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<< Other Photo Pages >> Big on Little - Rock Outcrop in England in West Sussex

Submitted by Andy B on Friday, 06 March 2015  Page Views: 10901

Natural PlacesSite Name: Big on Little Alternative Name: Big upon Little, Big-Upon-Little, Great upon Little, Executioners Rock
Country: England County: West Sussex Type: Rock Outcrop
Nearest Town: Crawley  Nearest Village: West Hoathly
Map Ref: TQ348320
Latitude: 51.071507N  Longitude: 0.077339W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Big on Little
Big on Little submitted by Creative Commons : A sandstone boulder that has been carved out by water running across different hardnesses of the sandstone. Many flints from the Mesolithic and Neolithic have been found in rock outcroppings in the Weald, including near here. Copyright William Bartlett and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Rock Outcrop in West Sussex. David Staveley writes: This stone was a great attraction for tourists at some point and there are initials carved wherever a hand could reach, dating anywhere from the 17th century, with initials being carved over others and the effects of the weather leaving the possibility of earlier dates.

Thomas Pownall in 1778 tell us that the stone "was covered with multitudes of names and initials of all dates". Though Big-Upon-Little is the most famous in the camp, it is not the only marked stone.

Another carved stone, just west of Big-Upon-Little has obvious symbolism in its carving. Apart from being told the name of the stone, which is Executioners Rock, there is no documentation relating to this stone that the author can find, it might well be a representation of the female genitalia, it might well be a relic from the tourists that visited, or as the name suggests, a grisley site of execution.

The last features of this site worthy of mention are two caves called "Cave Adullam" (dated 1760) and "Moraine Cavern" (dated 1859), the names taken from inscriptions within the caves themselves. Moraine Cavern contains two carvings resembling Celtic knotwork, which were carved in the early 20th century by some members of a boys club. Mesolithic flint flakes and an arrowhead have been found in the caves.

Source: David Staveley's Sussex archaeology web site where you can read more about the area.
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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
TQ3431 : Several brick built weirs stepping down before passing under bridleway by Dave Spicer
by Dave Spicer
©2009(licence)
TQ3431 : Wet and muddy bridleway by Robin Webster
by Robin Webster
©2010(licence)
TQ3432 : Big on Little by William Bartlett
by William Bartlett
©2006(licence)
TQ3431 : A muddy high Weald Landscape Trail by Dave Spicer
by Dave Spicer
©2009(licence)
TQ3432 : Big on Little - front detail by Robin Webster
by Robin Webster
©2010(licence)

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"Big on Little" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Description from Highways and Byways in Sussex by Andy B on Friday, 06 March 2015
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We are now on the fringe of the Sussex rock country, to which we come again in earnest when we reach Maresfield, and of which Tunbridge Wells is the capital. But not even Tunbridge Wells with its famous toad has anything to offer more remarkable than West Hoathly's "Big-on-Little," in the Rockhurst estate. I am tempted to quote two descriptions of the rock, from two very different points of view.

An antiquary writing in the eighteenth century (quoted by Horsfield) thus begins his account:—"About half a mile west of West Hoadley church there is a high ridge covered with wood; the edge of this is a craggy cliff, composed of enormous blocks of sand stone. The soil hath been entirely washed from off them, and in many places, from the interstices by which they are divided, one perceives these crags with bare broad white foreheads, and, as it were, overlooking the wood, which clothes the valley at their feet. In going to the place, I passed across this deep valley, and was led by a narrow foot-path almost trackless up to the cliff, which seems as one advances to hang over one's head. The mind in this passage is prepared with all the suspended feelings of awe and reverence, and as one approaches this particular rock, standing with its stupendous bulk poised, seemingly in a miraculous manner and point, one is struck with amazement. The recess in which it stands hath, behind this rock, and the rocks which surround it, a withdrawn and recluse passage which the eye cannot look into but with an idea of its coming from some more secret and holy adyt. All these circumstances, in an age of tutored superstition, would give, even to the finest minds, the impressions that lead to idolatry."

And this is Cobbett's description, in the Rural Rides:—"At the place, of which I am now speaking, that is to say, by the side of this pleasant road to Brighton, and between Turner's Hill and Lindfield, there is a rock, which they call 'Big upon Little,' that is to say, a rock upon another, having nothing else to rest upon, and the top one being longer and wider than the top of the one it lies on. This big rock is no trifling concern, being as big, perhaps, as a not very small house. How, then, came this big upon little? What lifted up the big? It balances itself naturally enough; but what tossed it up? I do not like to pay a parson for teaching me, while I have God's own Word to teach me; but if any parson will tell me how big came upon little, I do not know that I shall grudge him a trifle. And if he cannot tell me this; if he say, All that we have to do is to admire and adore; then I tell him, that I can admire and adore without his aid, and that I will keep my money in my pocket." That is pure Cobbett.

Source: Highways and Byways in Sussex Chapter 24
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Highways_and_Byways_in_Sussex/Chapter_24
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A Natural Rock call'd Great upon Little near Wakehurst Sussex by Andy B on Friday, 06 March 2015
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View of an unusual rock formation near the house Wakehurst (now Kew Gardens' Millennium Seed Bank) in West Sussex. This rock called 'Big upon Little' or 'Great upon Little' was a limestone block separated from a cliff by water erosion. As can be seen in this drawing, it rested on a precarious stump base where water had been. For centuries it was a great tourist attraction. Visitors could jump from the cliff on to the rock and many carved their initials onto its surface. The earliest signatures date from the 17th century but any older carvings would have been weathered away.

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/kinggeorge/a/003ktop00000042u07100001.html

More from the British Library collection

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/topdrawings/g/005add000005672u00076000.html
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/topdrawings/g/005add000005672u00075000.html

and an old postcard
http://www.sussexpostcards.info/publishers.php?PubID=212

Amazing to think how something that was such a tourist attraction has become virtually forgotten.
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