Leper Stone

The Leper Stone or Newport Stone (grid reference TL520349) is a large sarsen stone near the village of Newport, Essex, England.[1] The name Leper Stone probably derives from the hospital of St. Mary and St. Leonard (fn. 1156?), a nearby hospital for lepers.[2][3] Passers by could have left offerings of alms for the hospital residents in a small depression atop the stone; the hospital grounds were sold in the sixteenth century, and only a portion of the wall near the stone remains.[2][3][4]

Map showing the location of The Leper Stone in Essex.

Julian Cope, Peter Herring, UK Geocaching along with D.G. Buckley and Ken Newton's paper for the Council of British Archaeology have suggested that the Leper Stone was set vertically in the ground as a megalithic menhir or standing stone.[5][6][7] J.D. Hedges report of 1980 also classified it as a standing stone for English Heritage, who describe this type of monument as A stone or boulder which has been deliberately set upright in the ground. Similarly it has been described as a monolith by the Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian society.[8]

References
  1. "The Geology of Essex". Essex Wildlife Trust. Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  2. Harper, Charles George (1904). The Newmarket, Bury, Thetford, and Cromer road: sport and history on an East Anglian turnpike. Chapman & Hall. pp. 92–94.
  3. Page, William; Round, J. Horace, eds. (1907). "The Hospital of Newport". A History of the County of Essex: Volume 2. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  4. "Newport Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Proposals, Approved December 2007" (PDF). Uttlesford District Council. 2007. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  5. D. G. Buckley; Kenneth Charles Newton (October 1980). Archaeology in Essex to AD 1500: in memory of Ken Newton. Council for British Archaeology. ISBN 978-0-900312-83-0. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
  6. The Leper Stone - Standing Stone / Menhir - Entry in The Modern Antiquarian
  7. Herring, Peter., The Sacred Stones Of Essex - Article for The Megalithic Portal
  8. Cambridge Antiquarian Society Cambridge; England (1998). Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, incorporating the Cambs and Hunts Archaeological Society. I.L. Norie and Wilson, Ltd. Retrieved 21 March 2011.

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