A Historical Day for Foxglove

Thursday, May 19th 2016

Today was a historical day for Foxglove. It was the day of the Foxglove Stone Circle construction. We have been preparing for this for a few weeks now, organising how and when the stones will be delivered and installed, how many people are needed etc. The site was chosen a few weeks back, and earlier in the week the location of the stones was measured. Yesterday the holes were dug.

The circle consists of 12 large stones, four of which are larger than the rest and point North, South, East and West, with an additional central stone. They have been kindly donated to the reserve and installed by Cemex as part of their “Lend a Hand” programme. This morning the fence was taken down to allow access to the site and the stone circle construction began.

The stones arrived on a lorry from the quarry and were transported to their approximate location on site.

Then each stone was raised using a sling, into an upright position and manoeuvred into place. From here, it was finely tweaked until it was in exactly the right place, at which point the soil and rocks from the hole were placed in around the stone and the whole thing tamped down to guarantee stablity.

Afterwards, the turves were placed back onto the area to make it clean and tidy.

Regular breaks for food supplies and tea kept the morale of the workers high as each stone fell into place.

By lunchtime, quite a crowd had gathered to watch the proceedings.

Even the BBC reporter from Look North and a newspaper reporter called in to see how we were getting on and document the proceedings. Ruth was able to explain to the reporter what a great coffee table the stones make before they are set into the ground.

By the end of the day the stones were all in place and the circle was complete.

Thank you to everyone who helped today; to Willie Metcalff for digging the holes and standing the stones up; to Cemex in Leyburn for supplying and delivering the stones, and to those who volunteered to come with them and install them; to Len Porter for dealing with the fencing; to the Foxglove Thursday Volunteers for helping to pack the soil around the stones and to Ruth and Elizabeth for keeping the constant stream of bacon sandwiches, cakes and drinks flowing throughout.

The Stone Circle looks tremendous and will be enjoyed by visitors for years to come. There will be better photos tomorrow, once we have a bit more time to take some.

---

(1) Comments:

---

Leave a Comment:

There are some errors in your form.

* Name: Please complete this field, it's required. * Email: Your email address will not be displayed but it's required. URL: * Leave a Comment:

Your email address will not be displayed but it's required.

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

---

Back to Top