Gawton's Rock
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Gawton's Rock by Jonathan Kington as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Gawton's Rock
Image: © Jonathan Kington Taken: 5 Jun 2011
Also known as Gawton's Dolmen and The Healing Stone this arrangement of boulders seems to be shrouded in mystery. Some will tell you that a sort of "energy" can be felt when it is touched, others say there is evidence that a hermit was once healed at the nearby Gawton's Well and then lived in the alcove between the supporting stones to the rear of the rock. It could also have been erected by the owners of the estate during the reign of Queen Victoria (who were called Gawton), creating structures like this was very much in fashion then. Of course, it could have occurred naturally- the large stone breaking away from the rock face behind and coming to rest on the smaller rocks. Who knows? See also http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=26214 for more theories.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
53.096833
Longitude
-2.150433