Staddle Stones
From Commonplace to Collectible: or how things can change, with the passage of time. During the 15th century, a clever British farmer became weary of battling the varmints who invaded his granary. Our farmer carved rocks into stubby posts with mushroom-shaped caps, named them “Staddles” (from the old English word “stathol”--- signifying a tree trunk or foundation), hoisted his grain-shed atop those posts and…Success! The farmer’s precious harvests were airborne, and no longer befouled by vermin, or by ground-moisture.
Today, these once-ubiquitous posts, which are most often dug up from beneath English farmlands, have become highly prized artifacts: every 21st century garden ought to have at least one staddle, as a reminder of our agrarian past.
In Gloucestershire, the corners of a small spring-fed pool at Bourton House Garden are marked with staddle stones. Courtesy of nanquick.com
At the Weald & Downland Museum in West Sussex, 17th century staddle stones support a granary. Courtesy of nanquick.com
At Vann Garden, in Surrey, Gertrude Jekyll balanced a classical statue upon a staddle stone. Courtesy of nanquick.com
