Today, I returned to a place I had not visited since July 2018 - out on the moors west of Sheffield. It's called The Head Stone and it can be seen very easily from The A57 Snake Pass road that weaves its way to my adopted city from Glossop and Manchester.
I blogged about The Head Stone after my last visit. Go here. In the intervening four years, I have not been able to find out any more about it, except that in past times it had different names including Stump John, The Priestley Stone and The Cock Crowing Stone.
When you are there, you notice the rising ground and the other rocks that surround The Head Stone - many hidden by bracken and heather. Having visited many ancient sites, I am pretty sure that the location is not only interesting because of its geology but because of the long ago secrets it cannot speak. I have no idea if it has ever received the close attention of skilled archaeologists.
I walked for over two hours this afternoon, leaving Clint at the Wyming Brook car park by Redmires Road. From there, the track descends to the Rivelin Reservoirs along a track established by Sheffield Council in the early twentieth century - for both leisure and forestry. Some people were collecting sweet chestnuts but their husks are so prickly you need work gloves to deal with them. I understand that all sweet chestnut trees on this island owe their existence to The Romans. They occupied most of Britain between AD43 and AD410 - almost four hundred years. That is of course a long time. They left their mark here in lots of ways.
Here's a picture I took on Wyming Brook Drive with beech leaves carpeting the roadway:-
I never asked you for anything Neil so can I have The Headstone for Christmas ?
ReplyDeleteIt is the best mystery object after Stonehenge, Oumuamua & the Obelisk in Stanley Kramer's movie *2001: A Space Odyssey*.
The Headstone will be perfect in my back yard especially when the snows fall.
It is alive. It is sublime. It incarnates the Gnosis. It speaks to me. It is my friend.
Thanking you in advance, buddy.
I will wrap it up in haggis-coloured crepe paper and tie a sparkly ribbon around it. Lord knows what the cost of postage will be!
DeleteIt's a pretty time of the year for you. Just in four years your photos are so much better, taken I assume with a new or better camera.
ReplyDeleteI think I edit them better and of course larger pictures look better.
DeleteSince we live in a glaciated area , we have the odd house sized bolder left from the ice age.
ReplyDeleteCanada is so vast. There are probably many boulders that have only been seen by a handful of people.
DeleteWhatever you call the stones, they're incredible, but that picture of the leaf-covered roadway is just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteGlad I could take you there and get your mind off American politics - how ever briefly.
DeleteAlways excellent photos YP, but for me, that last one is stunning - worthy of a prize.
ReplyDeleteI turned and saw that sight. Many great pictures are behind us!
DeleteHow interesting!
ReplyDeleteDid you see the programme on BBC 4 recently with Professor Alice roberts?
Some archaeologists have found the original site of the bluestones that make up Stonehenge. It was amazing.
You have an expert eye when it comes to photography.
I did see that documentary and how modern techniques have been able to pinpoint the exact source.
DeleteThat is a beautiful autumn picture, the kind of place I love to come across when walking or hiking in woodland.
ReplyDeleteThe area around The Head Stone looks great, too, and as you say, could well hold much more than the obvious geological interest.
There are so many mysteries close by.
DeleteAre these stones, we have plenty around here, not shaped by long gone glaciers and seas? I did look on TMA and here was not much information, except to say on a sunny day in August you may see a face. And in good folklore condition, the stone is said to turn around on a certain morning when the cock crows.
ReplyDeleteYes. It is a natural formation but eye-catching and what I am suggesting is that it may have been a focus for ancient people - not a monument but a gathering place. In that regard, the immediate surrounding area deserves investigation.
DeleteI love that rock, but I'm more intrigued by the flat millstone with smaller rocks under it form the link. You mentioned you would refer it to an archaeology department. Did you ever hear anything back from them? Did they ever investigate?
ReplyDeleteI had never written to a university archaeology department before. Disappointingly, they never got back to me.
DeleteThe last chestnut tree I have seen died of old age perhaps a decade ago. It was an oddity because it was off by itself and somehow escaped the blight by being self quarantined. When I was a kid, I used to be fascinated by those prickly pods.
ReplyDeleteIn Britain, we have two kinds of chestnut tree - horse chestnut and sweet chestnut. Humans never eat the fruit of the first one. I wonder which pods you meant.
DeleteI was referring to the American Chestnut whose nuts were sweet like the ones you described. It was unfortunately eradicated when people brought over a Japanese chestnut that contained a blight that would kill the American chestnut.
DeleteWhat a beautiful stone formation. I would be tempted to climb to the top and daydream.
ReplyDeleteI would climb up to give you a cheese and tomato sandwich and some coffee from my flask.
Delete"IT'S A MYSTERY"- Toyah.
ReplyDeleteIs that what she said when her denim jeans refused to be buttoned up?
DeleteWhen I take pictures around here of trees and sky, I often think of how unimpressive our landscape is around here compared with yours. Of course, our rivers and oceans are beautiful but for drama- you have it all! That shot with the leaf carpet is almost a river in and of itself.
ReplyDeleteI always appreciate your encouraging comments Mary.
DeleteThe leaves are gorgeous this year! My son just came in from raking our backyard so now there are several large piles that we will move to the front for pick up this week.
ReplyDeleteYou could compost them Ellen - free nutrients for your garden.
DeleteI love the autumn colors in that last picture.
ReplyDeleteIt's a simple image. I am glad that I turned round at that moment.
DeleteIt definitely looks like the kind of place that would have attracted the ancients.
ReplyDeleteApart from anything else, such places give you a special feeling.
DeleteLovely photos, especially the beech leaves. I love the crunch of walking through dried leaves. I misread one of the names for the Headstone. I read it as Cock Growing stone and then realized my error:)
ReplyDeleteSuch a stone would be helpful for some guys... not me of course!
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