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<< Our Photo Pages >> Gawton's Stone - Modern Stone Circle etc in England in Staffordshire

Submitted by Sunny100 on Wednesday, 12 May 2010  Page Views: 17075

Modern SitesSite Name: Gawton's Stone Alternative Name: Gawton's Dolmen, The Healing Stone
Country: England County: Staffordshire Type: Modern Stone Circle etc
Nearest Town: Biddulph  Nearest Village: Knypersley
Map Ref: SJ898554
Latitude: 53.095705N  Longitude: 2.153774W
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
 3 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.
 2 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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Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4 Ambience: 3.75 Access: 3.33

Gawton's Stone
Gawton's Stone submitted by Sunny100 : Gawton's Stone at SJ.898554/5 (Vote or comment on this photo)
Burial Chamber (thought to be of Victorian age or a fortuitous arrangement of natural boulders) in Staffordshire. Gawton's Stone on a tree covered footpath to the NE of Knypersley Reservoir (Serpentine Lake), is situated within the Biddulph Country Park. The site is in the shape of a man's head resting on three small upright stones. The size and weight of this stone would be very difficult to ascertain - but if someone is willing to try...

It has been regarded as a sacred healing stone. Long ago it may have been used by a hermit because at one end of the massive dolmen there is a cave like recess. There is evidence that a hermit was cured at the nearby Gawton's Well, so he may well have used the stone for prayer and shelter. The name Gawton may allude to a member of the Biddulph family who lived at nearby Biddulph Grange. Local people claim the stone has magical powers and when touched it exudes energy - a kind of magnetic field.

Close by is Gawton's Well and also a Druids' Grove, a collection of recumbant stones that are also known to be sacred. They probably date back to the Dark Ages, if not before that. Other curious stones can be found here, one may be part of an ancient cross. All in all, a very interesting site to explore at leisure if you are not to bothered about a long walk in the country!
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Gawton's Stone
Gawton's Stone submitted by Sunny100 : Gawton's Stone at SJ.898554/5 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Gawton's Stone
Gawton's Stone submitted by Sunny100 : A drawing by Dr Sainter of Gawton's Stone, Knypersley. The huge stone and it's up-rights were apparently placed in this position during the 19th century, something that seems to have been 'the thing to do' in those days. Victorian landowners were especially good at arranging stones - making them look like true prehistoric burial chambers. ... (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
SJ8955 : Dried out by Jonathan Kington
by Jonathan Kington
©2011(licence)
SJ8955 : Hawthorn Shieldbug by Jonathan Kington
by Jonathan Kington
©2011(licence)
SJ8955 : Cuckoo spit on grass by Jonathan Kington
by Jonathan Kington
©2011(licence)
SJ8955 : Head of Trent at Knypersley Reservoir by Kate Jewell
by Kate Jewell
©2008(licence)
SJ8955 : Heading back by Jonathan Kington
by Jonathan Kington
©2011(licence)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 151m N 7° Gawton's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ89825555)
 2.2km NW 309° Red Cross* Ancient Cross (SJ881568)
 5.0km SW 222° Tunstall Park* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SJ865517)
 5.0km N 358° Shepherd's Cross* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SJ89626042)
 6.8km N 6° The Bridestones (Cheshire)* Chambered Tomb (SJ9058962190)
 7.5km WNW 298° Little Moreton Hall* Round Barrow(s) (SJ832589)
 7.5km S 191° Hanley Stone Circle* Modern Stone Circle etc (SJ884480)
 7.6km NNE 28° Satan's Stone* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SJ93406206)
 7.6km W 272° All Saints (Church Lawton)* Artificial Mound (SJ82165573)
 7.9km NW 320° St Marys (Astbury)* Ancient Cross (SJ847615)
 8.0km N 6° Bosley Cloud (2)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SJ906634)
 8.0km NNE 32° St Helen's Well (Rushton Spencer)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ94076222)
 8.1km E 83° Cock Low (Leek)* Round Barrow(s) (SJ9783656426)
 8.1km NW 319° Astbury Churchyard* Round Barrow(s) (SJ845616)
 8.2km N 5° Bosley Cloud (1)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SJ905636)
 8.3km SSW 191° Potteries Museum & Art Gallery* Museum (SJ8815147308)
 8.4km NNW 332° Congleton Museum* Museum (SJ859629)
 8.6km E 82° St Edward the Confessor* Ancient Cross (SJ9831956617)
 8.8km E 82° Nicholson Museum and Art Gallery* Museum (SJ985566)
 8.9km W 273° Church Lawton Barrows* Barrow Cemetery (SJ809559)
 8.9km E 86° Lady Well (Leek)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ9871455940)
 9.0km W 272° Church Lawton South* Stone Circle (SJ808557)
 9.2km NE 51° Gun Hill Standing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SJ969612)
 9.2km ENE 69° Nine Pins* Stone Circle (SJ984587)
 9.4km NE 37° Heaton Low* Round Barrow(s) (SJ955629)
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"Gawton's Stone" | Login/Create an Account | 12 News and Comments
  
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Re: Gawton's Stone by Anonymous on Saturday, 21 March 2015
Regarding more reliable sources about this site. Might I quote the following from the "Biddulph Museum":

"With regards to it being a Victorian Folly it is believed that this idea would be highly unlikely, as it is mentioned in various texts by various authors on the sites around the area who generally consider it to be either a burial site or natural formation. It is also difficult to believe that a stone weighing 35 to 60 tons would be used in this way. Yes, there have been instances of Victorians copying standing stones and stone circles which are then portrayed as ancient monuments trying to deceive the people, but these do not use stones of this size. Many original cromlechs don’t actually have a top stone the size of this one, so it would put doubt in the minds of historians and archaeologists straight away."

To make the theory of Victorian Folly even less likely is the fact that it is mentioned in J. D. Sainter's "Scientific Rambles round Macclesfield" (published 1878) as follows:

"A little
up the valley to the right, there comes into view that huge,
singularly shaped and poised block of sandstone, named
the " gawton," gorton, or gawstone ; from the German
"gau," a spring in a hollow or furrow, and " stan," a stone,
i.e. the spring near to or not far from this celebrated stone.
It will weigh about 60 tons, and forms the capstone of a
large sepulchral cell or dolmen that has undergone rough
and degrading usage. This form of burial is of an early
Scandinavian type that had been adopted in this country."

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Re: Gawton's Stone by Sunny100 on Monday, 17 January 2011
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Thanks Anonymous for going there to measure Gawton's Stone. You must enjoy doing that sort of thing! You would need a big crane to weigh it I think. Maybe someone locally could try! Its many years since I went there, but a nice place.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Gawton's Stone by Anonymous on Monday, 17 January 2011
Quote :- "The site is in the shape of a man's head resting on three small upright stones. The size and weight of this stone would be very difficult to ascertain - but if someone is willing to try... ."

I live near there and i often walk past so I accept your challenge , I measured it : )
it can approximately be converted into a rectanguler cube of
sides of 3.2m * 2.2m * 2.15m . so it's about 15 cubic meters in volume.
It dense gritstone/sandstone so I looked up a density of 2.5 T /m.
So it weighs approx 37 tonnes .
From the photo above you can not see this but It's actually at the foot of a small cliff/outcrop of that type of rock so i would say this is it's natural position there .Those three rocks it is resting on look to be apart of the rock outcrop and you are only seeing the very small tip of them sticking up out of the ground.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Gawton's Stone by Sunny100 on Sunday, 16 May 2010
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Doug Pickford, President of 'The Green Dragon Society Of Staffordshire' says in his book that Gawton's Stone and I quote "is very similar to a stone dolmen in the land of the high rocks in north Staffordshire, called The Roaches". "There there is a boulder known as the Bawd Stone that sits astride smaller boulders..." Doug goes on to say that "The structure at Knypersley is identical in its function". And further he says "It is larger than the Bawd Stone and excavation work in the nineteenth century unearthed signs of ancient burials but I do not think this was purely a burial site". To quote Doug says "It is quite possible to crawl under the stones in the same way as at the Bawd Stone and the ceremonial creepway is still in evidence".

The above is taken from Doug Pickford's book 'Staffordshire Its Magic & Mystery' published by Sigma Press, Wilmslow, Cheshire 1994 page 120.
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    Re: Gawton's Stone by Andy B on Sunday, 16 May 2010
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    Thanks, the Bawd stone is here
    http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=5924

    "Upon close inspection it is quite clear that this boulder is natural. It may well have been used as a burial place during Neolithic times, but we will probably never know whether it was or not. However, there are several pieces of evidence which suggest it may have been of significance during prehistoric times. The most convincing is the fact that there appears to be some cupmarks, one with a possible ring around it carved into the side of the boulder (on a recent visit, John Barnatt of the Peak National Park Authority believed these could be genuine and was looking into it further). "

    So you could have a close look to see if there are any cup marks on Gawton's stone...

    See also Sainter's Dolmen http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=16532

    Besides the Bawdstone further east, was this rock outcrop, which he regarded as a dolmen having a robbed out cist. The rocks look nearly identical now, as they did 130 years ago in his sketch of the stones.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Gawton's Stone by Sunny100 on Friday, 14 May 2010
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So, perhaps we should ask whether other burial chambers have been tampered with by Victorian engineers. It seems any stone, be it large or small, may well have been moved to suit the Victorian landowner on whose land it stood at the time. We cannot be certain about any stone, whatever it's age, being in it's original situ.
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    Re: Gawton's Stone by Andy B on Friday, 14 May 2010
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    Yes I expect some were. You can use antiquarian reports and sketches to know if sites were tampered with, or excavation if the stones are at least partly in the soil.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Gawton's Stone by frogcottage42 on Friday, 14 May 2010
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Quote:" Besides, the stone is too big for engineers at that time to have moved."
I would agree that the structure is ambiguous but if there is a stone on the planet that humans couldn't move in any era I haven't seen it !!!
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Re: Gawton's Stone by Sunny100 on Thursday, 13 May 2010
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Please Note:- The above, referring to Gawton's Stone, at Knypersley in Staffordshire, is according to the sources I have read, a pre-historic megalithic burial chamber, and not a Victorian (fortuitous) arrangement of stones. Besides, the stone is too big for engineers at that time to have moved. I agree that some of the stones around the well and, possibly the Druids Grove, could have been placed in that position in more recent times but even that is open to question.

The above is the editor's opinion and others only. You must make your own mind up with regard to the age of Gawton's Stone.
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    Re: Gawton's Stone by Andy B on Friday, 14 May 2010
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    Hello, I am open to be convinced but it doesn't look like a conventional British dolmen, plus one of our experts and English Heritage both say it's not prehistoric. What are your sources please?
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Gawton's Stone by TimPrevett on Thursday, 13 May 2010
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I'd always understood this to be a Victorian folly... a very Victorian influenced landscape all around. Though a wonderfully 'feely' area indea.
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    Re: Gawton's Stone by Andy B on Thursday, 13 May 2010
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    Thanks Tim, Pastscape says "Fortuitous arrangement of natural boulders". Still a nice site but changed to 'Modern' designation.

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