<< Our Photo Pages >> The Godstone - Marker Stone in England in Merseyside
Submitted by Sunny100 on Tuesday, 01 June 2010 Page Views: 8902
Multi-periodSite Name: The Godstone Alternative Name: The Corpse Stone, The Cross StoneCountry: England County: Merseyside Type: Marker Stone
Nearest Town: Formby
Map Ref: SD28070668
Latitude: 53.551801N Longitude: 3.087167W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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cactus_chris visited on 7th May 2023 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4 Located in the corner of the churchyard; only found with the help of a local person.
The Godstone at Formby, Merseyside. The ancient godstone stands at 18 inches (420mm) high in the churchyard of St Luke's, Formby. It is an irregular, oval shaped stone with a flat side that has an incised cross on stepped stones carved onto it. At the top of the cross there is a round circle, which could represent the Godhead. Some other stones lie scattered around the base of the stone. The stone may have been used as a kind of marker stone for new converts to Christianity.
Apparently the stone was used for funeral rites - bodies were lain here after death. One local legend says the stone was used as a "rebus" to convert Vikings to Christianity - so this is obviously a Christianised stone. The Godstone was moved to it's present position in 1897. The font in St Luke's Church is Norman. But the date of the stone is uncertain, some say the 11th century, others says the 9th or 10th century. We cannot be certain either way.
For more information see Historic England List ID 1343285.
Historic England also schedules another cross, located 30m south of the Chapel of St. Luke's Church at SD 28075 06680 - see their entry for Historic England List ID 1075862 and Pastscape Monument No. 37595. The Journal of Antiquities also includes an entry for both these crosses - see their page for The God Stone, St Luke’s Churchyard, Formby, Merseyside, which includes a description, a drawing and a list of reference sources for more information.
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