Long Stone, Adel, Leeds, West Yorkshire

Standing Stone (destroyed?):  OS Grid Reference – SE 2501 4119

Also Known as:

1. Long Stoop
   

Archaeology & History

Sadly gone, this looked to be one helluvan impressive standing stone.  Described just once by the christian fruitbat Henry Simpson (1879), who told us:

“In a hedge-row, or rather stone row…is a remarkable, ancient monolith, it is thirteen feet in height; from its slender character, it does not appear to have formed one of a trilithon, but rather to have constituted a memorial of some sort, or as a beacon of some usefulness.  I can discover no barrow or earthwork near the spot.  There are remnants of a quarry close by, with a mound of earth arising therefrom, but no indications to give a clue to the meaning or use of this single pillar.  It is composed, moreover, of millstone grit, which is not to be found in the immediate neighbourhood, so it must have been brought from a distance and placed in its present position.

“Some suppose this to be a Roman stoup or pillar, designed for a landmark; but it bears no mark of Roman worksmanship.  It is crude in the extreme.”

There is no available folklore known to the Long Stoop, although a long straight path terminated where the monolith stood.  This path was one of many in an intricate geometric lay-out of perfect circular and dead straight tracks in the woodland immediately south of here [now built over], with four-, eight- and twelve-fold lines intersecting each other over a very large area.  It may be that this large, seemingly lost standing stone, could have been a part of the ornate grounds that were laid out here in bygone centuries, perhaps erected by the architects behind the project.

It would be damn good if locals in and around Adel could relocate this monolith — which is as likely propping up some old walling somewhere nearby — so we can make a healthy assessment as to its authenticity.  Are there any Leeds pagans who might be able to rediscover this lost standing stone?

References:

1. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
2. Simpson, Henry Trail, Archaeologia Adelensis; or a History of the Parish of Adel, W.H. Allen: London 1879.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian