Blaxhall Stone

Country: England region: Suffolk Grid Ref: TM351565 Near: Blaxhall surveyed: 09 October 2004

This stone has been venerated in the village of Blaxhall for generations, and is associated with an odd legend that it grows. This is a five-ton piece of sandstone, from a parent mass in Spilsby, Lincolnshire. The stone was pushed down by glacial action some 150,000 years ago. Readers from more rocky parts of the country should bear in mind that Suffolk has virtually no rock whatsoever, so such a large stone is noteworthy, where it would be hardly remarked upon in the Peak District!
As Ewart Evans writes, the legend tells us much about the villagers of old. "Here is a big stone in their midst like an ark that has come from somewhere mysterious. Knowing nothing of prehistory and the ice sheet, there was only one explanation short of the fantastic: the stone grew there. And when it is realized that this is an out-of-the way village, neglected and to a certain extent despised, with little calim to any distinction at all, it is seen that the inducement to believe in a stone that grows is too strong a temptation to be withstood"