Poetry Path – October

Today we walked down a muddy path through the trees in Stenkrith Park, near Kirkby Stephen, in search of the October stone. Finding the stone was easy, trying to decipher the words was a little more difficult.

I started looking for the stones along this path in July. This is August. Then I realised I have not blipped September - I will do this later.

This one is actually two flat slabs of stones, one sandstone and the other limestone, to reflect the complex geology in Stenkrith Park, where much of the stone, known as brockram, is a conglomerate mix of both types.

The poem describes the two types of stone, with a verse on each, but the words were very difficult to work out, because of the amount of undergrowth and moss. A transcription is below. There was supposed to be the usual engraving of an aspect of the hill farmer’s year; an auction mart, which there is in Kirkby Stephen. Sadly there was no way we were going to find this particular motif.

Some pictures of the stones themselves and some of the carvings are here.

Interestingly, these stones are only a few yards away from one of the Benchmark Stones, the one that was the hardest to find as it was the most overgrown. I suppose that’s because this is all very damp woodland close to the river. We did wonder whether anyone is responsible for making sure these pieces are looked after. It seems such a waste if not.


Sandstone. A desert wind, grain
by grain, laid down these rocks. How did we trace
a path through the ancient dunes?

Limestone. A million million
blanched and compacted shells. How did we swim
through the drift and not perish?