Engraved Stone

[durulz]

In my local woods there is a peculiar stone. I've known about it for ages and always wondered what it was. I was out for a walk today and went by it, so I thought I'd take a picture and ask here if anyone has any idea what it could be.
It's about a foot high and a foot wide on it's longest edge.
You can see the picture here:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5284/5309825110_7e1fd684a9_b.jpg

Anyone got any idea what it is?

 

[Mesquite]

Looks like it's part of an old building. Is there any other rubble nearby?

 

[durulz]

One or two.
But no obvious sign of ruined buildings. And the one or two lumps of stone there are are not dressed in any way (they are just random boulders) or as crisp as the stone in the picture.
It really does look like it's standing all alone and no sign of it being part of another structre (though that's not to say it isn't). It would be odd for just that stone to have survived intact alone with no other signs of dressed masonry.

 

[Toddy]

It's not uncommon to find a few dressed stones amongst a pile of otherwise unworked stones from small houses. Usually the door lintel is engraved with the image of the tools of the man who lived there. Shears for a shepherd is the one I know of relatively near by.

No idea at all what the carving you have found means though

 

[bigandy]

not an expert but, looking at the pictures i would say it's a modern work, the lines look far too crisp(of course i stand to be corrected).they dont seem to have worn in any shape or form that you would expect even if they were on a protected side of a building.
my two pennies worth.

 

[Melonfish]

looks to be quite young due to lack of wear, but i'd say sun and moon for the carvings.
you perhaps have found someone's dis-used altar?

 

[QDanT]

looks to be quite young due to lack of wear, but i'd say sun and moon for the carvings.
you perhaps have found someone's dis-used altar?

I've no idea, so perhaps Melonfish is on track but nice find.
a great thread start
thanks durulz cheers Danny

 

[Barn Owl]

I'm no expert but as to weathering..

Can be a fickle thing at times, i've come across crisp stone effects that are known to be 250 yrs old at least.

Same with sandstone 'markings'.
Suppose it depends on what you define as aged.

 

[British Red]

The symbology there is old faith for sure. It likely is, or was, part of a nemeton.

 

[pwb]

Could it perhaps be a boundary stone with the two symbols representing different estates and the line the border so to speak.

 

[Toddy]

I tlooks like part of an upright doorframe. Finished face on one side and rough on the bottom to take mortar to join it to the next block.
We aren't seeing the whole of the piece, just a little facet of the jigsaw.

The bottom carved one in Dan's post is definitely high status. Those acanthus leaf type carvings were very popular in ecclesiastical buildings.

We have to remember too that moors that we now think of as unpopulated, barren places, were anything but in the past.
The quarries that Dan has visited are very clear evidence of that.

Nemeton ? mmmm, usually woodland or natural spring.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[troopermaz]

it is a type of granite so the edges would still be relatively crisp even after a few hundred years it could be some type of memorial but couldnt be sure on that one

 

[British Red]

Nemeton ? mmmm, usually woodland or natural spring.

cheers,
Toddy

I believe the OP stated it is in woodland Toddy?

Red

 

[decorum]

Anyone got any idea what it is?

I can't seem to get past giant Jaffa Cake domino - sorry

 

[Toddy]

He did, but Nemeton implies a special grove. Like a patch of Oak in an otherwise Ash filled woodland, kind of thing. Something noticeably different in environment and atmosphere.

Cheers,
M

 

[British Red]

We must know different people clearly .

Several I have known were groves of significance to the worshippers, but not ecologically remarkable.

 

[Dangerous Dan]

These certainly do appear to be modern but I couldn't help thinking of the carved stones around Ilkley

http://www.stone-circles.org.uk/stone/rombaldsmoor.htm

 

[Toddy]

Cup and ring marked stones are pecked; struck repeatedly with a smaller harder stone; to create the carvings.
The one Dan shows looks chiselled.

Sun and Moon are only two of the usual 'symbols' though for those kind of things BR. Usually water, fire, and the like are in some way represented too. Groves, as in 'Groves', need some kind of specialness. Whether natural or created. Simply plonking a stone down doesn't do it.

As I said, I think we're only seeing a piece of the jigsaw.

M

 

[durulz]

The stone is in woodland.
But it's a patch of old sweet chestnut coppice woodland (as you can probably tell by the leaves).
But it's not buried deep in the woods - it is less that a metre from a post and wire fence, the other side of which is a sheep field. It is not visible from any path - though anyone performing any kind of ceremony at it would be seen from a path. There certainly isn't anything 'magical' or different about the location it's in.
I did try to move it, but it wouldn't budge. Don't know whether that's because it was buried deep in the ground or because soil had built up around it and was holding it firm - I didn't give it that much of a shove, just a slight push with my foot.

 

[Toddy]

I wonder if the old maps would show a boundary or gateway nearby ?

Interesting though

cheers,
M