The Crackstone at Hampton Fields

I woke at 2-30am and then 3-30am before getting back to sleep. The alarm then woke me at 6-25am prompting me to stagger downstairs to make a cup of tea while my bath filled. I had to get to the last Country Market of the year which starts rather too early for my liking.

I had a good time there, but without huge sales, and was called on to take pictures of the presentation of the leaving present for the long term organiser who was retiring. Changes will be made with a new team and I think it will freshen up their promotion of the weekly event.

On my way home I took the long road, and wandered from Minchinhampton to the next door hamlet of Hampton Fields. I thought I'd revisit the Crackstone, a rather wonderful standing stone which a few years ago was fenced off. It used to be in the actual field but now the animals are kept clear. I'm not sure who is responsible for it but it might be on land owned by Princess Anne who lives just a mile down the valley at Gatcombe Park.

I was pleased to see a small herd of highland cattle in the field although they were a long way off. I hoped they would come up and say hello but they were wary despite looking at me with some interest. I must do a bit of research about the stone, as I have some old books on such features. There is an interesting article in a book about dowsing written in the 1930s where the author came and made a map of what he found. It is called 'The pattern of the past'. I'll have to hunt through the hundreds of our old books and see what he had to say about it. I once drove John Michell from London to Stroud, where he was being presented with an honorary membership and an award by the Ley Hunters Association. It would have been interesting to visit the Crackstone with him but we didn't have the time. He did tell me he'd visited it many years before when he lived and worked in Cirencester, which is not too many miles away.

ps
I've just heard the radio interview I recorded for BBC Gloucestershire. I think it was well edited.