GeoEssex Factsheet No 1 Compiled by Gerald Lucy
Sarsen stones
By the roadside in many parts of north and central Essex are very large sandstone boulders. Although difficult to move they have usually been placed here by farmers over the years, having been found in the fields and regarded as an inconvenience and liable to break agricultural machinery. These boulders are known as sarsen stones or sarsens. The word sarsen originates in Wiltshire, where these stones also occur, and may be derived from the word ‘saracen’, which means stranger. They must have been regarded as a strange sight in the landscape, especially on the grassy chalk downs where their pale colour would have made them conspicuous. An old name for sarsen stones is ‘greywethers’, so-called because of their resemblance, from a distance, to a flock of sheep
Uses of Sarsens in Essex
Sarsens have been employed as way markers for centuries but they have had other uses. In Dedham churchyard there is an inscribed sarsen grave stone which dates back to 1690. Many north Essex churches have sarsens in their foundations but the most remarkable site is at Alphamstone where at least 11 large sarsens in and around the churchyard provide strong evidence that the church may have been built on a pagan site, possibly a stone circle.
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=10813 - also in the Old Stones guide
Adjacent to the crossroads at Takeley is a sarsen with a very unusual history. This stone was discovered in 2000 by archaeologists in a pit which was part of a complex of Bronze Age dwellings at Stansted Airport. It had clearly been placed in this pit by Bronze Age Man, some 3,500 years ago, although for what purpose has yet to be established.
More about sarsens in Essex
http://www.geoessex.org.uk/files/geoessex_factsheet_1_-_sarsen_stones.pdf
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