The Weird and Wonderful Staddle Stone
I have come to love these magical toadstool like stone structures, found in England and northern Spain, as far back as medieval times. Used as agricultural building supports, they held up granaries, haystacks and beehives to protect them from small animals and allow air circulation underneath.
Old staddle stones were made of two stones, a 2-3’ ft high base, pyramidal or cylindrical and a rounded cap on top. Usually made of granite or sandstone, they were carved from whatever stone was readily available. Because of their age, many antique staddle stones are covered with lichen which adds to their value.
The word staddle comes from the Old English word stathol or base. In German the word stadal means barn. In the US, staddle stones were used as boundary stones to mark corners of a property. Today these old antique staddle stones can be placed in a woodland garden as a focal point, or as bollards along a road or to mark an entrance.
Whatever their use, they are treasures from our agricultural past. Come see our wonderful assortment of antique staddle stones for sale in our Sudbury showroom!
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