The Suckstone and Near Harkening Rock

Last Thursday afternoon I had planned to seek out another of the ancient magical and mysterious sites mentioned in Ray Wright's book Secret Forest. (For my first mention of this book, click here.) It certainly promised to be a 'mysterious' one, but the miserably wet weather we are presently enduring intervened. So, having (hopefully) whetted your appetite, I'll leave that one for now and describe a walk to another stone that's in Ray Wright's book – one that my friend Lucy and I sought out last October.

The Suck Stone, near Staunton is enormous; reputed to be the largest single block of stone in Britain. Said by some to weigh more than 10,000 tonnes, it's probably no more than a quarter of that.. but it's still very big.

Impressive though the Suck Stone undoubtedly is, I'm always suspicious of claims that some geological feature is the biggest, the heaviest, the most impressive, etc. For instance, how about this one, that I came across in the Lake District?

This is the Bowder Stone. It's some 30ft high, 50ft wide, 90ft in circumference and weights about 2000 tonnes. In comparison, the Suck Stone is 26ft high, 60ft wide, 26ft deep and weighs no more than 2500 tonnes. Perhaps the Suck Stone may just be the winner but since no-one has ever put either of them on the bathroom scales, who can be sure?

Just above the Suck Stone is Near Harkening Rock. It's from around here that the Suck Stone must once have fallen.

The cliff face has stood firm for a few million years but Lucy wisely ensured that it stayed put for a little longer. This photo clearly shows the composition of the rock, known as puddingstone. It comprises pebbles of quartz that settled to form a sandy 'pudding' some 400 million years ago... and now they're here, high on a valley side above the Wye. That sort of timescale just blows my mind.  And to think that some people still believe the world was created in 4004BC!

I wish I had Lucy's eye for a good photo, like this one that she took above Near Harkening Rock. In case you're wondering, the strange name is said to have come about because game keepers could sit beneath the cliff face and listen out for deer and fish poachers. There's also a Far Harkening Rock, half a mile away.

From Near Harkening Rock, Lucy and I made our way back to Staunton, where we met a guy who claimed to know the geology of the area. He told us that the rocks we had been admiring were erratics, carried by glaciers from Scotland.  I'm no geologist but rather doubted the truth of that one, and I've found no supporting evidence in any of my books.

My understanding is that the Ice Age glaciation ended north and west of The Dean and that our deep valleys were carved out by melt water. I'd love to know the answer though. I almost enrolled for geology evening classes five years ago but chose the ukulele instead.

A big thank you to Lucy, not only for her company but also for her photos. We both took lots but Lucy's – on her lovely Samsung smartphone – came out better than most of mine.