In celebration of Molly, aka Tuscany

I am joining in today's celebration of Molly, whose journal was called Tuscany, a year after her final blip contribution.

I looked back and found that her first comment on my journal was about a collie whom I'd spotted on the edge of Minchinhampton Common, near Bownham. I mentioned that I used to walk a friend's collie, called Mollie at this same spot. Amalarian, as she called herself, joked:
I am dismayed to learn of yet another dog named Mollie or Molly. Maybe I should just change my own and be done with it.
~ Amalarian

So I went back to see if the dog was still there, and he was, although he seemed rather spooked today, as he ran within the garden walls barking, protecting the property which seemed to be being rebuilt. I had set off after lunch when the weather seemed to be clearing, but after two shots of the dog and a few others of the wild cowslips on the Common, it started raining so hard I had to retreat to the car.

I drove on to see what else I could find, which included some old ruins of a barn in a field, next to a very large chestnut tree in a field which had recently fallen smashing down part of the stone wall. I got shots of old rusting ironwork and interesting details of an old stone house, all of which I remember Molly liking.

But throughout all this the rain remained torrential, with the cloud cover sometimes becoming very dark and threatening. A crack of thunder startled me just as I pressed the shutter button. I got back into the shelter of the car and drove towards Bownham. There were low lying clouds hanging around the tops of the valleys, reminding me yet again of how Molly recorded similar views from their hilltop windows, across to mists and clouds swirling around the hillsides.

In the back of my mind I'd thought I might restart my Occasional Series of local ancient stones, which I had recorded a few of, copying the way Molly would present subjects she thought were interesting - whether they were the family heirlooms of Himself or the wonderful story of their olive oil.

Some years ago, I became acquainted with Stephen D., who is also very interested in landscape history, archaeology and standing stones. When we chatted at his house, he told me the story of discovering this 'lost' stone after searching for several years. It was hidden from view in a remote part of the old park which formerly belonged to his sixteenth century Grange in bownham. The associated land had ben sold off for a housing estate, and the stone had become isolated in a small patch of the ancient woodland, out of view of nearly everybody.

Apparently it is now recognised as a very ancient standing stone called The Horestone, and is of equal importance as a landscape feature from thousands of years ago, as The Crackstone and The Tingle Stones are locally. I have always been intrigued by these stones and once was honoured to be able to drive John Michell, the antiquarian, from London to Stroud, where he was made a honorary member of the Ley hunters Society. His book, The View over Atlantis, was a very important book for me in the late 1960s.

Have a look at the forum - Molly/Tuscany May 7th - a challenge to celebrate her Blip.

She gave so much to each person she contacted here and she certainly enriched my life. So I am pleased to have spent all this time and I offer this picture in memory of her.


Re: The Horestone
If you are interested you can see a short article about the discovery of the stone by Stephen D., who was a regular writer of the BBC tv series 'Waking the dead'.


I must add that the small addition of flat stones at the bottom left are very recent and wholly unfitting. Once the stone was revealed, there have been incidences of damage, which is very sad.