Marking the spot

I've been on a Freespiral-style hunt for - not a holy well - a lost and forgotten memorial deep in the abandoned grounds of a country mansion that burnt down in the 1950s.

I first [re]discovered it in 2007* when finding it was challenging enough but since then the once-ornamental plants and bushes have continued to grow unchecked accompanied by a jungle of nettles and brambles. 

But find it again I did: a stone commemorating the visit here of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in 1777 when he preached beneath an oak tree in then-well tended garden of a gentry family whose guest he was. The memorial was placed  one hundred years later by an heir of the estate to mark the centenary of the event. Many changes subsequently took place regarding the fortunes of the family, the estate and the once-idyllic valley in which it lay. But the oak tree (failing now and festooned lichen and fern) still stands and beneath it, almost invisible, the commemorative memorial, its legend is obscured by ivy and moss. (Photo taken after I had cleared some of that away.)

As well as being a personal challenge, the object of the rediscovery exercise is to rescue and  repair the marker stone before age and neglect destroy it. Members of our local history group are hoping to engage the interest of some agency, local or national, who could assist with this.

*My original discovery of the memorial here.