Oxfordshire's Historic Archives

Historic Oxfordshire

Preserving and Enhancing Access to Historic Oxfordshire
Records of Archaeological Work held by the Ashmolean Museum

Site Name: Spelsbury

Site Location: North-West Oxfordshire
Related Achive: Manning


Percy Manning recorded the standing stone known as the Hawk Stone at Dean, in the parish of Spelsbury.

This is a very weathered and pitted monolith, standing alone in a field on the summit of a hill. It was recorded as about 7 feet high and 2' 6" in circumference (These measurements taken by Kingham Hill School History Club in 1969).

The purpose of the stone is unknown, it may have been the remains of a barrow or more likely was a boundary marker or a grave marker, although it does not appear to be sited on an old boundary. Leeds visited the stone in 1921.


References:

Transactions of the North Oxford Archaeological Society, 1899, p49

Beesley (1841) History of Banbury, p8

O.G.S. Crawford, Long Barrows of the Cotswolds

Kingham Hill School History Club, 1969

Site Photographs

Click on picture to see a larger image
Spelsbury Hawkstone
Hawkstone looking toward the west (March 2006)
Hawkstone from the west
Hawkstone looking toward the west (March 2006)
Hawkstone from the east
Hawkstone looking toward the east (March 2006)
Hawkstone close up
Close up of the top Hawkstone (March 2006)
© Copyright University of Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 2006. Last updated: June-2006
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