The grand finale of our October dig in 2013 was the restoration of Stone 4 and its re-erection in its original socket. Everything this year was gearing up to this event which took place on 31st October, Halloween, All Soul’s day or Allantide and Kalan Gwav as they say in Cornish.
About 40 people gathered to watch as this elegant stone was gently lifted by machine under the expert guidance of Joe Fenn and Tim Marsh, with Engineer John Davis. and moved into position to be suspended over its socket hole. To see it suspended vertically for the first time was quite a revelation as Stone 4 has a very distinctive diamond shape which looks dressed. Once in position it became clear that it was much longer than it appeared in the historic photographs and that the socket hole was shallower than we anticipated. The capstone weighs in at just under 10 tonnes and the average weight of each of the three principal supports (the uprights) are 2 tonnes.
Checking the position from a historical photo
Once in position three large field stones were brought in and positioned around its base to stabilise the upright. A small amount of strong, fine aggregate concrete was poured into the socket and around the base. Once Stone 4 is totally embedded and self supporting the stabilising stones will be removed. It was a magical moment to witness and the gathering crowd shared in our delight at seeing one of Carwynnen’s uprights rightfully restored in its proper place – the stone had come home!
Andy Norfolk, Chairman of the Sustainable Trust, blessed the stone with Cornish Cider.
Our Field Archaeologist put a memory stick wrapped in cling film in a sealed jar with a 10 penny piece dated 2013 and buried this at the base of the socket hole for Stone 4. On the memory stick was copy of the report on our work last year along with photos of the team.
