The Bridestones
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| Location | near Congleton |
|---|---|
| Region | Cheshire, England |
| Coordinates | 53°9′24.64″N 2°8′31.3″W / 53.1568444°N 2.142028°WCoordinates: 53°9′24.64″N 2°8′31.3″W / 53.1568444°N 2.142028°W |
| Type | Chambered cairn |
| History | |
| Periods | Neolithic |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | damaged |
The Bridestones is a chambered cairn, near Congleton, Cheshire, England, that was constructed in the Neolithic period about 3500–2400 BC. It was described in 1764 as being 120 yards (110 m) long and 12 yards (11 m) wide, containing three separate compartments, of which only one remains today. The remaining compartment is 6 metres (20 ft) long by 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) wide, and consists of vertical stone slabs, divided by a now-broken cross slab. The cairn originally had a stone circle surrounding it, with four portal stones; two of these portal stones still remain. The site is protected as a scheduled ancient monument.
The state of the site was recorded in the second edition of Henry Rowlands's Mona Antiqua Restaurata (published in 1766), based on a report by Rev. Thomas Malbon, rector of Congleton. As the report describes removal of stones for road-building in 1764 (the Ashbourne–Leek–Congleton Turnpike, now Dial Lane, just south of the site), it appears that it was included by Henry Owen, editor of the second edition, and was not part of Rowlands's original 1723 edition. The report provides a detailed description of the site at the time along with a plate giving a plan of the site.
B B are rough, square tapering stones four feet three inches broad and two feet thick. One on the North side is broken off, as is part of the other.
C C is the pavement of a kind of artificial cave. It is composed of broken pieces of stones about two inches and a half thick, and laid on pounded white stones about six inches deep; two inches of the upper part of which are tinged with black, supposed from ashes falling through the pavement, which was covered with them and oak-charcoal about two inches thick. Several bits of bone were also found, but so small that it could not be discovered whether they were human or not.
The sides of the cave, if I may so call it, were originally composed of two unhewn free stones, about eighteen feet in length, six in height and fourteen inches thick at a medium. Each of them is now broken in two.
D is a partition stone standing across the place, about five feet and a half high, and six inches thick. A circular hole is cut through this stone, about nineteen inches and a half in diameter.
The whole was covered with long, unhewn, large, flat, free stones, since taken away. The height of the cave from the pavement to the covering is five feet and ten inches.
The entrance was filled up with free stones and earth, supposed to be dust blown by the wind from year to year in dry weather.
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