Standing Stone (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SE 024 244
Archaeology & History
Also known as the Field House Standing Stone, this monolith seems to have gone. It was first described in local Minister’s Accounts of 1403, and then again in the Wakefield court-rolls of 1515. By the time John Watson (1775) wrote about the place there had been several other references describing this old “standyngstone”. It was still upright in 1852, but Ordnance Survey showed it as “Site of – ” at the beginning of the 20th century, and the stone had been moved a short distance away, further down from its original position to a spot at the side of the old trackway — but all trace of it has since vanished.
Folklore
This is thought to have been the standing stone which Robin Hood threw here, from the appropriately called Robin Hood’s Penny Stone at Wainstalls. The tale tells how he dug it out of the ground with a spade and threw it three-and-half miles across the valley until it landed here. Ooh, what a strong boy!
References:
- Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
- Smith, A.H., The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, volume 3, Cambridge University Press 1961.
- Watson, John, The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax, T. Lowndes: London 1775.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian