Scheduled Monument: Standing Stone At Ginclough 400M Wsw Of Gin Clough Farm (1013480)

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE'S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS MONUMENT: Standing stone at Ginclough 400m WSW of Gin Clough Farm PARISH: RAINOW DISTRICT: MACCLESFIELD COUNTY: CHESHIRE NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 25702 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SJ95537635 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes a Grade II Listed standing stone on the side of the hill above Hayles Clough in Rainow. The stone is a large gritstone glacial erratic cut away on two sides to create a square face on the east side. The stone stands 0.86m high and is 0.72m wide on the east face and 0.9m deep at the base where it is widest. It stands 2.5m from the B5470 on the south side of the road. The drystone wall 1m to the south of the stone is not included in the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE Standing stones are prehistoric ritual or ceremonial monuments with dates ranging from the Late Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age for the few excavated examples. They comprise single or paired upright orthostatic slabs, ranging from under lm to over 6m high where still erect. They are often conspicuously sited and close to other contemporary monument classes. They can be accompanied by various features: many occur in or on the edge of round barrows, and where excavated, associated subsurface features have included stone cists, stone settings, and various pits and hollows filled in with earth containing human bone, cremations, charcoal, flints, pots and pot sherds. Similar deposits have been found in excavated sockets for standing stones, which range considerably in depth. Several standing stones also bear cup and ring marks. Standing stones may have functioned as markers for routeways, territories, graves, or meeting points, but their accompanying features show they also bore a ritual function and that they form one of several ritual monument classes of their period that often contain a deposit of cremation and domestic debris as an integral component. No national survey of standing stones has been undertaken, and estimates range from 50 to 250 extant examples, widely distributed throughout England but with concentrations in Cornwall, the North Yorkshire Moors, Cumbria, Derbyshire and the Cotswolds. Standing stones are important as nationally rare monuments, with a high longevity and demonstrating the diversity of ritual practices in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Consequently all undisturbed standing stones and those which represent the main range of types and locations would normally be considered to be of national importance. The standing stone at Ginclough survives well and is in its original position. It forms part of a relict Bronze Age landscape on the side of the hill, including a tumulus 400m to the north east and another 1000m to the south west. MONUMENT INCLUDED IN THE SCHEDULE ON 01st September 1995