Standing Stones - Ancient and Modern

Standing Stones aren't particularly numerous in Somerset.  They are notoriously difficult to date and in many cases there is disagreement over how old they are and what their original purpose was.

The Cove, Stanton Drew

Triscombe Stone

  This small standing stone is on the border between Over Stowey and West Bagborough Parishes but its origin isn't known - some sources say it dates from the Bronze Age but others that it is more modern

Devil's Stone, Luckwell Bridge

 

Devil's Stone, Luckwell Bridge

This stone is so called because apparently the devil hurled it here from Dunkery Beacon!  It is thought to have been erected during or since the Middle Ages. It is made of quartz and is likely to have come from a quarry in the adjacent field.

"Seascape" by David Milton, 2011, Watchet

Longstone, Challacombe Common, Exmoor

This is a pre-historic standing stone.  It is 2.6 metres high and is located just over the border in Devon.

Modern standing stone in Batcombe Hollow near Draycott

Modern standing stone in Batcombe Hollow near Draycott

I was unable to find out who had erected these two standing stones in Batcombe Hollow but they are thought to have been put there since the 1980s.

Portbury Standing Stone

 Quantock House, Taunton

These two standing stones were erected in February 2022 outside the Platinum Skies' Quantock House retirement flats in Paul Street, Taunton.  They each weigh 4 tonnes and are over 9 feet high.  The one on the left is Permo-Triassic red sandstone from Capton in West Somerset and the one on the right is Ham stone (Jurassic Upper Lias limestone) from Harvey's Quarry at Ham Hill.  They each have one cut and polished side. The sculpture was created by Olivia Sanders of Curload.  They are supposed to bring together the new building and its location and to make people think about the relationship between geological time and the present time and between the landscape of Somerset and the urban landscape.