Mystery
The Breeding Stone
A pebbly boulder that villagers swore could grow, and give birth to stones.
See it clearly
- What's there
- A great pebbly stone on a village green
- Legend from
- Possibly prehistoric
- Tone
- Light-hearted
That big knobbly boulder in Standon is puddingstone, and local folk once swore stones like it grew and bred their own babies.
On the corner of Paper Mill Lane stands a great block of Hertfordshire puddingstone, a natural concrete of flint pebbles. Its plaque suggests it once stood where the church now is, as a 'great stone' where ancient Britons met, and that early Christians built on the same spot. It was later set into the churchyard wall, then outside the Star inn, and was placed here by the curate in 1904. Hertfordshire folk long believed puddingstone was alive: that it grew in the fields and gave birth to new pebbles, and lumps were kept on doorsteps to ward off witches. Morris dancers used to greet May morning here at dawn.