<< Our Photo Pages >> The Great Stone Of Fourstones - Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature in England in Yorkshire (North)

Submitted by Sunny100 on Wednesday, 09 June 2010  Page Views: 17117

Natural PlacesSite Name: The Great Stone Of Fourstones Alternative Name: The Great Stone; Fourstone Boulder; Four Stones
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 0.3 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Yorkshire (North) Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
Nearest Town: Bentham  Nearest Village: Fourstones
Map Ref: SD6697266292
Latitude: 54.091465N  Longitude: 2.506451W
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.
 5 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
 5

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Hordernm visited on 25th Jul 2023 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4

cactus_chris visited on 24th Jun 2020 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4

SumDoood visited on 10th Jan 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 4 Zoom in using Bing’s aerial view and you will see, close to the big stone, a big enough boggy hole in the ground to the North, and one at 1 o’clock, and another at 2 o’clock. I’ll dare to suggest that they might indicate where the missing three stones once stood. Interesting too is the track immediately on the west side of the Great Stone. To the south it becomes one track which seems to continue on across Aikengill Road, then swing west to join that same road c. 200m away, and to swing east then south to continue generally towards the farm known as Sea View on Ringstones Lane (and there’s a name to ponder on!). North of the Great Stone the “dual carriageway” of tracks spreads like fingers through the boggy ground, but the walker here will find that generally the path curves towards Fourstones Barn and continues north-ish from there. It seems quite possible that the track(s) described in this paragraph were the forerunners of the modern Slaidburn Road.

coin visited - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4

FrothNinja have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4.25 Ambience: 4.25 Access: 4

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by Sunny100 : The Great Stone Of Fourstones Nr Bentham, N.Yorks at SD.669663. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Natural Erratic Stone in Yorkshire (North). The Great Stone Of Fourstones, Nr Bentham, N.Yorks at SD.669663. This enormous glacial erratic boulder stands on Tatham Fell to the W of the village of Bentham. It is estimated to be 18 feet high. Steps have been hewn out at one side of the boulder, allowing people to climb to the top in order to stand or sit and enjoy the views in all directions, and what views!

The great boulder was probably deposited here at the end of the last Ice Age, sometime between 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, or maybe an earlier glacial retreat. The boulder is a much visited attraction. It is marked on the OS maps. Certainly worth a visit, if you enjoy a long walk on the moors.

Brigantia writes: Harry Speight (1892) told how the (original) Four Stones were the creation of our old mate the Devil, long ago, who dropped them in one his many megalithic travels across our land. The stones were also the meeting place of ancient councils, from the tribes either side of the Yorkshire-Lancashire border. Their presence here also had mythic relationship with the Queen of the Fairies Chair, about a mile southeast, along the same boundary line.

Apparently also has possible rock art.

Pastscape Monument No. 589030 has a very brief entry for this site, classifying it as a boundary stone.

The Northern Antiquarian (TNA) also feature a page for this legendary stone - see their entry for Great Stone of Fourstones, Lowgill, North Yorkshire, which contains directions for finding this site together with photographs, a brief archaeology & history, local folklore and the 1847 OS map showing the location of this stone.
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The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by Sunny100 : The Great Stone Of Fourstones Nr Bentham, N.Yorkshire at SD.669663. This image shows the steps hewn out of the boulder. (Vote or comment on this photo)

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by coin : Steps up the stone. (Vote or comment on this photo)

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by cactus_chris : 20200624--Great Stone of Fourstones, Bentham, North Yorkshire (Vote or comment on this photo)

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by Antonine : Me in 2014 (Vote or comment on this photo)

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by Antonine : 2014

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by SumDoood : The boulder from the south showing the "dual carriageway" of presumed ancient, and again presumed, trackways which pass close by on its west side. On this gentle slope they cut deeply into their surroundings, more so than one might expect of any tracks which might have formed no more than part of an upland Pennine settlement.

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by SumDoood : Among the modern-ish graffiti this trench from the top and on down the west side looks mighty incongruous.

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by SumDoood : Among the large amount of graffiti on many of the boulder's surfaces are these few cup (type?) marks on the top of the boulder towards the south end of it where they form an almost-circle which is, from memory, about 40cms in diameter. There are similar but less obvious marks grouped towards the north end of the top of the boulder too.

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by SumDoood : Around the "back", i.e. the west side which was probably the front, i.e. the side next to the probable forerunner(s) of the modern Slaidburn Road, are two sets of steps which seems to meet, then continue to the top as one.

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by SumDoood : Classic not-really-on-the-top-of-the-hill type of location and clearly visible from a long way off when approaching from the north. (First sighting when approaching from the south or west is from very much closer).

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by coin : Footholes up the side.

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by Bladup : The Great Stone Of Fourstones.

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by Bladup : The stairs carved into The Great Stone Of Fourstones.

The Great Stone Of Fourstones
The Great Stone Of Fourstones submitted by Bladup : The Great Stone Of Fourstones.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 976m SW 215° Ringstones (Lowgill) Stone Circle (SD664655)
 6.3km WNW 290° Tatham Enclosure* Ancient Village or Settlement (SD61086846)
 7.0km WSW 259° Roeburndale stone circle* Modern Stone Circle etc (SD60086496)
 8.6km WNW 304° St Wilfrid (Melling)* Ancient Cross (SD5978571115)
 8.8km WNW 285° St Margaret (Hornby)* Ancient Cross (SD5847068580)
 8.9km NNE 32° White Scars Cairn (SD717738)
 9.4km WNW 291° Castle Stede Hillfort (SD582697)
 9.4km NW 324° St John the Baptist (Tunstall)* Early Christian Sculptured Stone (SD6141473925)
 10.0km NNE 21° Twisleton Scar Rock Outcrop (SD70597563)
 10.3km ENE 68° Norber Erratics Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SD76597003)
 10.3km WNW 290° St John the Evangelist (Gressingham)* Ancient Cross (SD5725069915)
 10.5km SE 124° Brown Hills Beck* Round Barrow(s) (SD75616035)
 10.6km SE 124° Brown Hills Beck East* Round Barrow(s) (SD75656025)
 10.7km NNW 349° Leck Hall* Ancient Village or Settlement (SD64927677)
 10.9km NE 41° Ingleborough Camp* Hillfort (SD7419374511)
 11.6km E 85° Feizor (Lawkland) Standing Stone (Menhir) (SD78586718)
 12.8km NNW 329° Sellet Bank Enclosure* Ancient Village or Settlement (SD60517733)
 12.8km E 84° Feizor Thwaite (Lawkland) Ring Cairn (SD79796747)
 13.0km NNE 17° Apron Full of Stones* Ring Cairn (SD709787)
 13.1km E 85° Feizor Celtic Wall* Misc. Earthwork (SD8008067386)
 13.2km NNE 15° Yordas cave* Cave or Rock Shelter (SD704790)
 13.4km E 93° The Ebbing and Flowing Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SD80396538)
 13.4km NE 35° Keld Bank (Ingleborough)* Rock Art (SD7475977253)
 13.4km NE 34° Keld Bank Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SD74657734)
 13.5km E 89° Sheep Scar Circle (Giggleswick) Ring Cairn (SD8051366473)
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"The Great Stone Of Fourstones" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: The Great Stone Of Fourstones by Sunny100 on Wednesday, 20 November 2013
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There are a number of cup-marks on the top of the stone, though no rings, but also plenty of graffiti.
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Re: The Great Stone Of Fourstones by Sunny100 on Thursday, 10 June 2010
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Many thanks to Andy B and his team for adding the Brigantia info ie the devil and Queen of the Fairies Chair. I had missed that. Yes there is some rock art on the stone - some circles and other shapes can be seen. The long channels going down the boulder maybe due to rain erosion, rather similar to the Devil's Arrows, N.Yorks.
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