To log this cache you must email/ message centre me answers to the following. I'm a Friendly CO - please try and answer the questions, and have a bit of fun whilst doing it. That said, no answers = no log (and I will delete it)
1. A picture of you with the stone (Optional, but that’s always nice, and good proof of a visit)
2. Describe the stone – you should include how it feels, colours etc
3. a). What can you observe about the geology/composition of the stone?
3. b). Can you observe any evidence on the rock itself of its journey as an erratic? Do you think any markings on the stone might be man made? Explain why.
4. Calculate the volume of the stone (don’t worry about the two slots in the top) in cubic feet: Length x Width x Height
Please don’t include answers in your log, send them to me. You may post your find before sending your answers, but please send with a week otherwise I’ll have to delete your log.
There is no direct parking at GZ, but the ground is wheelchair friendly. This area can be extremely busy, especially on match days so please take care if you have mini or furry geocachers with you.
This location is close to my Dads spiritual home – Old Trafford, and this has been ‘placed’ for his birthday.
At the North Lodge entrance to Gorse Hill Park on the Chester road (A56), Stretford, stands the curious ‘Great Stone’ - a rectangular-shaped stone made of millstone grit. It is a glacial erratic boulder that was originally deposited at Great Stone Road during the last Ice Age – up to 13,000 years ago. It has two 7-inch (18 cm) deep rectangular slots cut in the top.
When Great Stone Road was widened in the late 19th century, the stone was moved back from the road. In 1925, the stone was moved again, along with the gates behind it, to its current location outside Gorse Hill Park, about 328 feet (100 m) from its historical location. It was Grade II listed in 1963.
No-one is really sure what the purpose of The Great Stone was, although there are many plausible (and some less plausible) suggestions as to what its use might have been.
A trade or boundary marker? Stretford was an important crossing point over the River Mersey during Roman times, and is on the Roman road between Northwich & Manchester.
A Plague Stone? There were a succession of plagues in Manchester from the 14th century onwards, and legends report that during the Great Plague of 1655–56 the holes in the top of the stone were filled with vinegar or holy water, through which coins were passed in the belief that would halt the spread of the disease.
The base of an Anglo-Saxon cross shaft? The wood long rotted away, the holes carved into the stone could have allowed a wooden structure to sit comfortably.
There’s even a local legend which remarks that the stone was slowly sinking into the earth, and that its ultimate disappearance would mark the end of the world. (Let’s hope not!)
Whatever the original use, when you visit you can see what you think it was for.
Millstone Grit is the name given to any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in Northern England. Its proper name is actually Gritstone, but it acquired the term ‘millstone’ as it was the stone of choice for making coarse millstones. It is a fluvial sedimentary rock
Gritstone dates from the Namurian Stage of the Carboniferous Period.
The Carboniferous Period was a time when world sea-levels were generally low, combined with glaciation and mountain building. At times of higher sea-level, silt and mud accumulated within the Pennine basin whilst at times of low sea-level major deltas expanded into the seas, their legacy being the thick sandstone beds of Gritstone. So alternating layers of sand, mud and grit become compressed and ultimately Gritstone was formed.
Gritstone is insoluble but porous, so it absorbs the water, which often seeps through the grits until it meets the less porous shales beneath. Millstone Grit has been quarried for many uses, including building stone, paving flags and roofing material.
Information Sources:
Nicholls, Robert (2004), Curiosities of Greater Manchester, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-3661-4
Massey, Samuel (1976), A History of Stretford, John Sherratt and Son, ISBN 0-85427-046-9
Nevell, Mike (1997), The Archaeology of Trafford, Trafford Metropolitan Borough with University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, ISBN 1-870695-25-9
Wikipedia