Yog Sothoth Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 I was looking for mushrooms recently in the local woods, and came across a stone buried amongst some brambles. I could only see the curved top and thought it was an old coping stone from the top of a wall. I dug it out and was surprised to find that it is a cylindrical stone, not a walling relic at all. It's made of millstone grit and has a diameter of 14". In depth, it's about 10". The sides are completely flat, and it's circular. Obviously hand-chiselled, it has a hole about 2.5" square through the centre. Around the middle of the circumference is a groove about 1/2" wide and deep. It's a reddish colour as if the stone has been in a fire. It seems too small to be a millstone and has no grooves on the flat faces, and I can't see why it would have a groove around the outside. I was wondering if it could have been some sort of roller. It obviously had a drive-shaft set into the square hole. Anyway, I'm posting the details on here to see if anyone recognises the description. I found it almost totally buried in Carr Wood, close to the ruins of Lees Hall Farm and Cockshutt Farm; it could have come from either one of those, or even from Lees Hall itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
40summat Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Some wooden farm buildings were built on short stone pillars with a round domed circle on top of the pillars, these looked a bit like a mushroom and were designed to stop rats climbing up into the barn, as they couldn't get around the circular bit on the top, It sounds like you might have found one of those top parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubydazzler Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 It's obviously a relic from the elder world, Yog-Sothoth ... At the time you found it was there a gibbous moon hanging in a sky racked with flying clouds and could you hear strange eldritch moanings and chitinous scrabblings at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yog Sothoth Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 But it's not domed, it's cylindrical, and the square hole through the middle is precisely cut, so it must have taken a shaft. Looks just like a millstone but smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yog Sothoth Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 It's obviously a relic from the elder world, Yog-Sothoth ... At the time you found it was there a gibbous moon hanging in a sky racked with flying clouds and could you hear strange eldritch moanings and chitinous scrabblings at all? Lol. Ah yes. I shall go out into the eldritch woods and utter the words of the Necronomicon and recite the Pnakotic texts, and summon a shoggoth. Even now, the stone calls me, drawing me so I can open the gates for...those who wait beyond....even now, I hear their flabby claws tearing and scraping at the other side, in the outer darkness, waiting for the stars to come right for their return! Oh hang on, sorry, it's just the cat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginger_Kitty Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 possibly a grindstone for sharpening metal tools? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeP Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 I think it could be a small grindstone. The 'groove' around the circumference might be to stop ground grain / meal being lost on to the ground. Apart from that, something left behind by the Great Old Ones does seem possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyacademic Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Part of a treddle of some kind? The square suggests that it had a square shaft, and the dip round the circumference suggests a drive belt. I suspect it's part of the mechanism of foot operated machinery of some kind - perhaps a potter's wheel, grindstone or similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeP Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Part of a treddle of some kind? The square suggests that it had a square shaft, and the dip round the circumference suggests a drive belt. I suspect it's part of the mechanism of foot operated machinery of some kind - perhaps a potter's wheel, grindstone or similar. Ahhh...have I misunderstood where the groove was? Oops.....I think I'm 90' out with where it is - I thought it was around the circumference on the flat surface rather than on the 'edge', so to say. D'OH! Your explanation makes good sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handypandy Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Many moons ago I seem to remember my grandad having a garden roller much as you describe.It had two such rollers side by side which, presumably made it easier to steer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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