from Redhill.

Miscellaneous

Hurdle Stone
Natural Rock Feature
Chance
Chance Apr 17, 2016

Details of stone on Pastscape

(ST 67694804). In Hurdlestone Wood is a very large erect boulder of millstone grit, in a line with several similar but smaller stones. It measures about 18 ft by 4 ft by some 20 ft high and seems to have been placed on end artificially, though perhaps in the course of quarrying. The group seems to have been given the name ‘The Hurlers’ and the large stone ‘The Hurdle Stone’, though these could be inventions of Skinner, who first drew attention to the group. H E Balch compares the big stone to a stone at Avebury. (Crawford visited the site and gives a 6” sketch, but he expresses no opinion about the group’s purpose or function). (1)

Sites within 20km of Hurdle Stone

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